Set in the familiar Brontë country of Yorkshire, the second and last novel of Anne Brontë, the youngest sister of the Brontë family sketches the similar themes as in other Brontë sisters' novels- love, domestic woes, gender discrimination and struggle of willful woman in the Victorian period!
Helen Graham, the new mysterious tenant of the Wildfell Hall in Shire, soon becomes the center of discussion in the small social circle of Shire. Her story progresses through the perspective of Gilbert Markham, the young farmer from Shire who is in devoted love with her. In his later letters to his brother-in-law, Gilbert explains-how he fell in love with Mrs. Graham, his attempts to woo her, how there arose a rumor about her landlord Mr. Lawrence and Helen; how even Gilbert falls prone to suspicion at a time and how Helen explained her life story to Gilbert through the medium of her diaries.
Helen Huntingdon’s life represents the lives of many women in the upper middle class society of the nineteenth century. Fallen prey to a wrong marriage with Arthur Huntingdon of Grassdale, she suffers betrayal, emotional abuse, differences in religious views, attempts of seduction and financial difficulties. However rather than choosing her fate in a calm manner, Helen decides to act. When Helen feels convinced that her ‘strength and purity’ won’t save her husband from ‘the gulf’ (p.206), she decides to save her only son from the bad influence of his father.
Helen’s escapade from her husband takes her to the Shire. As a female artist Helen support herself with her paintings in the male dominated society. The happiness doesn’t last long as the neighbors start to pry on her privacy. Even amidst the rumors, Helen finds her solace in the company of her brother Frederick and Gilbert Markham.
In the meanwhile, her duty as a wife calls her back to Grassdale to attend the ailing Huntingdon. Anne keeps the reader on anticipation till the final chapter on the question, whether Gilbert Graham’s love will be returned or Arthur Huntingdon would be redeemed?
In this novel the youngest of Brontë sisters points out mistake that many women make while choosing their marriage. The plot has been set in the time period of June 1st 1821 (as dated in the first entry of Helen’s diary) and June 10th 1847 (as dated in Gilbert’s letter to his brother in law). Though the theme can be applicable to the particular society and time, the novel’s popularity shows the relevance of theme in the present century and across the continents too. Even though Helen’s Victorian upbringing is inclined by the traditional Christian/moral view than an overtly feminist one, Anne Brontë has highlighted the significance of women empowerment in this novel.
At times, while reading this novel, I felt that in contrast to the other Brontë heroines, Helen is somewhat cold and rigid. She doesn’t have the kind attitude of Jane Eyre, passion of Catherine Earnshaw and the caring nature of Agnes Grey. Helen seems to look forward to the rewards after death than that in earth, which makes her insensitive to worldly affairs. .
The above characteristic of Helen Huntingdon may be attributed to the writing style of Anne Brontë. Written under the pseudonym of Acton Bell, Anne Brontë never preferred the art of employing romance and melodrama to a realistic fiction. The realism in her works certainly makes her work so captivating but leave some cold attributes in her characters.
After all, many women readers that Anne Brontë was addressing belonged to the above category of Victorian society. Trapped in the pretension of happy marriages, many of them must have found their own lives in this book. Though many critics slammed this book as written by the Brontë without genius, the novel definitely appeals to the major evils in a Victorian society-unhappy marriages, alcoholism and social prejudices.
When the reader approaches the Tenant of Wildfell Hall as an art of fiction than criticizing it, she/ he can’t stop appreciating the style of writing. Anne Brontë has made the drama effective with the style of a story within a story. Each character in this novel might be representing one of the characters in the Victorian society that Brontë must have acquainted with. Also, she doesn’t put the blame for discord in marriages entirely on women. She also portrays Annabelle who ruins her own marriage with infidelity. Also, she must have tried to portray evil effects of licentiousness and distinguished moral standards of the Victorian period through a cognizant, perceptive style of her characters. Tenant of Wildfell Hall definitely requires a loud applause for this attempt.
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