Wigs and hats symbolize artifice and falsehood. When Evelina first arrives in London and is still very innocent about fashionable society, she is taken for a makeover before her first trip out. During her makeover, the hairdresser gives Evelina a large, extravagant wig to wear. Evelina dislikes it and feels that the hairdressers and wigmakers are “affected” and false; they are just being polite to sell her things. Later on, Evelina also feels foolish wearing a large headdress to the theater. Her dislike of wigs and hats reflects her unpretentious and genuine temperament, compared with the false city-dwellers who care about what others think of them and try to trick others into seeing them as more beautiful or important than they really are. Madame Duval, for example, wears a wig, and is extremely embarrassed without one, because she tries to hide how old she is. She also wears a hat to a ball and dances with several young men—a sign that she is in denial about her age. Madame Duval is also dishonest and often hides her true motives for things, which is represented by her reliance on wigs and hats to hide her true appearance.
Wigs and Hats Symbol Timeline in Evelina: or, The History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World
