Wuthering Heights follows the tumultuous lives of Catherine and Heathcliff, two young playmates who become soul mates. While Catherine's wild childish capriciousness develops, Heathcliff "exemplifies the effects which a life of continued injustice and hard usage may produce on a naturally perverse, vindictive, and inexorable disposition". Heathcliff and Cathy believe they are meant to love one another. But when cruelty and snobbery seperate them, their wild natures literally consume them.