SOURCE: “The Villain of Wildfell Hall: Aspects and Prospects of Arthur Huntingdon,” in Modern Language Review, Vol. 88, No. 4, October, 1993, pp. 831-41.

In the following essay, Thormählen argues against traditional, biographically motivated estimates of Arthur Huntingdon by examining the character in cultural context, particularly in relation to contemporary texts on alcoholism and phrenology, as well as Victorian notions of Christian salvation.

With foreheads villainous low 

(The Tempest, iv. 1. 249)

Anne Brontë's second novel has traditionally been contemplated against the background of events and circumstances in the author's life.¹ More recently, narratological aspects have been discussed by critics influenced by new developments in critical theory.² Other dimensions in the book have not yet received the attention they deserve, though, and the result is an incomplete appreciation of Anne Brontë the artist. A consideration of her ‘villain’ against the background of early-nineteenth-century theology, social developments, and science suggests that historical...