As Anne Brontë worked on her second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, she had in mind the terrible ravages alcohol had inflicted on her brother, Branwell. When her sister Charlotte took exception to her portrayal due to its uncomfortable association with their brother, Anne defended it, believing the topic was just as appropriate to fiction as her sister’s favored topic of social equality.

The novel’s protagonist is its first-person point-of-view narrator, the farmer Gilbert Markham. He loves Helen Graham, who is the title’s tenant of Wildfell Hall, but knows little about her other than the beauty and grace she possesses. While most believe her to be a widow, Markham does not know the truth, but he defends her against negative gossip that arises as others question her past and the propriety of her circumstances. When he observes her affectionate interaction with her landlord, Frederick Lawrence, Markham becomes incensed, understanding that such actions verge on social scandal. As the two appear to become intimate, Markham attacks Lawrence in a jealous rage.

Brontë then employs the flashback technique, a narrative approach new to her. Helen notes her love for Markham in a diary, but also records details of her past, moving readers through time. She writes of her doomed marriage to an alcoholic named Arthur Huntingdon, who ultimately abused and humiliated her when she attempted to reform him. Her sharp portrait of Huntingdon’s dissipation mirrored the real dissipation of Branwell, who would die from drug and alcohol abuse only three months following the novel’s publication. That detail, in addition to Brontë’s scenes of Helen’s locking her door against her husband, and drunken men invading their wives’ bedrooms, succeeded in shocking readers to consider the negative effects of alcohol, precisely Brontë’s intent.

Markham learns that Helen had left her husband to live with Lawrence, who is actually her brother. She returns to care for the ill Huntingdon, who mercifully dies. Now Helen is free to marry Markham, but he is at first put off by her sudden wealth, brought about through inheritance. In an interesting reversal on the traditional situation of a man wondering whether he should marry beneath his station, Brontë emphasizes the folly of class separation. Ironically, Markham’s mother does not approve of the marriage, due to the past rumors regarding Helen; she also does not want Markham to leave the farm to live at Helen’s estate. Markham also must win the approval of Helen’s aunt and her son, Arthur. He does so and, eight months after Huntingdon’s death and with everyone’s support, leaves the family farm in the hands of his brother Fergus and marries Helen. The last pages describe their life together following their wedding.

Brontë was assailed so vigorously by complaints about the novel and criticism as to its inappropriate subject matter that she appended a famous foreword to its second edition, defending her presentation. She maintained it better to present vicious characters in reality rather than as she wished they might be, adding, “I wished to tell the truth, for truth always conveys its own moral.” Her defense of this new approach to fiction enlarged the already considerable contributions of the Brontë sisters to the novel’s development. Despite protests, the novel proved popular and was a financial success; it is frequently studied and readily available.

Bibliography
Lloyd Evans, Barbara, and Gareth Lloyd Evans. The Scribner Companion to the Brontës. New York: Scribner, 1982.

Categories: British Literature, Literature, Novel Analysis

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