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 Mr. Villars and tells him that she will soon leave Bristol. That morning, Lord Orville meets her before breakfast and asks her for a private word. He begs to know how he has offended her and whether Sir Clement has anything to do with it. Evelina apologizes profusely for her cold behavior toward him and tells him that she wants nothing to do with Sir Clement. Lord Orville is delighted and asks Evelina if they can be friends again. She agrees, and Lord Orville seems much happier. Sir Clement comes to say goodbye after breakfast, but Evelina will not see him.
Evelina is in love with Lord Orville and tried to distance herself from him because she believed they could never get married because they are from different social classes: Lord Orville is a noble, while she was raised middle-class. Seeing her change in behavior, Lord Orville wrongly assumes that Evelina loves Sir Clement. Evelina now realizes that her unprovoked coldness toward Lord Orville was cruel and thoughtless and failed to take his feelings into account. Evelina is inexperienced and has not dealt with dilemmas like this before. She realizes now that she made a mistake and learns that maturing and making one’s way in the world involves trial and error.
Themes
Evelina receives Mr. Villars’s letter, which gives her permission to meet her estranged father, Sir John, in London. She is nervous, so Lord Orville tries his best to cheer her up. He is distressed when he hears that Evelina and Mrs. Selwyn will leave Bristol the next day. Evelina says that she must go, and Lord Orville falls to his knees before her and confesses that he loves her. At first, Evelina is overcome and nearly faints, but she soon recovers and admits that she loves him too.
Evelina is estranged from her father, the wealthy nobleman, Sir John Belmont. Sir John married and impregnated Evelina’s mother and then denied the marriage and abandoned her, thereby ruining her reputation. Evelina believes that Lord Orville will not marry her because he is a noble while she has been raised middle-class (even though she is technically a noble, Lord Orville does not know this). 18th-century Britain was strictly ordered around class, and inter-class marriages were uncommon. But Evelina is proven wrong, as Lord Orville wants to marry her for love—something that did not happen often at this time.
Themes
Evelina and Lord Orville sit together and talk until Mrs. Selwyn finds them. Mrs. Selwyn immediately understands that Lord Orville has proposed, and she teasingly tells Evelina to go and pack. Lord Orville then asks Evelina who he should ask for permission to marry her, and Evelina says that she does not fully know. Lord Orville is confused, and Evelina says that she cannot explain now but promises to tell him everything as soon as she can.
In 18th-century Britain, women had few rights and little agency in their own lives. They were considered their father’s property until they were married, after which they belonged to their husbands. Lord Orville, therefore, wants to ask Evelina’s father’s permission to marry her. However, Evelina potentially has two fathers: her adoptive father, Mr. Villars, and her estranged biological father, Sir John.
Themes
Lord Orville asks if he can write to Evelina when she travels to London, and Evelina says that she would rather not write to him after the last embarrassing written exchange between them. Lord Orville, confused, begs Evelina to explain. Evelina reminds Lord Orville that she wrote a note to him after the Branghtons crashed his coach, and that he wrote a flirtatious note to her in return. But Lord Orville replies that he never received her note and never wrote a reply. Evelina says that she will show him the note, as Lord Orville cannot explain it. Evelina hopes that Mr. Villars will approve of their marriage, as she is extremely happy.
Eighteenth-century British society was governed by strict etiquette conventions, and people considered it improper for an unmarried woman to write privately to a man she didn’t know well—as Evelina did with Lord Orville. Evelina once believed that Lord Orville took advantage of her naïveté about etiquette conventions and used it as an excuse to write a flirty note back to her. She forgave him for this, but she now discovers that he did not write the note at all.
Themes
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