Wuthering heights?did heathcliff consummate marriage?

Question

Did Heathcliff consummate the marriage between isabella and him?

When Nelly comes to wuthering heights to see Isabella, Heathcliff tells her how he despises isabella.. he goes on..."tell your master, nelly that i never, in all my life, met with such an abject thing as she is. She even disgraces the name of Linton; and I've sometimes relented, from pure lack of invention, in my experiments on what she could endure, and still creep shamefully cringing back! But tell him, also, to set his fraternal and magisterial heart at ease, that i keep strictly within limits of the law. I HAVE AVOIDED, UP TO THIS PERIOD, GIVING HER THE SLIGHTEST RIGHT TO CLAIM A SEPARATION;

^ does that mean he did her? just so she couldn't annual the marriage?

Answer 1

Yes, he did consummate the marrige, which is how she got pregnant afterwards with his son. im not sure he did it so she couldn't annul the marrige though, in the begining maybe he was pretending that he loved her?

Answer 2

Yes, they consummated the marriage.  They actually have a son together.

And yes, having s*x with her is part of what it takes to help avoid her legally being able to claim a separation.  They had pretty strict laws back then as to conditions that needed to be met in order to claim a separation, and Heathcliff was just careful not to cross the boundaries.  The boundaries were not favorable to women.  Abuse with the exception of the *most* violent kind was tolerated.  He also basically means here that he has avoided the temptation to beat her within an inch of her life.