The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is the second and final novel by English author Anne Brontë, published in 1848. It is framed as a letter from Gilbert Markham to his friend and brother-in-law about the events leading to his meeting his wife.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall challenged the prevailing morals of the Victorian era. Especially shocking was Helen's slamming of her bedroom door in the face of her husband after continuing abuse, thereby overturning the sexual politics for the time. A critic went so far as to pronounce it "utterly unfit to be put into the hands of girls," though other critics cited it as "the most entertaining novel we have read in a month past." It is considered to be one of the first feminist novels.

The main character, Helen, is spirited and forthright, unafraid to speak to the men in her life with frankness. Anne Bronte portrays this as desirable, compared to the meekness of Milicent, who is trampled and ignored by her unrepentant husband.

Vice is not isolated to the men however; the adultery of Lady Lowborough has a particularly devastating effect on her husband and the malice of Eliza Millward is poisonous to the entire community. The eternal struggle between good and evil is emphasised by heavy use of Biblical references, but sinners who repent and listen to reason are brought within the fold, while those who remain stubborn tend to meet violent or miserable ends.

The novel also seems to be Anne's response to the novels of her sisters. Arthur Huntingdon bears many similarities to Mr. Rochester in her sister Charlotte's Jane Eyre . Also, the preponderous of "H" names (Halford, Helen, Huntingdon, Hattersley, and Hargrave) recalls Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, as well as the estate itself-- Wildfell Hall and Wuthering Heights.

The novel was adapted into two television films, both of which were made by the BBC. The 1968 version starred Janet Munro, while Tara Fitzgerald, James Purefoy, and Rupert Graves starred in the 1996 version. (More news from wikipedia.org)

Download The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

Pdf format, 1.05mb, 411pages. Published by Pennsylvania State University

About the Author:

Anne Brontë (IPA: [bɹɒntɪ]) (January 17, 1820 – May 28, 1849) was a British novelist and poet, the youngest of the Brontë literary family. She used the pen name Acton Bell.

She was born in the village of Thornton, Yorkshire, England, the last of six children. After the family moved to Haworth in 1821 where her father, Patrick Brontë, was appointed perpetual curate, Anne's mother, Maria Branwell Brontë, died of cancer. In 1825, her two eldest siblings, Maria and Elizabeth died of tuberculosis contracted at the Clergy Daughters' boarding school at Cowan Bridge, Lancashire. Much has been written about the influence of these deaths on Brontë and her remaining siblings as well as its possible influence on their writings.

Anne was educated at Miss Wooler's school at Roe Head, Mirfield. Between 1839 and 1845 she worked as a governess while writing in her spare time, which she had begun to do in early childhood with her two surviving sisters, Charlotte and Emily. Their first publication, a volume of poetry, was released under a pseudonym in 1846, a year after she began her first novel, Agnes Grey. It was published within a month of Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre and was bound in three volumes with her sister Emily's novel Wuthering Heights. Her second and last novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was published in 1848, shortly before the deaths of her brother Branwell and her sister Emily in September and December of 1848 respectively.

Anne died of pulmonary tuberculosis at the seaside resort of Scarborough, England, where she had gone to convalesce after a prolonged illness. A blue plaque on the wall of the town's Grand Hotel marks her place of death. She was buried in the town's Saint Mary's Churchyard. (More news from wikipedia.org)

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