Mr. Lovel Character Analysis

Mr. Lovel is a fashionable but foolish nobleman whom Evelina meets at her first ball in London. Mr. Lovel asks Evelina to dance at the ball, and Evelina turns Mr. Lovel down but then accepts a dance with another man—which, unbeknownst to Evelina, violates fashionable etiquette. The proud and arrogant Mr. Lovel is deeply offended by Evelina’s behavior; he does not give her the benefit of the doubt and instead, chooses to insult her. When he discovers that she is from the country and therefore has not been educated in city etiquette, he looks down on her and makes snide remarks about her upbringing. Mr. Lovel is also obsessed with his appearance and fashionable image: he only goes to the theater so that people will see him there—he claims that he doesn’t even watch the plays. Although Mr. Lovel is well-versed in etiquette, underneath his polite veneer he is a malicious and selfish person. He snobbishly ignores Evelina when he thinks she is poor and socially unimportant (before her true identity as Sir John Belmont’s daughter emerges), and, he joins in a bet with his friend Lord Merton in which he hurts an old woman.