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 again to Maria and says that nothing much has happened at Berry Hill, where she’s staying with Mr. Villars. Although Evelina is despondent and disheartened, she tries to conceal this from Mr. Villars. A few days ago, however, he entered the library unexpectedly and found her crying. Evelina was distressed by how sad this made him and vowed to do better in future. The next day, however, Mr. Villars catches her staring morosely out of the window and begs her to tell him what is wrong. After all, he says, her suffering is also his suffering.
Evelina and Mr. Villars are both extremely sensible (an 18th-century term associated with empathy and emotional sensitivity) and can only be happy if the other is also happy. Evelina has seemingly learned her sensibility from Mr. Villars, who raised her, which suggests that he is a good moral guide (sensibility was associated with virtue).
Themes
Mr. Villars asks Evelina if she misses the city, but Evelina replies that she wishes she had never gone there. Mr. Villars laments that he allowed her to go and says that he should have trusted his judgement and kept her at home. Mr. Villars then asks Evelina if she misses her friends from the city—people like Lord Orville. Evelina begins to cry, and Mr. Villars says that, although he longs to know what afflicts her, he does not want to force her to confide in him.
Mr. Villars worries that Evelina’s time in the city has corrupted her. He fears that she will now never be happy to live a simple country life, because she has seen how more cosmopolitan people live. Although Mr. Villars wants to shelter Evelina and protect her innocence, he allowed her to go to the city because he felt it was important for her to gain experience.
Themes
Evelina shows Mr. Villars the insulting letter that Lord Orville sent her, and Mr. Villars is amazed. He can only assume that Lord Orville was drunk when he wrote it. Mr. Villars further says that Evelina should have returned the note to Lord Orville so that he could read it when sober and feel ashamed of his actions. Evelina is comforted to hear that Mr. Villars does not blame her. He thinks it is understandable that she is disappointed in Lord Orville, as he hid his unpleasant character under such a noble veneer.
Lord Orville’s letter to Evelina was extremely flirtatious. Evelina worries that Mr. Villars will blame her for this and assume that she has done something to lead Lord Orville on, even though she has not. Mr. Villars, however, trusts Evelina and understands that sometimes noble people are not virtuous people, even though fashionable society tends to conflate nobility and virtue.
Themes
