The Tenant of Wildfell Hall universal salvation for all souls. She does not reassure the elder Arthur about this on his deathbed because she wants him to repent of his wrongdoing on his own accord. Despite his inability to do so, Helen still believes in his redemption. Unlike her elder sisters, Anne Brontë did not follow the Romantic style in her two novels, opting instead for Realism. Many critics, including Anne's sister Charlotte, considered her depiction of alcoholism and adultery overly graphic and disturbing. In defence, Anne openly stated her writer’s intentions in the preface to the second edition of the novel. Often, when depicting
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