wildfellweekly

[wildfellweekly]

Happy “a man is described as voluptuous” day to anyone who follows both Dracula Daily and Wildfell Weekly!

The bright, blue eyes regarded the spectator with a kind of lurking drollery - you almost expected to see them wink; the lips - a little too voluptuously full - seemed ready to break into a smile; the warmly tinted cheeks were embellished with a luxuriant growth of reddish whiskers; while the bright chestnut hair, clustering in abundant, wavy curls, trespassed too much upon the forehead, and seemed to intimate that the owner thereof was prouder of his beauty than his intellect - as perhaps he had reason to be; - and yet he looked no fool.

#love it when 19th century men voluptuate voluptuously 😤 #quote #joke posts

[wildfellweekly]

This chapter really revealed a lot of Ms. Graham despite her only being there for a few moments while her paintings were seen through Gilbert's eyes.

It is really sad that Mrs. Graham mentions how the act of painting cannot be an activity for herself anymore thanks to her new money troubles over living on the abandoned Wildfell Hall. She can't afford to paint for herself anymore, now she must paint to support herself. Moreover, the paragraph where Gilbert describes how Mrs. Graham was almost forcing herself to pay attention to three of them while painting tells how much she pours her own soul into a single canvas.

The way all of her work is described as artistically elegant, how Mrs. Graham's style is so distinct that she needs to put a fake name on the painting of Wildfell Hall lest anyone that knows her could use it to find her, the landscapes paintings being warm and hazy, while her human paintings have very stamped emotions in them without room for interpretation.

Also, it is really a surprise to me to read how a female character of that time explicitely expresses not disdain, but the blunt truth of prefering her own company without jumping through manners. Mrs Graham simply says:

"I am not so beset with visitors but that I can readily spare a few minutes to the few that do favour me with their company.”

Mrs. Graham still tells them that yes she can attend to them despite wanting to not do it, and it's not the end of the world when she admits that she only can spare a few minutes, and not dedicate herself to hosting, it's really nice.

#chapter 5: the studio #analysis

[wildfellweekly]

also there is perhaps something to be said for the fact that we encounter this mysterious man through the medium of artistic representation - in fact Gilbert takes time to notice the 'careful minuteness of detail' as opposed to 'that freshness of colouring and freedom of handling that delighted and surprised me' in mrs graham's current work. i am Definitely not capable of putting it into words right now because my brain's fried but uh...freedom vs confinement might be doing something thematically, but also art as being able to capture something essential about life, about people, that then translates pretty precisely into gilbert's reading of this man

#chapter 5: the studio #analysis

[wildfellweekly]

And disengaging a couple of chairs from the artistical lumber that usurped them, she bid us be seated

A bit of a chaotic artist's energy in this room!

#chaotic artist helen <3 #chapter 5: the studio

[wildfellweekly]

while the bright chestnut hair, clustering in abundant, wavy curls, trespassed too much upon the forehead, and seemed to intimate that the owner thereof was prouder of his beauty than his intellect—as, perhaps, he had reason to be; and yet he looked no fool.

i don't have anything deep to say about the use of trespass here except it puts me in mind of the idea of nature controlled by humans again (because, you know, you trespass on land and that assumes an ownership of land)

ANYWAY moment of appreciation for gilbert looking at this portrait like oh that is a beautiful beautiful man

#why are you as a man observing another man's voluptuous lips #<- OP tag #EXACTLY! #chapter 5: the studio

[wildfellweekly]

Anne Brontë out here murdering her own characters

#chapter 4: the party #a very idiosyncratic bunch! #quote #joke posts

[wildfellweekly]

"Our party, on the 5th of November, passed off very well, in spite of Mrs. Graham’s refusal to grace it with her presence. Indeed, it is probable that, had she been there, there would have been less cordiality, freedom, and frolic amongst us than there was without her."

Gilbert you didn't have to roast my girl like that.

#he really said it!! smh #chapter 4: the party #quote #joke post

[wildfellweekly]

“Thank you, I never go to parties.”

I like relatable characters.

#hard same #chapter 3: a controversy #jokes posts #quote

[wildfellweekly]

“No, mamma,” said the child; “let me look at these pictures first; and then I’ll come, and tell you all about them.”

This is cute, though. Little Arthur wants to learn about farm animals!

