Quote 1
"These things happened last winter, sir," said Mrs. Dean; "hardly more than a year ago. Last winter, I did not think, at another twelve months' end, I should be amusing a stranger to the family with relating them! Yet, who knows how long you'll be a stranger?" (25.1)
Nelly indulges Lockwood's fantasy that he actually has a chance with Cathy Heathcliff. Why she does this is unclear. What's even stranger is that Nelly would think that this union would be a good idea. These people don't seem to marry outside the family.
Quote 2
"'Loving!' cried I, as scornfully as I could utter the word. 'Loving!' Did anybody ever hear the like! I might just as well talk of loving the miller who comes once a year to buy our corn. Pretty loving, indeed! and both times together you have seen Linton hardly four hours in your life! Now here is the babyish trash. I'm going with it to the library; and we'll see what your father says to such loving." (21.140)
Nelly Dean tries to knock some sense into Cathy regarding her affair with Linton Heathcliff. It's interesting to note how gutsy Nelly is in the way she talks to Cathy. After all, Nelly is a housekeeper and Cathy is the master's daughter.
Quote 3
"Don't get the expression of a vicious cur that appears to know the kicks it gets are its desert, and yet, hates all the world, as well as the kicker, for what it suffers." (7.42)
Good advice, Nelly, but it's lost on the vengeful Heathcliff. Still, she tries, and this is an important moment. Though Heathcliff has no mentor (see "Character Roles"), Nelly makes an attempt here to provide some useful guidance. (Plus, the dog metaphor is a good one for that house!)
Quote 4
"Were I in your place, I would frame high notions of my birth; and the thoughts of what I was should give me courage and dignity to support the oppressions of a little farmer!" (7.44)
Since he doesn't know where he is from, Heathcliff may as well imagine a noble and exotic background for himself. This piece of advice represents one of a handful of Nelly's attempts to provide useful guidance for Heathcliff. It also tells us that she likes a little fiction.
Quote 5
"We don't in general take to foreigners here, Mr. Lockwood, unless they take to us first." (6.7)
Isolated villagers like to remain just that. What's telling about this statement is that "foreigners" seem to be anyone not from Gimmerton. It's not like Frances or Heathcliff are from another country; these people just aren't too fond of difference.
Quote 6
"You're fit for a prince in disguise. Who knows but your father was Emperor of China, and your mother an Indian queen, each of them able to buy up, with one week's income, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange together? And you were kidnapped by wicked sailors and brought to England." (7.44)
With her love of stories, Nelly Dean inadvertently plants ideas in Heathcliff's head. Here are the seeds of his revenge against Hindley and Edgar.
Quote 7
"Have you considered how you'll bear the separation, and how he'll bear to be quite deserted in the world?" (9.98)
Catherine can hardly think beyond her own desires. Nelly makes a futile attempt to defend Heathcliff here. She knows that if Catherine marries Edgar, it isn't going to be pretty.
There was another rapid glance at the house, and supposing himself unseen, the scoundrel had the impudence to embrace her.
"Judas! Traitor!" I ejaculated. "You are a hypocrite, too, are you? A deliberate deceiver."
"Who is, Nelly?" said Catherine's voice at my elbow: I had been over-intent on watching the pair outside to mark her entrance.
"Your worthless friend!" I answered, warmly, "the sneaking rascal yonder. Ah, he has caught a glimpse of us—he is coming in! I wonder will he have the heart to find a plausible excuse for making love to Miss, when he told you he hated her?" (11.36-39)
Heathcliff's plot against Edgar begins, and Isabella becomes his willing dupe. Nelly doesn't exactly maintain calm in the situation. Look at her language—she clearly wants to provoke Catherine. And who exactly is the other hypocrite to which she refers here?
Quote 9
"The harm of it is, that her father [Edgar] would hate me if he found I suffered [Cathy] to enter your house; and I am convinced you have a bad design in encouraging her to do so." (21.36)
Nelly clues in to Heathcliff's ill intent, but that doesn't stop her from being suckered into going back to the Heights.