# Frank Grimsby — The Tenant of Wildfell Hall character guide

> Frank Grimsby in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Grimsby, Grimsby

**First appearance:** 0003-ii

## Snapshot

Arthur Huntingdon's guttural-chuckling crony, who blames all womankind for spoiling the drink and mocks his host's brief sobriety from behind the curtain.

## Who they are

Grimsby belongs to the hard-drinking set that orbits Arthur Huntingdon, the men whose carousals define Wildfell's bachelor world and whose grumbling measures the temperature of a marriage. Overheard by Helen behind the window curtain, he sneers that women are "the very bane of the world" and predicts Arthur will tire of good behaviour within a year or two. His cynical certainty gives Helen's early hopes a foil: every resolution Arthur makes is shadowed by the friends waiting to laugh him back into old habits.

## In the story

### [XXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_tenant_of_wildfell_hall_se/chapters/xxi)

Mentioned as one of Huntingdon's friends; his letter is described as a sulky, brief scrawl implying disapproval.

### [XXXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_tenant_of_wildfell_hall_se/chapters/xxxv)

Leers at Helen with a significant glance as she passes, implying malicious amusement.

### [XXXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_tenant_of_wildfell_hall_se/chapters/xxxviii)

Chuckles with fiendish satisfaction at Lowborough's downfall.

### [XXXIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_tenant_of_wildfell_hall_se/chapters/xxxix)

Observes Hargrave kneeling before Helen and is suspected of spying on them.

## Links

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