Dame Green is Caroline’s maid who is impregnated by a man she is not married to, around the same time that Caroline falls pregnant with Evelina. After Evelina’s birth and Caroline’s death, Dame Green sees that Evelina will be well cared for by Mr. Villars, but that her own daughter will inherit nothing and will have a ruined reputation because she is illegitimate. Dame Green therefore decides to take her own child to Sir John and tell him that this is Caroline’s daughter. Sir John, who feels guilty because he denied his marriage to Caroline before she died, adopts the child as his own and raises her as Miss Belmont. Sir John discovers the truth at the end of the novel, when Evelina’s identity as Sir John’s daughter is revealed.
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Dame Green Character Timeline in Evelina: or, The History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World
The timeline below shows where the character Dame Green appears in Evelina: or, The History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Volume 3, Letter 17
...tells Mrs. Clinton what has happened. Mrs. Clinton suddenly remembers that one of Caroline’s maids, Dame Green , also had a baby around the time that Evelina was born. The maid left...
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...resembles her mother, he knows for sure that she is his daughter. Sir John summons Dame Green and, when she sees Mrs. Clinton, she breaks down. She confesses that instead of bringing...
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...about her true status—she is not Sir John’s daughter, as she believes, but the servant, Dame Green ’s, daughter. Sir John says that he rejected all attempts to introduce him to Evelina...
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