Deconstructing the Stereotypical Images of Victorian Women in Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Document Type : Original Article

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Assistant Professor of English Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University College of Sharia and Islamic Studies in Al-Ahsa Department of English Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This paper aims at deconstructing the stereotypical images about Victorian women as submissive, silent and unintellectual. The common belief about women in the Victorian age is that women were likely to comply with the Victorian patriarchal norms that expected women to stay at home and take care of their husbands and children. However, Anne Bronte in her novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall challenges the norms of her society by introducing her female characters as autonomous and rebellious. Bronte presents the heroine Helen as a powerful woman who frees herself of the restrictions of her patriarchal society both financially and emotionally. In order to construct her female identity as an artist, Helen escapes the corrupt lifestyle with her husband Huntingdon at Grassdale manor and runs away to Wildfell hall along with her son where she starts using her artwork to support herself financially and establish her individuality. Therefore, Bronte suggests that women can become active participants in society if they are given the opportunity to do so.
 
 
 

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