The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and its power of pleasing must be regarded, as well as its mere capabilities of force or effect. It is not only the subject of this novel, however, that is objectionable, but the manner of treating it. There is a coarseness of tone throughout the writing of all these Bells [Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë], that puts an offensive subject in its worst point of view, and which generally contrives to dash indifferent things". A critic in "Athenaeum", probably H. F. Chorley, cited "The Tenant" as "the most entertaining novel we have read in a month past". However, he warned
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and "eloquence in proclaiming the equality of men and women." She believed that "The Tenant" "might be said to be the first manifesto for 'Women's Lib'". Inga-Stina Ewbank considered Anne the least talented of the sisters and claimed that the framing structure, where "Helen can reveal her innermost being to the diary" while Gilbert is "bound to be as objective as possible," "throws novel out of balance." However, she believed that "through the very nature of its central concern, "The Tenant" is feminist in the deepest sense of the word." Daphne du Maurier discussed "The Tenant" in the context Anne's