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Similes
Chapter 1. A Discovery
Explanation and Analysis—Helen Getting Remarried:
Near the beginning of the novel, Helen tells Mrs. Markham that she (Helen) will never get remarried. This is an example of situational irony as she goes on to marry Gilbert. Here Mrs. Markham recounts the conversation with Helen:
"Though you are alone now, you will not be always so; you have been married, and probably – I might say almost certainly – will be again." "You are mistaken there ma’am," said [Helen], almost haughtily; "I am certain I never shall." – But I told her I knew better.
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Chapter 16. The Warnings of Experience
Explanation and Analysis—Mrs. Maxwell's Warning:
Near the beginning of Helen’s diary entries—before she has met Arthur—she recounts a conversation with her aunt Mrs. Maxwell in which her aunt warns her against choosing to marry a man for superficial reasons, such as for his good looks and agreeable personality:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“If you should marry the handsomest and most accomplished and superficially agreeable man in the world, you little know the misery that would overwhelm you, if, after all, you should find him to be a worthless reprobate, or even an impracticable fool.”
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Chapter 27. A Misdemeanor
Explanation and Analysis—Helen the Angel:
One of the metaphors that appears periodically throughout The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is that of Helen being an angel. For example, in Chapter 27, after Helen witnesses Arthur secretly kiss Annabella’s hand, Arthur says that Helen is an angel while Annabella is a mortal:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“She is a daughter of earth; you are an angel of heaven; only be not too austere in your divinity, and remember that I am a poor, fallible mortal.”
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Explanation and Analysis—Arthur and Anabella:
Early in Arthur and Helen’s marriage, Helen witnesses Arthur sitting with Annabella and kissing her hand and later confronts him about it. In an example of situational irony, Arthur denies that he is interested in Annabella and—going even further—says that he will never be seriously interested in anyone else:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Will you never learn?” he continued more boldly, "that you have nothing to fear from me? that I love you wholly and entirely? – or if,” he added with a lurking smile, “I ever give a thought to another, you may well spare it, for those fancies are here and gone like a flash of lightning, while my love for you burns on steadily, and for ever like the sun.”
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Chapter 29. The Neighbour
Explanation and Analysis—Hargrave's Reputation:
In an example of foreshadowing, Helen writes in her diary that she has suspicions about Hargrave’s character even as he acts like a gentleman in front of her:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He seemed bent upon doing the honours of his house in the most unexceptionable manner, and exerting all his powers for the entertainment of his guest, and the display of his own qualifications as a host, a gentleman, and a companion; and actually succeeded in making himself very agreeable – only that he was too polite. – And yet, Mr Hargrave, I don’t much like you; there is a certain want of openness about you that does not take my fancy, and a lurking selfishness, at the bottom of all your fine qualities, that I do not intend to lose sight of.
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Chapter 39. A Scheme of Escape
Explanation and Analysis—Helen the Angel:
One of the metaphors that appears periodically throughout The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is that of Helen being an angel. For example, in Chapter 27, after Helen witnesses Arthur secretly kiss Annabella’s hand, Arthur says that Helen is an angel while Annabella is a mortal:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“She is a daughter of earth; you are an angel of heaven; only be not too austere in your divinity, and remember that I am a poor, fallible mortal.”
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Chapter 52. Fluctuations
Explanation and Analysis—Gilbert's Assumptions:
In two of the most ironic and dramatic moments in the novel, Gilbert makes assumptions about Helen that turn out to be untrue. First, he assumes incorrectly that Helen is Frederick’s lover (and that Frederick is little Arthur’s father) and goes as far as to publicly whip Frederick almost to death based on this false assumption.
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