Tenant Of Wildfell Hall Feminist Quotes

“A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle” (huffingtonpost.com). Anne Bronte’s novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall displays a strong sense of feminism throughout the novel. Bronte chooses to illustrate this sensitive topic through the protagonist of the novel, Helen Graham. Helen is a reclusive who is too individualistic for the time period she lives in. Because of this, she is shunned and viewed as an outcast for expressing her femininity. Helen challenges the role of women in society and is branded a lunatic, when truly she should have been called a visionary. Helen is able to see past the expired perspective of humanity and challenge the social ethics code of Pre Victorian England. In Bronte’s novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Helen Graham is used to symbolize the slow …show more content…
Helen’s attitude towards Arthur Huntingdon shows that she understands their marriage was a mistake, and will not tolerate his foolishness. Throughout the first half of the novel, Helen’s aunt told her, "When I tell you not to marry without love, I do not advise you to marry for love alone” (63). Helen’s aunt can see that Helen is in love with Arthur for the wrong reasons. She speaks of Arthur’s Helen argues that she realizes that Arthur has flaws, it is his flaws that make her fall or him. Helen brags that she will be able to change Arthur for the better when she says, “I know I can and will save him from his life of sin” (82). This final statement to her aunt is what locks in her mind that she wants to marry Arthur Huntingdon. She marries Arthur not out of true love, but out her own pride. Only a few weeks into their marriage, Helen starts to realize how flawed her marriage to