The Tenant of Wildfell Hall construction, the artists hand also offers a form of independence, a possibility of earning a living, in a period when a woman had virtually no independent power base in any sphere." Nicole A. Diederich has argued that in "The Tenant" Anne Brontë constructs marriage and remarriage as a comparative and competitive practice that restricts Helen's rights and talents. Helen's artistic ability plays a central role in her relationships with both Gilbert and Arthur. Her alternating freedom to paint and inability to do so on her own terms not only complicate Helen's definition as wife, widow, and artist, but also enable
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