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Ellen (Nelly) Dean
Flora Robson from the 1939 film
Judy Cornwell from the 1970 film
Pat Heywood from the 1978 TV drama
Janet McTeer from the 1992 film
Polly Hemingway from the 1998
TV drama
Sarah Lancashire from the 2009 TV drama
Ellen, or Nelly Dean, is the housekeeper of Thrushcross
Grange as the novel begins and is the servant of both Catherines.
Intelligent and compassionate, she is often more of a friend
or relative to the characters in the book than a servant. Consequently,
she knows more of the story than anyone else so is able to fill
Mr Lockwood in on events. |
Basic Details
| Parents: few details. Her mother had
nursed Hindley and lived to eighty |
Siblings: unknown |
| Date of birth: 1757 |
Place of birth: unknown |
| Married: unknown. Lockwood refers to her as "Mrs
Dean" in 1801 but there is no other mention of a husband. It
is probably a polite term applied to all housekeepers. |
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| Physical description: stout when older,
short of breath |
Occupation: When young, her mother
was nurse to Hindley so Ellen acted as a servant-cum-companion to
Hindley and Catherine, playing with them and running errands. Considered
herself a foster-sister to Hindley and Catherine.
Came to Thrushcross Grange in 1783 to act as Catherine's maid. Stayed
on after her death as a housekeeper. |
| Notes: her first name may have come
from Ellen Nussey, a close friend of the Brontës. |
Wuthering Heights Housekeepers
| Time |
Housekeeper |
Events |
Notes |
| August 1771 |
Mrs Earnshaw |
Heathcliff arrives |
|
| May 1773 |
Ellen Dean |
Mrs Earnshaw dies |
Ellen takes over, aged 15 |
| March 1783 |
None |
Catherine and Edgar marry |
Ellen moves to Thrushcross Grange soon after the marriage. No replacement
as Hindley does not want any women in the house. |
| October 1784 |
Name unknown |
Hindley dies |
Joined after the death of Hindley (chapter 18) |
| July 1799 |
Zillah |
Housekeeper leaves |
Previous housekeeper left two years after Linton arrived |
| November 1801 |
Zillah |
Lockwood's first visit |
Zillah had been there "a year or two" |
| January 1802 |
Ellen Dean |
Zillah leaves |
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Quotes
(Childhood) ...I was almost always at Wuthering Heights; because my
mother had nursed Mr. Hindley Earnshaw...and I got used to playing with
the children: I ran errands too, and helped to make hay, and hung about
the farm ready for anything that anybody would set me to.
(1801, aged 43) At this diabolical violence I [Ellen] rushed on him
furiously. 'You villain!' I began to cry, 'you villain!' A touch on the
chest silenced me: I am stout, and soon put out of breath; and, what
with that and the rage, I staggered dizzily back and felt ready to suffocate,
or to burst a blood-vessel.
(1801, aged 44) ...you [Ellen], my good friend, are a striking evidence
against that assertion. Excepting a few provincialisms of slight consequence,
you have no marks of the manners which I am habituated to consider as
peculiar to your class. I am sure you have thought a great deal more
than the generality of servants think. You have been compelled to cultivate
your reflective faculties for want of occasions for frittering your life
away in silly trifles.
...but I [Ellen] have undergone sharp discipline, which has taught me
wisdom; and then, I have read more than you would fancy, Mr. Lockwood.
You could not open a book in this library that I have not looked into,
and got something out of also...
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