The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte published 1848 is the eleventh book I have read for my 2018 Back to the Classics Challenge - choose a classic by a woman author. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall when it was first published was considered the most shocking of the Bronte novels (and that's saying something!) but I guess in Victorian times a woman fleeing her abusive husband and taking her young son with her to start a new life elsewhere was considered more scandalous than anything Heathcliff or Mr. Rochester could come up with.
And so when The Tenant of Wildfell Hall begins it is 1827 and Helen Huntingdon and her young son have moved into Wildfell Hall, a run down mansion that has seen better days. Helen has changed her last name to Graham so her husband, Arthur, won't find her and she has let it be known to her new neighbors that she is a widow. Helen keeps to herself and rarely ventures out to social gatherings. One neighbor, Gilbert Markham (who narrates the book from the looking back vantage point of 1847) breaks through Helen's reserve. He takes a liking to her little boy as well.
Helen and Gilbert are growing closer but they have a falling out when false rumors about Helen begin to circulate. She decides to tell Gilbert the truth about her prior life, handing him her diary. The diary takes up a great part of this novel and it is a fascinating journal, drawing you in regarding who Helen was before she married Arthur Huntingdon, her Aunt's warning about marrying him, Helen's naive belief that she could change Arthur and his descent into alcoholism, unfaithfulness, emotional abuse and Helen's decision to leave.
I found The Tenant of Wildfell Hall to be an exceptional book and one theme running through this novel is that who you marry is serious business and not just for women. Lord Lowborough, for example, a character in the novel who falls in love with Annabella Wilmot who only marries him for his title. He is a good husband and she betrays him at every turn. Some have said that The Tenant of Wildfell Hall may have been Anne's response to Jane Eyre in which Mr. Rochester is reformed after going through trials and tribulations. That's not the case with Arthur Huntingdon who gets worse as the novel progresses no matter how hard Helen tries to save the marriage.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a very modern novel in many ways and yet all of what we have come to expect from the Brontes is there as well, most importantly the gifted story telling and so I heartily recommend The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
Great review.
ReplyDeleteI have been meaning to read this for some time. The fact that the book seemed so modern to you is interesting. Some great literature was so ahead of its time.
The theme of the seriousness of marriage was particularly important for the time. Reading literature of the time makes one realize how difficult Divorce and separation were back then. The wrong marriage was often a life sentence of misery.,
Thanks Brian, I came to The Tenant of Wildfell Hall with preconceptions. I knew that over the years critics had not placed Anne Bronte quite on the same level as her more famous sisters and so I figured there might be something about The Tenant of Wildfell Hall that made it a lesser novel somehow. But I was wrong. It's an exceptional novel and its a tragedy she died so young and you wonder what other novels she might have come up with.
DeleteI love this book! In fact, it might even be my favorite of the many Bronte books. (Shh...don't tell all the die-hard Jane Eyre fans.) And I don't think Anne gets enough credit when it comes to her writing. She seems to be the overlooked sister, which is sad. Anyway... great review! And Happy New Year. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Lark and Happy New Year! I agree Anne doesn't get enough credit as her sisters. I did a little research and discovered that when Tenant of Wildfell Hall was first published in 1848 it was selling even better than Jane Eyre but Anne died the next year and when the publishers came to her sister Charlotte to okay a second printing, Charlotte said no. Charlotte did not care for The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and called the book a mistake. The book would go back into circulation ten years later but by that point tbe public had lost interest and so you womder if Charlotte's very wrong decision to supress Anne's book had an affect on how critics would later view The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. Maybe Charlotte wanted the spotlight for her own books. ;D
DeleteI agree with your review. And I also agree that Anne doesn't get enough credit. Personally, I think she's the best (and most realistic) writer in the Bronte family. She had lots of potential, and it's a shame that she never had the chance to shine as brightly as her sisters. I believe that Charlotte - brilliant as she might have been in other aspects - had poor judgement when it came to her youngest sister's work. Maybe she was jealous as Anne's writing was so quiet, yet powerful. I recommend Samantha Ellis's book 'Take Courage' for further reading about Anne - brilliant book! - Oh, and Happy New Year :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Ginette and Happy New Hear to you too! Good point about Anne being the most realistic of the Bronte writers. She wrote about issues that were affecting Victorian women at the time for example a realistic portrayal in Agnes Grey of what its like to be a governess. Because as exciting as Heathcliff and Mr. Rochester are, one doesn't run into characters like that in real life. But what happens in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is still happening today.
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