“ Terror made me cruel ”
Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (1847). copy citation
| Author | Emily Brontë |
|---|---|
| Source | Wuthering Heights |
| Topic | cruelty scare |
| Date | 1847 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/768/768-h/768-h.htm |
Context
“'Catherine Linton,' it replied, shiveringly (why did I think of Linton? I had read Earnshaw twenty times for Linton)—'I'm come home: I'd lost my way on the moor!' As it spoke, I discerned, obscurely, a child's face looking through the window. Terror made me cruel; and, finding it useless to attempt shaking the creature off, I pulled its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes: still it wailed, 'Let me in!' and maintained its tenacious grip, almost maddening me with fear. 'How can I!' I said at length. 'Let me go, if you want me to let you in!' The fingers relaxed, I snatched mine through the hole, hurriedly piled the books up in a pyramid against it, and stopped my ears to exclude the lamentable prayer.”
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Meaning and analysis
