The Tenant of Wildfell Hall a present-day Yorkshire village. In "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" film adaptation, Juliet Ashton (Lily James), argues about the cultural significance of "The Tenant": "In "Wildfell Hall", Anne Brontë laid bare the essential imbalance of power between men and women in the suffocating hierarchical structure of Victorian marriage." According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term cardboard first appeared in "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall". Phrase "tied to the apron strings" was also coined in the novel: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is the second and final novel by the English author
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is "more pliable," never shows any noticeable reform throughout the novel. Joshi concludes that Gilbert is "tottering toward a new form of masculinity" together with Jack Halford, his close friend, by exchanging confidences and, by learning to communicate and reveal emotions, doing what is considered to be feminine, he can redeem himself, become a new man and a worthy husband of Helen. Of all Arthur's friends, only Walter Hargrave has never been a heavy drinker. He uses this as a manipulation in an attempt to win her favour. When it doesn't work, he starts speculating that Helen cannot manage her