The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Austen's style, but "with less of that particular quality which her dialogues invariably possessed". Considering the novels structure as "faulty", "Examiner" concludes that "it is scarcely possible to analyze [the novel]". An American magazine "Literature World", believing all the novels by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell were produced by the same person, praised their author as a genius, who can make "his incongruities appear natural". Noting, that "all that is good or attractive about [the male characters in "The Tenant"] is or might be womanish" it supposes that the author may be "some gifted and retired woman". Despite considering "The
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall the central tenet of 19th century domestic ideology – women's influence on men – famously postulated by Hannah More. This doctrine found its way into even "protofeminist" novels such as "Jane Eyre", where the main heroine fulfills (or reduces) her ambitions for a wider life by taming and managing her husband. In "The Tenant", however, masculinity is impervious to the softening or "superior" influence of women. Marrying Arthur, Helen is convinced that she can reform him, but six years later she escapes from him to protect herself and her young son. Helen’s second husband, Gilbert Markham, who despite many faults