The Tenant

Seneca Falls. This topic in my opinion closely relates to Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. In 1848, around the same time this novel was published the Seneca Falls women's rights convention took place in the United States. They fought for the woman's right to vote and overall equality. It was like men and women lived in different worlds they had to obey different rules and standards. Men basically had little rule, while women were very oppressed. They couldn't make decisions and own property. Bronte certainly flipped the script with this novel showing the empowered female through her protagonist Helen Graham.

Helen Graham is a young woman who changes her identity when she flees from her alcoholic husband who's been leading a life of corruption. She enters this nosy town who finds her new face to be quite interesting. Her new neighbor, Gilbert Markham, is terribly fascinated with Helen. At one point I felt that he could be deemed a stalker because she would not give him the time of day and he still persisted. Eventually Helen gives him her diary which pours out the confessions of her previously disastrous life and gives way to hope for a new future and helps both Gilbert and the reader understand the pain of this troubled woman.

Helen passionately challenging ideas such as the extreme sheltering of girls, and the extreme exposure of boys, to the harshness of the world. We especially see this when Gilbert Markham argues with Helen over the differential treatment of boys and girls and the implied outcomes. Helen's protective treatment of her son Arthur sparks reaction in Gilbert. Gilbert's response to this is to say that "...and by such means ... you will never render him virtuous". His outlook is that based on the society in order to prepare boys to be men it is necessary for them to be exposed to the dangers of the world as a means of developing a strong moral character. It is a double standard for females by the view that girls and women must be protected from the harsh realities of the world in order to protect them from moral distress or tainting. It is this contradiction that Helen addresses, challenging the importance of exposure to use as a strengthening of moral character, and the value of keeping girls in complete ignorance of the world's vice to prevent their corruption. Helen's position, very much for a balance, a respect for the moral character of the female and concern for the development of boys.

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