Infidelity occurs several times throughout The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, forming a motif. Infidelity signals to readers that a given character lacks morals. Arthur has affairs with seemingly countless women—some Helen is aware of (such as her friend Annabella and little Arthur’s governess Miss Myers) and many she is not (whom he meets during his months of absence in London). This is one of the many ways he shows Helen (and readers) that he is not a deserving partner for her.
Other characters—mainly Arthur’s friends like Ralph Hattersley and Walter Hargrave—also have no problem having affairs with married and unmarried women. Hargrave trying to force Helen to have an affair with him while she is married to Arthur reveals his true immoral character that, until that point, he had mostly been able to hide.
The fact that Gilbert respects Helen’s commitment to remaining faithful to Arthur even after she flees from her marriage with him (and after he has been unfaithful to her for years) shows that Gilbert is more moral than Arthur and his debaucherous friends. This also shows Helen that he is the right person for her to marry after Arthur dies.
That Arthur can comfortably have affairs with any woman he wants while Helen remains faithful to him even after fleeing from his abuse and finding love with Gilbert shows the double standard women faced at this point in history. Helen doesn’t want to cheat on Arthur because of her commitment to her Christian faith, but also likely because she is aware that, unlike him, her reputation will be sullied and she will ultimately end up a social outcast if she does.
Like in many Victorian novels, rumors abound in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, forming a motif. Rumors in the novel reveal the immoral actions of men and the double standards for women.
The first rumor that appears in the novel—that Frederick is Helen’s lover and the father of her child (when, in fact, he is her brother)—shows how single women with children are inherently suspicious in this society. A man would be able to be a tenant for another man with no questions, but Helen is immediately treated as if she is living in sin.
The other significant rumor surrounding Helen happens at the end of the novel, when Gilbert hears from Eliza that Helen is engaged to Hargrave. Though more subtly sexist, Gilbert’s impulse to believe the rumor that Helen is marrying a man who she has rejected in the past, rather than to confirm it with Helen, shows how he doesn’t fully respect Helen. Gilbert ultimately learns, of course, that the rumor was false and that it was actually Helen’s brother Frederick who is marrying Hargrave’s sister, Esther, and that the rumor twisted up the facts.
There are also plenty of rumors surrounding Arthur—about his drinking and infidelity, mostly—that have no consequences on his life because, as a man, he is able to retain his power and status in the face of scandalous behavior.
Alcohol—and alcoholism—appears throughout The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, forming a motif. The way that characters relate to alcohol signals whether they are a moral character or not (with alcoholics being the most immoral).
At the beginning of the novel, Helen refuses to offer her son Arthur any drink, and the townspeople of Linden-Car (including the Reverend Millward) judge her harshly for it. In the following passage (told from Gilbert’s point of view), Rev. Millward ridicules Helen for it, calling her choice “wrong” and “criminal”:
“Wrong!” repeated the vicar, with more than common solemnity – “criminal, I should say – criminal! – Not only is it making a fool of the boy, but it is despising the gifts of Providence, and teaching him to trample them under his feet.” He then entered more fully into the question, and explained at large the folly and impiety of such a proceeding. My mother heard him with profoundest reverence.
In having the Reverend respond in such an over-the-top manner—and having Mrs. Markham listen “with profoundest reverence”—Brontë reveals the hypocrisy of the church, suggesting that Helen is acting in a more virtuous manner than these hyper-critical, so-called Christians who judge her without knowing her story.
Arthur’s alcoholism is also directly tied to his immoral character—the drunker he becomes, the crueler and more abusive he also becomes. The way in which he forces their son Arthur to become dependent on alcohol before he is even five years old also shows his complete disregard for his son’s well-being and for ethical parenting generally. Arthur ultimately dies from alcoholism with no hope of salvation, Brontë’s way of communicating a lesson to readers about what happens to people with no spiritual or ethical principles.
