Valentine's Day Classics Corner: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte; The Realistic Counterpoint to the More Romantic Bronte Sisters

Valentine's Day Classics Corner: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte; The Realistic Counterpoint to The More Romantic Bronte Sisters 

Spoilers: Each month I plan to review at least one classic novel from the 19th early 20th century. These books are some of my favorites and I feel in a blog of book reviews, that it is important to remember the OG classics.

This is the first of two Valentine's Day Classics that I will review this month
Though Anne Bronte isn't near as well known as her sisters, Charlotte and Emily, her book, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall deserves to stand out as a classic alongside Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Personally, I liked Jane Eyre better, but found Tenant of Wildfell Hall a much better book than Wuthering Heights (which as many Readers will recall I read last year to much dislike ). I found Tenant's lead character a stronger protagonist and it made an interesting commentary to Bronte's sister's books.

Helen Graham-Huntington arrives in a village becoming the target of gossip and scandal among the locals. She also becomes the object of local landowner Gilbert Markham's affections. At first, he is enamored and jealous of the woman even attacking a man that he mistakes to be her lover. But then he learns of her story and becomes a better character defending her against attacks.

The middle half of the book which recounts Helen's story is better than the beginning. Here we find Helen, a passionate young woman determined to marry for love. What she gets instead is Arthur Huntington, a charismatic and brutal man who devolves into an abusive alcoholic. 

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall has a very strong female lead with Helen. While she is in an impossible situation, she never allows herself to lose her resolve. She saves money and paints on the side to earn a living to leave. She lectures and protects her young son, hoping for him not to end up like his father. She also does what many women of her day would not do: she leaves him to start a new life. She is a much better character than either of her suitors, the abusive, Arthur and brash, Markham.

The other point of interest with Tenant is how it stands in relation to Anne's sister's works. While Charlotte and Emily Bronte's works are more Romantic and passionate in nature, Anne's appears to be more Realistic. In her writing Anne Bronte's characters live in dark creepy mansions in the country and have forbidden secrets but they still deal with real world problems, such as alcoholism, infidelity, divorce.It's almost as though Anne were saying "This is what really would happen if Cathy had married Heathcliff and lived all her life in isolation. It's not pretty is it?"

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall could stand to be a commentary on Anne's sister's books the Realism that contrasts with the Romance making a complete picture of the sisters' works and lives.