# Isabella Linton — Wuthering Heights character guide

> Isabella Linton in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Isabella, a Linton, Isabella . XIV, Miss Isabella

**First appearance:** 0005-vi

## Snapshot

Edgar's sheltered sister, whose romantic infatuation with Heathcliff leads her into a marriage of fear and isolation.

## Who they are

Isabella grows up cosseted at Thrushcross Grange, imagining Heathcliff as a brooding hero rather than the man her brother warns her against. Her elopement with him becomes a lesson in how little she understood, and her letters home reveal a woman trapped in a house she cannot leave. Her flight and her son Linton carry the consequences of that mistake into the next generation.

## Relationships

### [Catherine Linton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/characters/catherine_linton)

_family_

A strained sister-in-law relationship marked by Catherine's cruelty and Isabella's eventual hatred.

### [Heathcliff](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/characters/heathcliff)

_psychological_

A predatory, abusive marriage where Heathcliff marries Isabella solely to torment Edgar and Catherine.

### [Catherine Linton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/characters/catherine_linton)

_family_

A strained sister-in-law relationship marked by Catherine's cruelty and Isabella's eventual hatred.

### [Heathcliff](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/characters/heathcliff)

_psychological_

A predatory, abusive marriage where Heathcliff marries Isabella solely to torment Edgar and Catherine.

### [Catherine Linton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/characters/catherine_linton)

_family_

A strained sister-in-law relationship marked by Catherine's cruelty and Isabella's eventual hatred.

### [Heathcliff](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/characters/heathcliff)

_psychological_

A predatory, abusive marriage where Heathcliff marries Isabella solely to torment Edgar and Catherine.

## In the story

### [Chapter VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/chapters/vi)

Described as screaming and pampered; calls Heathcliff a 'frightful thing.'

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/chapters/vii)

Present at the dinner; weeps after the altercation; later has no dance partner.

### [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/chapters/x)

Expresses her love for Heathcliff, clashes with Catherine, and is distressed by Heathcliff's indifference.

### [Chapter XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/chapters/xi)

Target of Heathcliff's unwanted advances, flees to the garden.

### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/chapters/xii)

Elopes with Heathcliff during the night, leaving the Grange empty.

### [Chapter XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/chapters/xiii)

Isabella writes to Nelly after marrying Heathcliff, describing her miserable arrival at Wuthering Heights and her horror at her new husband's nature.

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/chapters/xiv)

Isabella appears disheveled and miserable at Wuthering Heights. She reveals her hatred for Heathcliff and her regret, but is trapped in the marriage.

### [Chapter XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/chapters/xvii)

Narrates her escape from Wuthering Heights, describing Heathcliff's violence and her own defiance. She leaves the neighborhood permanently and later gives birth to a son, Linton.

### [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/chapters/xviii)

Isabella is mentioned as having died after more than a dozen years of separation from Heathcliff. She writes to Edgar, entrusting Linton to his care.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/characters/isabella_linton
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/wuthering_heights_se/characters