The Tenant of Wildfell Hall last decades of the 20th century "The Tenant" started to get critical acclaim. Elizabeth Langland in her 1989 monograph "Anne Brontë: The Other One" said: "It is worth pausing briefly to reflect on what might have been Anne’s fate had "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" been re-published with "Agnes Grey" so that critics could re-acquaint themselves with Anne’s greater novel and so that critics could take that opportunity to measure the substantial artistic growth between the two novels." Langland argued that the heroines in Anne's novels influenced those of Charlotte, and named Anne among the first women writers to adopt
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall the control and custody of her children. Helen is misled by ideas of romantic love and duty into the delusion that she can repair her husband's conduct. Hattersley declares that he wants a pliant wife who will not interfere with his fun, but the truth is that he really wants quite the opposite. Milicent cannot resist her mother's pressure, so she marries Ralph against her will. Wealthy Annabella wants only a title, while Lord Lowborough devotedly loves her. The social climber Jane Wilson seeks wealth. Helen escapes from her husband, in violation of English law as it then was, not