The beauty of Wuthering Heights as a book is that it always pushes you, after so much time, to rethink it and reach new conclusions, or observe new elements. For example, I was thinking about how Catherine proudly states that she is not jealous or envious of Isabella, despite having physical and character traits that Cathy does not possess. On the contrary, as a boy, Heathcliff, despite openly despising Edgar, clearly expresses his desire to be like him, almost certainly to be accepted by society. AND Isabella also repeatedly demonstrates that perhaps she wishes she had some of Catherine's traits. And so I thought that paradoxically, we could link Heathcliff and Isabella together because of this common ground of wanting to resemble someone they consider to be in a more privileged position than them (Edgar/Catherine). Bear with me.
As a child, Heathcliff quickly understands that Edgar enjoys social acceptance in the eyes of the world, which then manifests itself in various ways, and which is denied to him. In Heathcliff's eyes, this is, after all, literally the reason why Catherine married Edgar and not him. Isabella, though for diametrically opposed and different reasons, experiences something similar towards Catherine, who has a magnetic, indomitable personality, capable of filling the entire room with her mere presence. An intensity Isabella knows she lacks. Her love for Heathcliff also stems, in part, from this imitative fascination.
The outcome of this tendency, however, could not be more different: Heathcliff transforms it into fury, vengeance, and self-destruction, even becoming abusive. Isabella, on the other hand, transforms it into a romantic and illusory fantasy (until she manages to emancipate herself). And it's interesting that neither of them actually manages to become the ideal they longed for: Heathcliff never becomes like Edgar, even after becoming rich, because he remains something connoted as "other," and Isabella, even when she moves to Wuthering Heights and experiences firsthand part of the situation Catherine had experienced since childhood, never becomes like her.
This is a very interesting interpretation, also because it contrasts sharply with Catherine, who, despite being self-destructive, possesses an absolute certainty of her own ego, to the point of knowing perfectly well when she is destroying it and when she is doing something contrary to her nature, which she sees in Heathcliff and does not want to lose.
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