Mrs. Helen Graham
Mrs. Helen Graham, in reality Mrs. Arthur Huntingdon, the mysterious tenant of Wildfell Hall. Seemingly a cold and self-contained woman, she jealously guards her son Arthur from any outside interference when she first arrives at Wildfell Hall, where she is content to walk about the countryside and sketch the landscape. The village gossip is that she is carrying on an affair with her landlord, Frederick Lawrence. Eventually, she reveals her story to Gilbert Markham and allows him to read her private journal. He learns that she had been brought up by her rich uncle and aunt and that she had fallen unwisely in love with Arthur Huntingdon, a handsome but wayward young man. Although warned by her aunt not to marry Arthur, Helen did so willfully and thus began a marriage of horror. Faithful and loving, she endured much from her wild and dissipated husband. Finally, when she realized that his profligate ways were affecting their son adversely and that he was carrying on an affair with the wife of one of his friends, Helen left him and fled to Wildfell Hall, to be near the home of her brother. There she meets Gilbert Markham, whose kindness and true affection win her heart.