The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

I just finished watching The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, a BBC miniseries based on the novel by Anne Bronte. The whole thing was painful to watch, and I felt so sorry for the heroine -- Helen Huntingdon. She was terribly abused--physically, emotionally, and psychologically--by her philandering alcoholic of an husband, Arthur. Her constancy to him despite his unworthiness was a little exasperating, though. I suppose it's a thing to be admired in her, but I kept thinking that if she'd hurry up and leave him, then she'd be free. In today's society, it would be so much easier to remove yourself from an abusive spouse, but in Britain's Victorian era it would've been quite different. Women were considered the property of their husbands, and the father held legal custody of any children from the marriage, should it end. Because Helen had a son (also named Arthur), she felt trapped and was unable to break free from her husband until he passed away from an illness caused by his self-indulgent habits. 
It never ceases to amaze me that, as sheltered and secluded as the Bronte sisters were, they could produce such timeless literary classics as they did. I wonder what the effect on their work would've been, if their circumstances had been different. Would it have improved or hindered their gifts as writers?