Wuthering Heights


"I'll not change my mind, Heathcliff," I said, "and I won't marry you. I'll never be yours, and you shall never be mine."

He looked incredibly shocked at this unexpected declaration, and drew his breath in and out in short, hurried gasps. His face grew red and white, and he stared at me wildly.

"Why not?" he demanded at last, in a voice that sounded almost strangled. "Why won't you marry me?"

"Because I don't love you," I said simply.

He stared at me for a moment, then burst out laughing. "You don't love me?" he repeated. "You don't love me? Then why did you come here?"

"I came here because I was afraid of you," I said. "I thought you would hurt me if I didn't." He laughed again, but this time it was a different kind of laugh. It was a bitter, mocking laugh. "You were right to be afraid of me," he said. "I would have hurt you. I would have killed you."

He reached out and grabbed my arm, his fingers digging into my flesh. "But now I'm going to let you go," he said. "I'm going to let you go, and you'll never see me again."

He released my arm and stepped back, his eyes blazing with anger. "Go," he said. "Go, and never come back."

Emily Brontë

What is the main conflict in this excerpt?