The Tenant of Wildfell Hall / Anne Bronte

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Anne Bronte's personal background shines through in this novel. Her upbringing as a clergyman's daughter is reflected in the main character Helen's religious view of life. Frankly, Helen becomes quite tiresome with all of her preachifying to her husband and his friends. Like Anne's sister Charlotte's Jane Eyre, who dutifully returns to nurse her Aunt Reed despite that woman's actions, Helen does her nursing duty when called upon. And like Jane, she is rewarded for it.

But Anne also spent time as a governess. By all accounts, it took her some time to get used to living outside the family home and away from her sisters. With her religious upbringing, it must have been a shock to live in a more secular household. Her first situation seems to have involved children who were indulged rather than disciplined, reflecting Helen's concern for her son's upbringing. Anne was a quiet woman and probably also observed far more bad adult behaviour than she let on. I would imagine that some of these experiences were fodder for the drawing room drama in this novel.

She was also witness to her brother Branwell's poor choices, addiction, decline, and death. I have to believe that Arthur's drunkenness and drug use may have been based on Branwell's life, as perhaps are Arthur's infidelities. Branwell, because he was male in the very patriarchal environment, got away with addiction, shirking work, and an affair with his boss's wife, when any of his sisters would have been disowned for such actions. You can see this same dynamic at work in Gilbert, who may be vastly superior to Arthur but still acts like an asshole regularly. He pouts and stomps when he doesn't get his way immediately. He gravely injures Frederick during a temper tantrum and is reluctant to admit how wrong he was even when it becomes plainly obvious. Basically, he's a spoiled, entitled man-child.

It's pretty apparent that Anne saw the unfairness of her society's treatment of women. Once married, a woman was stuck with her husband and had little recourse if he was a brute, a gambler, or a drunkard. He controlled the money, even if it was hers, and everything she owned and was. I'm only amazed that women were willing to remarry. Very much the triumph of hope over experience.

This novel is truly on par with the more famous books penned by her sisters. Kind of preachy, but not surprising when the author's background is taken into account. It seemed strange to me that after showing all the various ways that romantic love could ruin a person's life, that Anne was willing to grant her characters a happily-ever-after ending.


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