Literatura Victoriana

Comment on Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848)

Rebecca Carey Arribas

CHAPTER I

“The next day was Saturday; and, on Sunday, everybody wondered whether or not the
fair unknown would profit by the vicar’s remonstrance, and come to church. I confess, I
looked with some interest myself towards the old family pew, appertaining to Wildfell
Hall, where the faded crimson cushions and lining had been unpressed and unrenewed so
many years, and the grim escutcheons, with their lugubrious borders of rusty black cloth,
frowned so sternly from the wall above.
And there I beheld a tall, lady-like figure, clad in black. Her face was towards me, and
there was something in it, which, once seen, invited me to look again.”

Pages 15-16, Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008; World’s Classics edition by Josephine McDonagh

Society’s values on love and religion: Gilbert’s first impression of Helen

In this passage, which is the first chapter in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, the
narrator describes how the church was the centre of village life since everyone in the area
was curious to see if the new woman in town would attend church the next Sunday. At
this point in the novel, everyone has noticed that a lady has moved in, but they do not
know anything about her or how she came to be there and start making assumptions about
how she will decide whether to attend church or not. In other words, they are disputing
her religious beliefs. Furthermore, it is essential to point out that religion plays a
significant role in the novel since it illustrates the significance that people placed on
religion and the lengths to which most people went to get respectability. Considering this,
it was considered wicked to skip church, as Helen Graham is accused of doing.

àit was considered unusual to miss out on church services,

In this passage, Gilbert Markham provides the reader with thorough information
about Helen's physical attributes. In fact, not only does he inform the reader that she
appeared at church on Sunday but how she looks too. Gilbert describes her as a tall woman
dressed in all black, and he claims that this draws his attention to her repeatedly.
Additionally, it is also crucial to remember that this scenario takes place in a church,
where the subject of religion rather than Helen's appearance should be the major focus.
Therefore, despite giving religion a lot of importance, this topic no longer has any
relevance because people occasionally give more weight to someone else’s appearance
and the rumours that have been spread about them than to getting to know them and
learning about their preferences, ideologies, and, most importantly, their hearts. Thus, this
fact illustrates how everyone who attended church stops paying attention to the sermon
and starts talking about Helen and criticising her without cause. People begin remarking
on her attractiveness rather than her religious convictions.

à stopped paying attention to the sermon and started making unfounded

judgments about her

Gilbert's words clearly reflect appeal and enchantment, as can be seen. Gilbert
appears to show his admiration for Helen's stunning beauty as he describes it in detail.
Even though Gilbert is ignorant of Helen's background or the challenges she has
experienced, he is nonetheless mesmerised by her outer beauty given that no personality
features are expressed. Moreover, it is vital to observe how he describes her as an object
and how he expresses how much he appreciates viewing her as a work of art. Gilbert
merely compliments Helen on her external beauty; he doesn't appear to give any thought
to her internal beauty. At this point in the novel, we see Helen as a gorgeous woman who
is new in the area and appears to be reserved, but we do not really know much about her
outlook on life, the events that may have shaped who she is now, her interests, her goals
in life, or her challenges that she experiences daily. It's also fascinating to note that Helen
does not give the reader a thorough account of Gilbert's look and as a result, the reader
does not know much about Gilbert(‘s) appearance and how Helen really is. In fact, her
life and personality can only be seen and understood along the whole narrative.

throughout