The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte

...must write a bit about the context, so that my claims for this book's radical nature will make some sense. The novel was written in the 1840s. At this time, a married womanw as generally considered to be the property of her husband, with her wealth belonging to the man she married. A man could not be accused of raping his wife because by marrying him, she had consented to any sexual activities he cared to undertake. Any children in a marriage legally ...
...in that it deals with the story of a decent young woman who marries a thoroughly unpleasant man. The man drinks and indulges other vices, he has affairs, and has at least one live in mistress. The young wife leaves him, taking their son with her - the husband had been encouraging the five year old to drink and swear! The book is amazingly open on the subject of sexual infidelity, and there is an undertone of sexual violence. The plot is simple enough ...

Bryn_Pearson 30.07.2002 · Read full review
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Review of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte

...published in 1848. Narrated for the most part by farmer Gilbert Markham, it tells the story of Helen Huntingdon, a young widow who arrives with her small son to live at Wildfell Hall under the name Mrs Graham, trying to make a living for herself as an artist. Soon she becomes romantically involved with Markham. Their relationship is made difficult by the censorious attitude of his family and the local community, and particularly by Frederick Lawrence, ...
...hands Gilbert a diary telling the story of her disastrous marriage. This diary occupies just over half the book. In it she tells of having fallen for the ostensibly dashing rogue Arthur Huntingdon and, convinced her love will cure him of his philandering and excessive drinking she marries him, only to become totally disillusioned. She grits her teeth and puts up with his ways for as long as she can, but when she fears he is about to corrupt their ...

JOHNV 17.07.2001 · Read full review
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Review of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte

...impressed, especially when compared to the intellectual might of her sister Charlotte (Jane Eyre, Villette, Shirley, The Professor) or the passion of Emily (Wuthering Heights, more poetry than you could shake a stick at). I had decided internally that Anne must be the inferior writer of the family and only really published so she could keep up the family hobby, so to speak. Which just goes to show how wrong I can be. The novel is written in the ...
...Gilbert Markham writing to the husband of his sister offering to recount the events of twenty years ago, when the mysterious widow Helen Graham arrived to live in the hall of the title with her young son Arthur. The form of the letter is fairly quickly forgotten (until the end of the novel) and becomes to all intents and purposes just a device wherby the reader is treated to Gilbert's first person narrative. Through his eyes the reader experiences ...

Robs86 01.06.2009 · Read full review
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Review of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was written by Anne Bronte her books first appeared under the pseudonym of Acton Bell. This book was first published in June 1848 and was immediately successful, it is now hailed as the first feminist novel. It went against the prescribed submissive behavior expected of women in the 1840`s. The novel is set in Regency times and in this book she draws on her experience as a governess to over-privileged children, and this ...
...the book. The character of Huntingdon is thought to be based on her unfortunate brother Branwell who drank himself to death. The story is narrated by Gilbert Markham, he is a farmer who lives and works near Wildfell Hall and eventually falls in love with the heroine of the story, Helen Huntingdon (she uses the name Mrs. Graham). Helen arrives at Wildfell Hall with her young son, she supports herself and her son by painting and selling pictures. When ...

Azurel 22.05.2002 · Read full review
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Review of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte

The Tenant is one of the most underated books ever written. Over shadowed by both her sisters Anne Bronte is rarely given the credit she deserves. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a book that deals with the escape of an abused woman from her husband and her subsequent return when he falls ill. The plot is well made with plenty of pace and the use of a diary rather than flashbacks is both refreshing and useful as it allows the slower part of the book ...
...rounded with good motivations. The heroines devoutness justify's her actions without seeming to extreme and adds a religious struggle to the social one. Indeed the book has very few bad points. The romantic plot relies on coincidence for its conclusion and the pios attitude of Helen (the heroine) can be annoying. For all that this is still a better read than Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights. Unlike those two books it seems real and the characters ...

Telute 18.10.2000 · Read full review
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Review of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte

The Bronte sisters are of course so famous that they have their own place at the pinnacle of English literature but in asking people what they know about the three amazing girls, Charlotte and Emily wrote classically more famous books: "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights" respectively and so this one may be overlooked. Like "Agnes Grey", Anne Bronte draws on her experience as a governess and her brother Branwell provided the inspiration for Arthur ...
...more real one for the reader. The story is of a single woman who is a tenant in an abandoned old hall and becomes the object of gossip for her neighbours who wonder why she is living alone (that is without a husband, for she has a child). Yet there is one, Gilbert Markham, who resists believing such tales and slowly develops a tentative relationship with the guarded and secretive lady. In falling for each other, she gives him a copy of her diary ...

uptowngirl 14.08.2003 · Read full review
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Review of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte