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
Helen Graham (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall) and is badly injured. As he is unwilling to stop drinking alcohol, Arthur's health deteriorates and he eventually dies. Now unburdened by her marriage to Arthur, Helen and Gilbert marry and have at least two children together. By the end of the novel, Little Arthur is grown up and is residing at Grassdale Manor with his wife, Helen Hattersley (the daughter of Milicent Hargrave and Ralph Hattersley). Helen is described by Gilbert in the first chapter of the novel when he sees her at church: Later he revealed that her eyes were very dark grey, almost black and a 'large,