In Wuthering Heights, death is seen to be a welcome release from the tortures of living.

In Wuthering Heights, a great deal of emphasis is placed on the struggles and sufferings the characters have to deal with in their lives. As the protagonists of the novel, Heathcliff and Cathy offer an element of debate in whether death does provide release from these struggles and sufferings.
Heathcliff appears to undergo the most suffering out of all the characters in the novel. From the beginning of Nelly’s story, Heathcliff has faced problem after problem. He is found on the streets of Liverpool by Mr Earnshaw, and then brought to Wuthering Heights, and from then onwards, he is referred to as a ‘gypsy’ and linked to the devil. After the death of Mr Earnshaw, Heathcliff loses more than his father figure and protector, he also loses his home, status, and security. Upon the return of Hindley, Heathcliff undergoes emotional and physical abuse, degradation, and the loss of his new life, and he experiences this all while facing the fact that he is slowly but surely losing Cathy to Edgar. As Nelly puts into words, when Cathy marries Edgar, Heathcliff ‘loses friends, and love, and all’, ultimately proving that Cathy is everything to him. Therefore, the death of Cathy lands Heathcliff in his own living Hell, meaning that Heathcliff’s torture becomes life itself. Heathcliff’s death not only relieves him from the tortures of living without Cathy, but brings him to his Heaven: he can finally be with her, without the restraints that had affected them when they were alive.
Cathy provides evidence for the theory that death is seen to be a welcome release from the tortures of living. Her first ‘torture’ can be seen to be the fact that she is second to Heathcliff in her own fathers eyes, and this is highlighted to her in her father’s telling her that he ‘cannot love’ her. Another problem Cathy must face is that of her class and gender. As a woman of the 1700s, she would be expected to marry into a wealthy family … The biggest ‘torture’ in Cathy’s life is that of romance. She grows up loving Heathcliff, then comes to love Edgar, but has to make a decision between the two, and continues to have to make the choice until her death. She justifies her choice to agree to marry to Edgar with the statement that ‘if Heathcliff and [her] married, [they] should be beggars’, but if she married Edgar, she could ‘aid Heathcliff to rise, and place him out of [her] brothers’ power’. Cathy can be seen to be relieved of her sufferings when she dies. She is taken from the emotional conflict caused by Edgar and Heathcliff. … However, Cathy’s death can be interpreted as suicide, which in the eyes of a religious reader, would be a sin, therefore condemning her soul to Purgatory, or Hell, meaning that even in death, she is still subjected to tortures. This is further backed up by the way in which the ‘waif’ in Lockwood’s dream keeps demanding ‘let me in’, and seeing as this apparition is Cathy, it can be assumed that she is suffering in the afterlife and wants to cross the barrier – the window – to be back with the living once more. To Nelly, it appears that Cathy’s death is beneficial to all the characters: ‘Far better that [Cathy] should be dead, than lingering a burden and a misery-maker to all about her’.
Hindley’s death is the perfect escape from his life’s troubles. He is relieved of the grief caused by the loss of Frances’ death, from the debts he has acquired, and from Heathcliff’s revenge. Also, Heathcliff has one of the participants of his suffering as a child removed from his life. The text can be interpreted as Hindley playing a vital role in the developing of the relationship between Cathy and Edgar, through the way in which he degrades Heathcliff, and cooperates with Edgar’s visits. This means that Heathcliff is relieved of the reminder of his painful childhood as well as one of the characters playing a role in his loss of Cathy.
Linton’s relief is obvious. The reader is led to feel sympathy for the boy’s state, having been brought up under what can be assumed to be rather pampered circumstances, he is thrust into the dismal environment and company of Wuthering Heights. In the same period of time in which he loses his mother, he is introduced and given to his father, Heathcliff, and further reading of the novel tells the reader that their relationship is not one of love, trust, or friendship, but one of misery and fear. Another cause for concern for Linton is that of his health. Throughout his appearance in the novel, he is of exceedingly ill health, and does not seem to receive a great deal of medical attention. His death relieves him of his father as well as the physical sufferings. In conjunction with Linton’s relief from his lack of health, several other (albeit rather irrelevant) characters’ deaths relieve them from the ‘tortures’ of ill health. Frances, Mr Earnshaw, Mr and Mrs Linton, and Edgar were all suffering from a downfall of their physical health before death. Nelly even describes Mr Earnshaw’s death as ending his ‘troubles on earth’. This is supporting evidence for death releasing the characters from the tortures of living, simply for the fact that ill health causes suffering, not only to the person experiencing it, but also to the loved ones and carers, for example, Edgar’s daughter feeling constant worry for her father.
In conclusion, while the novel shows strong support for the way in which death releases the characters from the tortures of living, is provides some points for counterargument.