The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Just as Brontë uses several couples to interrogate the qualities that make a successful marriage (See: Themes), several individual characters in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall serve as foils to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the protagonists. In the first third of the novel, Eliza Millward and Jane Wilson are foils who offer conflict and illustrate the mysteries and potential danger around Mrs. Graham. They illustrate the value of a woman’s reputation, the destructive power of gossip, and the importance of marriage to a woman’s station. They also establish—in contrast to their malice—Helen’s high-mindedness and moral virtue.

Annabella Wilmot and Millicent Hargrave are foils who comment, through contrast, on Helen’s hopes and beliefs about marriage. Annabella’s mercenary grounds for accepting Lowborough contrast with Helen’s more idealistic beliefs that marriage is a sacred commitment built on trust and love. Millicent, who shares Helen’s moral values but is more compliant in nature, takes a different approach to handling her husband, and by never reproving him attempts to behave as a model wife.

Frederick Lawrence and Walter Hargrave, as gentlemen and suitors, act as foils to Gilbert by providing contrasting views of a young man’s relationships with his sisters and approaches to wooing a potential bride.