The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Helen's diary; and in turn, Helen's diary includes Arthur's autobiographical reminiscences. Anne Brontë starts her novel in a social comedy manner, reminiscent of Jane Austen. Like "Pride and Prejudice", "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" starts with the arrival of a new person in a neighbourhood — a source of curiosity for a small rural community. Unlike Austen, Brontë makes a woman the center of interest. Reticent Mrs. Graham with her views on alcohol consumption and girls’ education, controversial for the 19th century, soon becomes an outcast. Tess O'Toole calls "The Tenant" "the most unusual example of 19th century domestic fiction",
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Unlike Chitham and Liddell, Maria H. Frawley named the criticism of 19th century domestic ideology that encouraged women to "construct themselves as ethereal angels of morality and virtue" the central element in "The Tenant". Betty Jay, analyzing Helen's marital experience, concluded that "The Tenant" "not only demonstrates that the individual is subject to powerful ideological forces which delineate his or her place within culture and society, but that there are ways in which these forces can subverted and resisted by those who suffer as a result. In a narrative which dramatizes the complex interplay between subject and society by focusing