Heathcliff and Catherine

heathcliff and catherine
Originally uploaded by keiiiii 基因小姐

"I have not broken your heart—you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine. So much the worse for me that I am strong. Do I want to live? What kind of living will it be when you—oh, God! would you like to live with your soul in the grave?"

Heathcliff to Catherine, Wuthering Heights


Catherine's father brought the orphaned Heathcliff home when she was very young. The two grew up together, although Heathcliff was not of the same social standing that she was. They were inseparable, until one day Catherine was injured trespassing on their neighbors' property at Thrushcross Grange, and spent several months in recovery there with the highborn Lintons. When she returned, Catherine was far more interested in the things of high society, and even went as far as to agree to marry Edgar Linton. In response, Heathcliff left Wuthering Heights to make his fortune elsewhere. Returning soon after Catherine and Edgar were married, Heathcliff was there when Catherine died in childbirth, sending him into a downward spiral of grief, madness and revenge. Haunted by Catherine's ghost, Heathcliff ceased eating, and eventually died alone in his room.

Further Information

Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights - Masterpiece Theatre

Isabella and the Pot of Basil

Isabella and the Pot of Basil, 1897 by John Alexander
Originally uploaded by allpen

"My deere love Isabella, thou dost nothing but torment thy selfe, with calling on me, accusing me for overlong tarrying from thee: I am come therefore to let thee know, that thou canst not enjoy my company any more, because the very same day when last thou sawest me, thy brethren most bloodily murthered me."

Bocaccio's Decameron, Day 4, Story 5





"Isabella and the Pot of Basil" is a story originally found in Bocaccio's Decameron. Isabella was to be married to a rich man, but instead she fell in love with one of her brother's employees. He was murdered by her family and when her lover's ghost returned to tell her this, Isabella (with the help of her nurse) went to his body, cut off his head, and buried it in a pot beneath a basil plant. Isabella tended the basil plant faithfully, pining away for the beloved who was taken from her. Unaware of what was in the basil pot, Isabella's family saw he wasting away over the basil pot and stole the pot away from her. When they discovered what was in the pot, they secretly buried the head again and fled from the city. Isabella died days later, still pleading to have her lover's head returned to her.

Further Reading:

Decameron, Day 4, Story 5

"Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil", by John Keats

Abelard and Heloise

Eloise et Abelard @ Pere Lachaise
Originally uploaded by kelpatate

"Up to now I had thought I had deserved much of you, seeing that I carried out everything for your sake and continue up to the present moment in complete obedience to you. It was not any sense of vocation which brought me as a young girl to accept the austerities of the cloister, but your bidding alone, and if I deserve no gratitude from you, you may judge for yourself how my labours are in vain. I can expect no reward for this from God, for it is certain that I have done nothing as yet for love of him."

Heloise, in a letter to Abelard


Peter Abelard was considered one of the greatest thinkers of his time. Heloise was a young girl whose uncle was wealthy enough to employ Abelard as her tutor. Their love affair was epic. When Heloise became pregnant, Abelard married her in secret. Why in secret? Well, philosophers were generally bachelors for life, and both feared that a marriage would ruin Abelard's reputation. Heloise was sent to a convent, and the two continued to have romantic trysts while she was there. When Heloise's Uncle discovered that she had been moved to a convent, he believed that she had been abandoned by her lover and enacted revenge on Abelard by having him castrated in the middle of the night.


Humiliated, Abelard himself became a monk, and Heloise eventually took religious vows and became an Abbess. They are buried together at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.


Read More:

Old Love Stories Retold: Abelard and Heloise

The Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise