Classics Without All the Class discussion

Discuss chapters 13-18.

I've been re-reading this book rather slowly but feel I've finally got to the heart of it with the tunultuous relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff. And then, less than half way through the book, she's dead...

I find Nelly's part in all this interesting. She warns Catherine against marrying Edgar; she's complicit in her secretly meeting Heathcliff; and when Catherine's body is laid out, she leaves the window open so he can sneak in. All quite surprising in such a supposedly down-to-earth character. I think she's more romantic than she lets on.

Did Heathcliff murder Hindley while he lay drunk? The implication is certainly there...

I can't make Nelly out either. On the one hand, she seems all noble and wants to be very Victorian and do the right thing, but on the other, she does a lot of looking the other way. Can't seem to balance her out.

I feel like I really had no idea what this book was about, as I always thought the whole story was about Catherine and Heathcliff, I didn't realize that Catherine was dead halfway through the story. I really have no idea ultimately where all of this is headed, so I'm intrigued.