The Tenant of Wildfell Hall: Chapter 33 Summary & Analysis

On a beautifully clear autumn night, Helen overhears her husband’s friends complaining about Arthur’s relative sobriety. Grimsby blames all of womankind for ruining the good times they might have, but the other men seem to blame one woman in particular. Helen assumes that they mean her, of course, and she is thrilled to think that Arthur is becoming a better man out of respect for her. She rushes out into the shrubbery where she spied Arthur, seemingly taking in the night’s beauty as well. She embraces him impulsively and he returns the embrace at first. When he sees that it’s Helen, though, he jumps back and scolds her for being so cavalier with her health. She should get inside right away, he tells her—it’s too cold out.

Helen goes in gladly, and that night she finally enjoys herself in the company of their friends. Everyone, it seems, catches her happiness, and it is a joyful gathering. Adding to her happiness is the fact that Arthur again refrains from drinking to excess, and all seems right with the world. Two days later, though, Rachel comes to Helen’s room crying. When Helen asks what is the matter, she tells her she doesn’t approve of how Arthur has been behaving. She says that if she were Helen, she would not allow Lady Lowborough to stay in the house another minute. The conversation is cut short before Helen can learn anything more. She is deeply disturbed by what Rachel told her, but hopes it is just idle servants’ gossip. That night at dinner, she can see no evidence of improper behavior on either Arthur or Annabella’s part.

After dinner, Annabella joins her husband on a moonlit walk, and Walter Hargrave challenges Helen to a game of chess. The game goes on for a long time, sometimes with Helen having the advantage, other times Walter. Both very much want to win. In the end, Walter triumphs and Helen admits he is the better player. He tenderly congratulates her, and she rejects his tenderness. He then inquires after Arthur and Annabella. Hattersley tells him Arthur is out walking with Grimsby and Annabella with her husband. Walter, though, suggests to Helen in a private moment that Arthur is actually with Annabella. Helen rushes outside to see for herself.

What she finds is Arthur and Annabella deep in passionate conversation. Annabella says she must go—her husband will start to suspect something. She asks Arthur if he could possibly still love Helen, and he assures her that he does care at all for his wife any longer. Helen falls to the ground in a swoon of heartbreak and shock. Dead leaves rustle around her. She is in agony until she looks up at the sky. In the stars she sees proof of God, and she knows in that moment that God will never forsake her. He will give her the strength she needs to survive.

Helen goes back into the house and finds it more difficult to be strong. There are no stars here, only the laughing voices of people she cannot bear to be around. Instead of joining them for tea, she retires to the empty dining room and sees Milicent go out to try to find and comfort her. When she fails to find her, Milicent returns to the dining room, and Helen ponders for a short time how happy she was in that same room only a few nights before. She is glad that Milicent didn’t look for her in the dining room. She will bear her pain alone.

Helen knows that she has to confront Arthur, though. Later, when he is walking past her bed chamber, she asks him to come in. She tells him that she knows what he and Annabella have been up to, and asks if she might take her fortune and little Arthur and go. Arthur refuses her. He will not be made the target of petty gossip because she has chosen to be upset about a trifling love affair, he says. Then he leaves. Helen makes a promise to herself that, unless he truly repents, she will no longer be a wife to him. If, however, he sees the error of his ways and learns to value her, she might be able to forgive him in the future.

Rachel comes to help Helen undress and Helen confesses to her old nurse that she knows everything. Rachel pities her, but Helen assures her that she has made her peace with the situation and plans to sleep well. Sleep eludes her, however, and the next morning she is exhausted and full of anxiety about how to meet everyone at breakfast. She finds strength in the thought that she is blameless in the matter. That will be her comfort.