Toxic Masculinity

 A new Brontë-related master's thesis:

Toxic Masculinity in Anne Brontё's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

by Mónica Vargas

Advisor: Allyson Loomis

University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, 2022

Victorian Britain had a strict structural patriarchy which complicated the lives of men and women. The institution of marriage particularly created an environment of toxic masculinity. Anne Brontё used her novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as a manual to explore causes and effects of toxic masculinity on the afflicted men and their wives. Brontё then proposed a solution to end the cycle, raising sons to be better men.