Joseph

Joseph is an elderly, hale, and sinewy servant at Wuthering Heights whose presence spans the entire timeline of the novel's events. Very old in appearance and temperament, he is marked by a perpetually sour, peevish expression and a tendency toward cantankerous religious ejaculations—calling upon the Lord for aid with undertones of displeasure. His vocation, as Nelly observes, is to be present where there is wickedness to reprove, making him both servant and self-appointed moral arbiter of the Heights. He performs practical labors—caring for horses, heeding his master's orders—while maintaining a constant background of pious complaint and religious disapproval. Though he witnesses the household's systematic cruelty and degradation, he remains, suggesting either loyalty or complicity; his continued presence despite the household's moral corruption marks him as an ambiguous figure in the saga of Wuthering Heights.