#chapter 3: a controversy #quote

[wildfellweekly]

Perhaps, too, I was a little bit spoiled by my mother and sister, and some other ladies of my acquaintance;—and yet I was by no means a fop—of that I am fully convinced, whether you are or not.

skdnfsk i love this as an end to the chapter so much. it's like he's going so there to the reader, but there's a lil bit of humour to it too because he's looking back twenty years later

#gilbert is such a fun narrator #chapter 3: a controversy #analysis

[wildfellweekly]

arthur listening to his mother tell gilbert she'd rather he died than become a man of the world:

#it's fine apparently he's just there like no thoughts head empty filled with love for sancho #<- prev tag #a;lkdjf this post made me lose it i literally never thought about how he's there listening! #chapter 3: a controversy #joke posts

[wildfellweekly]

“Granted;—but would you use the same argument with regard to a girl?” “Certainly not.”

stylistically i love this - you get the sense of gilbert replying so quickly, his dialogue following hot on the heels of mrs graham's without any other prose interrupting it. because of course he's never questioned this attitude, he doesn't even need to think about it

#chapter 3: a controversy #analysis

[wildfellweekly]

They both partook of the cake, but obstinately refused the wine, in spite of their hostess's hospitable attempts to force it upon them.

my apologies to gilbert's mum but never once would i consider someone insisting i take something that i've already refused 'hospitable'

#yeah i think there is some irony directed all around here in two stubborn forces meeting lol! #chapter 3: a controversy

[wildfellweekly]

I’m subscribed to Wildfell Weekly, so here’s some thoughts on the first three chapters of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I’ve read it before, so there are some very general spoilers for later events, but no specifics.

So, who is Gilbert Markham, from what we’ve seen so far? I would say that, on the whole, he’s a fairly average guy. He has a good relationships with his family; he has a job (important, as we will see later - Anne Brontë has strong opinions about the negative effects of idleness and privilege upon men of the gentry class); he has a pretty high opinion of himself; and he’s good with kids. He is decided not Byronic - his life to this point has been very normal and uneventful - whereas Mrs. Graham is the unconventional one with a mysterious past and distinctive looks.

He is a mix of the practical (looking at the Romantic scenery around Wildfell Hall, he thinks first in terms of its agricultural properties) and the romantic (he nonetheless spends a while looking at the house and daydreaming; and, while telling himself he doesn’t like Mrs. Graham, he powtically describes her “sweet, pale face and lofty brow, where thought and suffering seem equally to have stamped their impress”.

He and his social circle seem clearly of a lower social class than what we see in, for example, the novels of Jane Austen - none of Austen’s rural characters farm their own land, and all of them have servants. In Pride and Prejudice, Mrs. Bennet is offended by Mr. Collins’ assumption that one of her daughters cooked their dinner; their servants do that! Whereas Gilbert’s mother prides herself on her cooking and criticizes Mrs. Graham’s lack of knowledge in that area (which provides a hint towards Mrs. Graham’s background).

He has conventional opinions, and defends them determinedly against Helen’s equally determined advocacy of unconventional ones, and he’s very annoyed by how effectively she reveals the unconscious double standards buried in his views. Mrs. Graham’s views - that young men should not be expected to resist all temptation unaided, and that young women should not be sheltered even from the knowledge of evils, but that both should be aided by the experience of others - is the same that the author expresses in the Preface:

When we have to deal with vice and vicious characters, I maintain it is better to depict them as they really are than as they would wish to appear. To represent a bad thing in its least offensive light is doubtless the most agreeable course for a writer of fiction to pursue; but is it the most honest, or the safest? Is it better to reveal the snares and pitfalls of life to the young and thoughtless traveller, or to cover them with branches and flowers. O Reader! if there were less of this delicate concealment of facts - this whispering of ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace - there would be less of sin and misery to the young of both sexes who are left to wring their bitter knowledge from experience.

#preface #chapter 1: a discovery #chapter 2: an interview #chapter 3: a controversy #analysis #loved reading this!

[wildfellweekly]

“… and mind you bring me word how much sugar she puts in her tea, and what sort of caps and aprons she wears, and all about it; for I don’t know how I can live till I know,” said Fergus, very gravely.

#chapter 1: a discovery #quote #fergus is so funny <3

[wildfellweekly]

Rose brings us up to date on the new tenant of Wildfell Hall:

She is called Mrs. Graham, and she is in mourning—not widow’s weeds, but slightish mourning—and she is quite young, they say,—not above five or six and twenty ...

So.. what is the difference between widow's weeds and slightish mourning?

The term widow's weeds refers to the black clothing worn (principally) by female widows during the Victorian era. The amount of black to be worn was dictated by several different phases of mourning; full mourning ensembles were solid black while half mourning allowed the wearer to add a small amount of white or purple.

#chapter 1: a discovery #analysis

[wildfellweekly]

“Mary, dear, that won’t excuse you in Mr. Markham’s eyes,” said Eliza; “he hates cats, I daresay, as cordially as he does old maids—like all other gentlemen. Don’t you, Mr. Markham?” “I believe it is natural for our unamiable sex to dislike the creatures,” replied I; “for you ladies lavish so many caresses upon them.”

because everyone knows that the best way to flirt is to double down on weird arbitrary gender roles

#honestly so interesting the women = cats ; men = dogs (and hate cats) kind of association has been around so long #chapter 2: an interview