Ironically, at the start of the chapter, Lockwood claims Nelly to be "a very fair narrator," yet he has proven himself to be a bad judge of character, so his words should not be all that reassuring for the discerning reader. Reliability aside, Nelly continues the narrative.
What Catherine says and does not say reveals telling and compelling information about her character. She tells Heathcliff, "You and Edgar have broken my heart," placing the blame at their feet. But while she is being open and honest with Heathcliff, not once does she say she regrets marrying Edgar. Her comments about not being at peace and about Heathcliff's happiness when she is buried foreshadows her ghost walking the world for eighteen years, haunting Heathcliff.
After rambling for a while, Catherine begs forgiveness, but Heathcliff cannot or will not give it. Perhaps this lack of forgiveness is what haunts him: The memory that he did not fully forgive her on her deathbed may be the worst of all the terrible things he has done in his life. Catherine herself alludes to this possibility when she says, "if you nurse anger, that will be worse to remember than my harsh words!" Perhaps only in her last moments of life does Catherine come to a true understanding of love.
At the end of the chapter, when Catherine collapses into Heathcliff's arms and Nelly thinks Catherine has died, Nelly remarks "Far better that she should be dead, than lingering a burden and a misery-maker to all about her." These cold and callous comments reveal the truth about Nelly and her feelings, just as Heathcliff giving Catherine's body to Edgar, placing Catherine's needs ahead of his own, reveal the truth about the depths of his love. For Nelly, Catherine's death will be a blessing, a lessening of a burden; for Heathcliff, Catherine's death is the beginning of his own personal hell.
