Scholastic Classics: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Author: Tales of a Librarian

Rating: 5

Review: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was a book I originally read when I was 14 or 15 (so a while ago then...) and I remember enjoying it at the time but not connecting with it in the way I had with Anne Bronte's sisters more well known works. 'Tenant' and Anne Bronte herself, have some interesting history surrounding them so a bit about that before I delve into the book. Anne Bronte is sometimes regarded as the least of the Bronte siblings - like the third Beatle - rated even below her infamous brother Branwell. And yet the youngest sister was far more in touch with her time and its injustices than her more famous sisters. Where Charlotte is quite derogatory and unsympathetic about the mill workers in 'Shirley' and rather disparaging of the poor in general (Charlotte, though unable to vote since she had the misfortune of being born female, was a life long Tory supporter.), Anne portrays a far wider view, suggesting that people are mostly a product of their environment and that no one is hopelessly unreachable. Where Emily portrays love as a great destructive force that removes ones wit's, reason and accountability leaving the unfortunate possessor to crawl through all the darkest and most deplorable creases in the human soul, Anne suggests that love simply is and it is the use that is made of it which determines its ultimate outcome for good or ill. Charlotte and Branwell were unable to temper passion with reason. Charlotte - from reading her books, her excessive use of the word 'master' (the working title of The Professor was originally 'The Master' which is pretty shuddersome if you've read that book) her letters to Constatin Heger and to Ellen Nussey, wanted to give full unrestrained vent to her feelings and have another be responsible for reining her in. Branwell took this romantic masochism a step further after his affair with a married woman ended badly, going thoroughly to hell through drink, drugs and ultimately killing himself by ruining his health. Anne, meanwhile, may well have felt some affection towards a certain curate, but while Charlotte flirted with him outrageously, Anne was weighing up his character, reserving judgement on him until she saw whether he would make himself someone worthwhile with what he had be given. The young man in question unfortunately died less than a year later so the question was never answered. But it is astounding that Anne who was liberal minded, self possessed, hard working, ethical, sympathetic and impassioned to speak out against social injustices despite her own shyness, is somehow shuffled off to one side. Agnes Grey successfully takes down the upper classes a peg or ten. It seemed on surface a simple novel and is often considered a far poorer imitation of Jane Eyre. (In fact it was written at least a year or more before Jane Eyre and Charlotte nicked Anne's idea!) It doesn't contain the sensational matter of Jane Eyre but it is more honest, drawn from life and there is evidence that it caused discussions on the poor treatment of governesses. And then there's 'Tenant'. In case my fellow Bronte enthusiasts don't know this, almost all other editions of this book have been hacked about and crudely cut. You've probably never read the book as it was originally published - no manuscript of the original now survives. This hacking happened after Anne's death in order cut printing costs (the publishers wanted to fit three volumes into a single book) and because Charlotte, the only Bronte sibling still alive at that point, was trying to carefully control her public image. She'd dealt with a lot of complaints and bad reviews on 'Tenant', which was selling well despite this, (and perhaps on some level she didn't want the competition, so she belittled the book - Charlotte did abhor Anne's second book, finding the subject matter distasteful) so she chopped the more inflammatory passages out. These passages include the suggestion that Arthur Huntingdon raped his wife, Helen, after too much alcohol. That when Helen found out he was having an affair, she considers a retaliatory affair of her own for two paragraphs - this is radical for Victorian writing. The framing narrative that shows how Gilbert Markham has changed and become a better man through his association with Helen, and how they have a partnership of equals, was also removed. In fact anything obviously controversial was cut and Helen is made out to be a mealy mouthed and rather anti social heroine instead of morally strong and very human. It is a crying shame because it means most people have only read a nonsensical neutered version. This penguin edition is as close as you can now get to the book Anne intended with her heroine, Helen Graham, fully human, powerful and full of agency. If you're considering a reread go for this edition - Stevie Davis has restored the original text as best she can and the uncut text is significantly different. The story itself: Helen the MC, falls in love with a man who likewise loves her. Against the advice of her aunt she marries him. Worse, against the her own misgivings, she marries him. Arthur Huntingdon is not a charming reformed rake. Within a few short years of their marriage, he reveals himself as violent, unprincipled, controlling and a drunken narcissist. The last part is what's interesting. Anne Bronte clearly portrays a relationship that even in its very early stages is emotionally abusive and manipulative, long before such terms as 'toxic narcissist' and 'gaslighting' were invented. She shows clearly how you can fall in love with someone, brush away misgivings certain that you can save them from themselves (a toxic idea still pedalled to women even now) and find that all your hopes and plans were in vain. That love can truly be there at the beginning on both sides, and go horribly, irreparably wrong. And then there is a child involved, Helen's 5-yr-old son. Can I stress enough how unusual it is to have a mother as the heroine in 19th C literature? It just wasn't done. Okay so technically Cathy is a mother for 5mins in Wuthering Heights before Emily kills her off and keeps her as a ghost, allowing young Catherine to take the heroine's role. But in general it didn't happen. Anne not only puts a mother front and centre, she makes her an absolute tigress. Now think about the time period. 'Tenant' is set between 1827 and 1847. The latter is when it was probably completed. Women over 30 got the vote in 1918. Women of 21 and over did not get the right to vote until 1928. The married woman's property act was not passed until 1882 (Nearly 40 yrs after the publication of 'Tenant'.) The tender years doctrine giving presumption of maternal custody of children until they reached 16, was passed in 1873. Women had NO individual rights under the law and no one to appeal to in the 19th C. It was assumed that they were protected under their father's and then their husband's legal rights. In other words, we were chattel. So what happened if it was your husband you needed protection from? Unless you were very lucky and escaped, you had to lump it no matter how violent he was until either he went too far and killed you or you died by some other means or until he did. Even if you did escape, if you were found out you were legally compelled to return to your husband. Your children belonged to him. Your dowery, your fortune, everything you had upon getting married transferred to your husband upon marriage. (Check out Wilkie Collins The Woman in White for a better understanding of the legal wrangling.) Theoretically your husband could keep everything and throw you out of the house. The reason I've banged on about all that is because this novel written when it was, was a piece of practical, radical feminism with a clear goal and courage behind it unlike anything seen by the keyboard hobbyists touting radical feminist views today. This was something that really needed to be addressed and a quiet, least regarded vicar's daughter from an out of the way Yorkshire milling town was the one who did it. The themes in 'Tenant' are as relevant today as they were when it was written. Anne doesn't write with the Byronic pyrotecnics and sensation of her sisters and I think this has led people to miss the point of her novels. In actual fact Anne's novels and 'Tenant' especially, speak far more of justice, equality and hope than Charlotte's ever could. She was not the least talented Bronte, she was the most morally courageous.

Author: Ab

Rating: 3

Review: Saw this described as the first feminist novel and I totally get that. There were lots of fascinating insights into male attitudes and female compliance with those attitudes, with judgement reserved for the men who had a choice in their behaviour and the women who, for the most part, did not. I also thoroughly enjoyed the section ‘written’ by Helen and I understand that this was written in a different time when people would want a story to keep them entertained for a decent length of time. However, the parts written in the voice of Gilbert were less interesting, entertaining or gripping and I just wanted to shake him! And, after droning on for what seemed like forever, the ending itself seemed really rushed. So, although I’m pleased to have read it and can appreciate it’s significance, I was also very glad when it was over.