"I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there, had not brought Heathcliff so low I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff, now; so he shall never know how I love him; and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same, and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire."
In this paragraph, Nelly is arguing with Catherine late at night while Cathy is trying to figure out her true feelings for once. This is because Edgar proposed earlier in the book, and she left him unanswered. And while Nelly argues that Cathy loves Edgar and Edgar loves Cathy, then there should be no problem, but Cathy also speaks through Emily Bronte's beautiful writing about how she feels about Heathcliff, in the most romantic way of coming out of denial.
The reason why this passage is memorable is because when I first started reading the book, it was very slow at first, like some books are. The novel was hard to get through and not too exciting in the beginning. This quote is from around page 90, and this is, in my opinion, is where the story actually picks up and draws readers in. This is also one of the only times you can hear Catherine actually being truthful to herself for once and not focusing on the wealth of Edgar or the romance and betrayal of Heathcliff, its just her finally letting her feelings out honestly for the only time in the book. This is also the turning point in the book, where either things could have gone very well or awfully bad. And for anyone who has read this book before would know, it all kind of goes downhill from here.
I love the way she describes her feelings for Heathcliff--romantic in the best, most sincere way. I enjoyed your commentary about the text, too. Thanks!
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