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Diana - Tenant 44-48

The switch back to Gilbert's narration at the end of chapter 44 was a bit abrupt. I'm curious as to his purpose in writing a 500 page letter to Halford. There must be some purpose, because Gilbert is laying everything out so methodically. Then at the end of chapter 48, we're suddenly pulled about fifteen years into the future. Who is Halford, and why is Gilbert writing to him?

If Helen were alive today, she'd probably be headed for counseling. She badgers people who care for her until she extracts promises that they will not try to see her (Hargrave, Markham 384). The irony is that she gave her future to a man who not only made her no promises, he made it quite clear before they married that he had no intention devoting himself to her. He implied he did not care about her feelings, and he has kept that implied promise, which has made her miserable. Although she is doing what is morally right, she is paying a terrible price to do so, because she didn't heed her aunt's advice.

Diana - Tenant ch 38-43

I believe I'm in the minority when I say Mr. Hargrave didn't give me the creeps. I found his instinct to protect Helen to be gentlemanly, and when he saw she could take no more abuse, he always interceded on her behalf. Additionally, he always made himself available to her when she needed a protector, and he went out of his way to spend time with "the boys" when they were at their worst, although he didn't imbibe. I thought this an attempt to mitigate the damage that might have otherwise occurred to Helen, because at one point, even she acknowledges that Hargrave never drinks to excess, even though he is with those who do.

I think Helen is frightened of her own feelings for Hargrave. After being deeply wounded by Huntingdon, she fears loving again and keeps her feelings well hidden, even from herself. However, there are a couple of times when she admits obliquely that she finds him kind and is attracted to him. When she tells him, "I don't like you. . .and if I were [free] I would not marry you" (343), I felt she was trying to convince herself that she does not like him so she can feel justified in spurning his advances. She soon catagorizes him as "the false villain Hargrave" (346). Is Hargrave a villain? Hardly. If anything is a "false villain," it is Helen's heart, which yearns for the love and devotion Hargrave offers, and thus betrays her marital vows.

Diana - Tenant ch 32-37

In these chapters, Helen and Milicent display their level of friendship more deeply than they have before, underscoring the emotional need women have for friends. Helen says "How odd it is that we so often weep for each other's distresses, when we shed not a tear for our own!" (272) Relationships with men can never completely fulfill a woman's emotional needs, and Helen's relationship with Arthur is worse than many marriages, increasing her need for female companionship.

The old adage, "the wife is always the last to know," also plays out in these chapters. No wife wants to believe her husband is unfaithful. She will tread every path of denial in an effort to prove her intuition wrong. Helen is no exception. We cringe as we read about her effusive greeting of Huntingdon near the shrubbery (285), because we know the truth. We sympathize and read more quickly as the moment of revelation draws close. When Huntingdon declares to Annabella he does not love Helen, "not one bit, by all that's sacred!" (291), we grow indignant at his blasphemy and flinch at the pain he inflicts on Helen, who hears his declaration.

Helen's hurt is so deep, she even turns away from Milicent. Helen finally stops blaming all those around her for Arthur's misdeeds and their horrible marriage and fully accepts the blame. "I wanted no confidant in my distress. I deserved none--and I wanted none. I had taken the burden upon myself: let me bear it alone" (293).

As Hargrave courts her, we not only wish she had married him, we wish him success, although Helen would be breaking her own marriage vows by succumbing to him. He loves her so intensely that she begins to respond, and we cheer him on. However, we're brought up short when she reminds us in her final refusal of him that her integrity is all she has left. "I have nothing left me but the solace of a good conscience and a hopeful trust in Heaven, and you labour continually to rob me of these" (322). We realize that we, too, have labored to rob of her those, and we repent.

Diana - Tenant ch 26-31

The more I read of Anne Bronte's writing, the more I realize her skill with words. I found some beautiful metaphors in this section. "he [Arthur] knows he is my sun, but when he chooses to withhold his light, he would have my sky to be all darkness; he cannot bear that I should have a moon to mitigate the deprivation" (219). Speaking of the chance that her son may die, Helen says, "the bud, though plucked, would not be withered, only transplanted to a fitter soil to ripen and blow beneath a brighter sun" (228).

Huntingdon's shallow, self-absorbed character is fully revealed in his shocking statement about his son: "Helen, I shall positively that little wretch, if you worship it so madly! You are absolutely infatuated about it" (229). I should hope so - she's the boy's mother. Considering the infant mortality rate of the era, she'll do well to keep him alive past his fifth birthday. I also noted that both of them refer to the baby quite often as "it." I heard somewhere (perhaps we discussed it in class) that people tried not to get too attached to their children because the mortality rate was so high.

The introduction of Mr. Hargrave in these chapters offers a marked contrast to Arthur. Hargrave is everything Arthur is not. When Hargrave meets Helen in the park, he soon comments, "What a sweet evening this is!" Arthur never takes note of the weather or nature, while Helen often does. Then, when Hargrave ends his conversation with Helen, he rides over to Rachel and takes the baby. He looks at the boy fondly, then kisses him. Helen's heart softens toward him, and mine does too. Why couldn't she have waited to marry Milicent's brother instead of rushing headlong into the relationship with Arthur?

Diana - Tenant ch 20-25

These chapters contain too many elements to comment on thoroughly. One thing that struck me was the beautiful prose Helen uses to describe nature while contrasting that beauty with her own misery due to Arthur's absence. "When I wander in the ancient woods, and meet the little wild-flowers smiling in my path. . .with the trees that crowd about its bank, some gracefully bending to kiss its waters. . .still I have no pleasure; for the greater happiness that nature sets before me, the more I lament that he is not here to taste it" (212) - absolutely gorgeous prose!

The last paragraph in chapter 25 is telling. I'm not sure if this is free and indirect discourse, but Helen is describing how she supposes Milicent might feel under the circumstances of her marriage to Hattersley. "I trust she may yet be happy; but if she is, it will be entirely the reward of her own goodness of heart; for had she chosen to consider herself the victim of fate, or of her mother's worldly wisdom, she might have been thoroughly miserable; and, if, for duty's sake, she had not made every effort to love her husband, she would doubtless have hated him to the end of her days" (216). However, it's clear that Helen is actually speaking of herself and what she is actually feeling, although her admission of feelings seem unconscious or subconscious at this point.

Diana - Tenant Ch 16-19

Helen's list of reasons why she didn't want to marry Mr. Boarham (Mr. Bore 'em, as she thought of him) spoke loudly to why marriages in today's American culture are not arranged (131).

• He was at least twenty years older than she
• He was narrow-minded and bigoted
• Their tastes and feelings were wholly dissimilar
• His looks, voice, and manner displeased her
• She had a complete aversion to him

Today's American women would not tolerate these discrepancies any better than did Helen in the 1800s. However, I find it curious that Helen is so blinded by Mr. Huntingdon's good looks. Mr. Boarham cares for Helen in a way that Mr. Huntingdon probably never will, judging from his conceit. One passage in particular reveals this:

". . .she's thinking how pleasant it will be, and how tender and faithful he will find her."
"And perhaps," suggested I, "how tender and faithful she shall find him."
"Perhaps--for there is no limit to the wild extravagance of hope's imaginings, at such an age." (151)

It's quite evident here that he has no intention of being faithful to Helen, if she accepts him. He does change his sentiment in the next few paragraphs, presumably to capture her fancy. I feel toward Helen the way I do toward Scarlett O'Hara -- I want to reach into the book and slap some sense into her.