An Anne Brontë Adaptation PLEASE!

When I heard the news of the current Wuthering Heights adaptation,  instant eye roll. Yet another one, what makes this new one different? 

Answer:  What the HELL did they do to Emily's book?! 

Granted, it was considered brutal and coarse when it first came out in 1847, thanks to  Heathcliff's semi-savage character and his toxic relationship with Catherine. It was first adapted in 1939, and it's been adapted for film, TV, radio and stage for decades since then. 

But the recently released adaptation of Wuthering Heights was the most appalling take on the story.  Nelly Dean, the antagonist?  Mr Earnshaw, an abusive alcoholic?  Catherine having a miscarriage? BDSM between Heathcliff and Isabella?! And between Joseph and Zillah?!  GROSS! 

Where's Hindley, Catherine's brother? Where's Catherine's daughter, Cathy? Where's Cathy's cousin and eventual husband, Haerton? 

And Heathcliff's tenant, Mr Lockwood? 

This just proves that we've had enough adaptations of Wuthering Heights. Ditto  Jane Eyre, we’ve seen Jane and Rochester making out on a bed and a flashback scene in the 2006 adaptation where Rochester caught Bertha having rough sex with another man. The 2011 version presented the story in a non-linear fashion and ended rather abruptly. Not only have adaptations of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre run their course, but it’s also time for Anne Brontë to stop being overlooked and overshadowed by her sisters.

The youngest Brontë sister, Anne, wrote the novels Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The latter tells the story of a woman who runs away from her brutish and unfaithful husband with her son, tries to earn an income as a painter, and slowly falls in love with another man, but then has to deal with malicious rumours about her. She gives her love interest her diary to read, and her sorrowful life is revealed. 

 This novel addressed infidelity, toxic marriages, domestic abuse, alcoholism & substance abuse, shocking the public when it was published in 1848. The heroine, Helen Huntington, is a religious yet assertive character who slams and locks the door in her husband's face upon discovering the truth about him, which shocked many readers. Although it sold out within 6 weeks, critics described it as "rough", "revolting", "disgusting", and “ungodly", accusing Anne of having “a morbid love for the coarse, not to say the brutal”. Later opinions were kinder, describing it as one of the first feminist novels. "The slamming of [Helen's] bedroom door against her husband reverberated throughout Victorian England." Hence, the slam heard round the world! 

 Elder sister Charlotte, who disapproved of the novel’s subject matter, had its republication suppressed after Anne’s death a year later. She said: 

“Wildfell Hall”, it hardly appears desirable to preserve. The choice of subject in that work is a mistake.”

Which was just wrong, because Anne’s story sends a more direct feminist message than Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.  It did not shy away from depicting domestic abuse, infidelity, and the suffering of women under the unfair and harsh patriarchal society, where their husbands controlled their inheritance and social ostracism was imposed on any woman who chose to end her marriage (even for justifiable reasons), with the husband retaining legal custody of their children. 

To date, the best-known adaptation of Anne Brontë’s work is the 1996 BBC three-part miniseries directed by Mike Barker, featuring Tara Fitzgerald as Helen Graham/Huntington, Toby Stephens as her love interest Gilbert Markham, and Rupert Graves as her estranged husband, Arthur. Interestingly, Fitzgerald and Stephens portrayed Mrs Reed and Edward Rochester, respectively, in the 2006 miniseries adaptation of Jane Eyre.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was previously adapted in 1968 in black and white, but unfortunately, that version is no longer available for viewing. The last adaptation was a stage production by the Sydney Theatre Company in 2022, and there have been no adaptations since then.

 Agnes Grey, based on Anne's real-life experiences as a governess, tells the story of the titular character, who sets off to work as a governess to provide for her family after a bad investment leaves them down financially. She takes on two positions and has to deal with isolation & lack of social standing, developing feelings for a curate she has in common with, Edward Weston. Agnes Grey has only had radio adaptations, no TV or film adaptations at all. 

Anne Brontë chose a realistic writing approach and tone, while her sisters, Charlotte and Emily, favoured romanticism. If she could pen such a bold book as The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and a realistic account of a governess's experiences, then  Agnes Grey should finally have a TV and film adaptation. The Tenant of Wildfell showed have more.   

" I wished to tell the truth, for truth always conveys its own moral to those who are able to receive it ." - Anne Brontë, 1848.