Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Evelina: or, The History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Sensibility, Etiquette, and Appearances
Gender, Reputation, and Marriage
Inheritance, Class, and Nobility
Innocence, Guidance, and Experience
Summary
Analysis
Evelina writes to Mr. Villars and tells him that she has just received a letter from Mr. Macartney. Mr. Macartney writes that Evelina’s kindness has given him renewed strength and will to live again. He wants to explain how he ended up in desperate circumstances but begs her to keep his story a secret. Mr. Macartney writes that his mother was English but that he grew up in Scotland, where they moved after his father’s sudden death. Macartney and his mother were not wealthy, and he planned to enter the Church.
Evelina’s kindness toward Mr. Macartney demonstrates her innate sensibility—an 18th-century term associated with empathy, emotional sensitivity, and genuine kindness. She earns his trust, which suggests that true sensibility—which involves being kind for the sake of being kind rather than for any selfish reasons—will be rewarded.
Themes
At university, Macartney became good friends with a wealthy young man who left to tour Europe. Macartney could not afford to go with him, but the pair agreed to meet in Paris, and Macartney’s mother loaned him money for the trip. While in Paris, Macartney met and fell in love with a young Englishwoman. Although the woman was wealthy, she was willing to give this up to be with Macartney. One afternoon, the lady’s father discovered them together; in his rage, he attacked Macartney, and the pair dueled. Macartney wounded the lady’s father and, distraught, fled Paris.
Inter-class relationship were a rare occurrence in 18th-century Britain. They did happen, but, as in Macartney’s case, a noble person often jeopardized their social position by entering a relationship with someone of a lower class . It was also believed that women were their father’s property until they were married, when they became their husband’s. This means that men, like Macartney’s lover’s father, would often violently defend their wives or daughters because they were valuable assets to them.
Themes
When Macartney returned to Scotland, he told his mother what happened, and she fainted with horror. She revealed that Macartney’s lover’s father is also Macartney’s father. Macartney’s mother confessed that his father did not die—he was a wealthy nobleman who seduced and then abandoned her. Macartney’s mother was then banished by her family to Scotland. Macartney was horrified that he may have killed his father, but he received word a few weeks later that the man had recovered.
Macartney’s mothers admission reveals that Macartney is a nobleman through his father. Although nobility was associated with virtue in this period, Macartney’s father behaved negligently and cruelly toward his mother. Women’s reputations were extremely fragile in this period, and women’s purity was highly valued. If a woman had premarital sex, she could be socially ostracized, lose all chance of finding a husband to financially support her, and, therefore, end up poor or destitute.
Themes
Macartney then heard that his newly discovered father and sister were in London, and he planned to travel there and reconcile with them. Borrowing the last of his mother’s money, Macartney set off and took lodgings in London with the Branghtons. However, his father unexpectedly became ill again, and Macartney waited for six weeks without seeing them. Running out of money, he wrote desperately to his mother but was horrified to learn his mother had died.
Macartney is estranged from his father because he is illegitimate—his mother and father were not married when he was conceived. 18th-century society viewed premarital sex as corrupt, especially for women, and therefore believed that illegitimate people were inherently corrupt and of low status.
Themes
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Grief-stricken by his mother’s death, Macartney continued to live with the Branghtons, who treated him contemptuously. His mother sent him a note appealing to her family to lend him money and, after several weeks, he reluctantly went to forward it to them. However, on his way, Mr. Branghton and Tom cornered him and demanded rent money immediately. In his despair, Macartney tore up the letter and considered desperate action. He bought a pair of pistols and intended to commit robbery.
The Branghtons are uncompassionate and insensible to Macartney’s poverty and suffering. The Branghtons, who are wealthy middle-class, look down on people who are poorer than them. Ironically, they are looked down upon by the nobility, which suggests that social mobility is impossible in this period. Middle-class social climbers, who want to transcend their class, are just as bad as the nobility who look down on everyone else.
Themes
Macartney had just secured the pistols to commit his crime when Evelina saw him, followed him to his room, and knocked the weapons from his hands. Although Macartney initially bought the pistols to commit robbery, when Evelina found him in his room, he was about to kill himself with them. Macartney now views Evelina as his saving grace and writes that she has made him realize how foolish and proud he was by not asking for help when he needed it. He has now written to his mother’s relatives to ask for assistance, and he plans to work hard to repay Evelina for the money she leant him.
Evelina demonstrates authentic sensibility because she genuinely feels concerned for Macartney and wants to help him for his sake rather than for any personal gain. Macartney, in turn, proves that he is an honorable person who will repay Evelina for her kindness. This supports Burney’s argument that poverty is not a marker of immorality, as good people exist in all classes.
Themes
