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 to tell him about her meeting with her father, Sir John. When they arrive at Sir John’s, Evelina is so nervous that she almost faints, so Mrs. Selwyn goes inside to meet Sir John. Evelina hears Mrs. Selwyn explain to Sir John that his daughter is waiting outside to meet him. Sir John confidently assures her that he has just had breakfast with his daughter, but nonetheless, he comes out to look at Evelina.
It is vital that Evelina convinces Sir John that she is his daughter, as he claims that he already has a daughter and that Evelina is an imposter. Although Sir John did marry Evelina’s mother before Evelina was conceived, Sir John denies this, and people believe Sir John over Caroline. If Evelina cannot convince Sir John, people will always consider her illegitimate, something that could negatively affect her social status, as people considered illegitimate children inferior. This would mean that Caroline’s reputation would never be cleared, and Evelina would never receive her rightful inheritance.
Themes
When Sir John sees Evelina, he turns pale and cries out because he thinks she is her mother, Caroline. Evelina collapses in tears, and Sir John, looking down at her, says that Evelina is certainly Caroline’s daughter because she looks so like her. He orders Mrs. Selwyn and Evelina to leave and staggers from the room. Mrs. Selwyn makes to leave, but Evelina begs her to wait a little while. Soon, a servant appears and says that Sir John is ill but will see them the next morning.
Evelina can’t inherit anything financial from her mother—women did not control finances or inheritance in this period, and Caroline was socially ruined and cut off from her wealthy family. However, Caroline’s legacy lives on in Evelina’s looks and kind temperament, and this reveals Evelina’s true identity to Sir John.
Themes
Literary Devices
When Evelina returns to Clifton Hill, she tells Mrs. Clinton what has happened. Mrs. Clinton suddenly remembers that one of Caroline’s maids, Dame Green, also had a baby around the time that Evelina was born. The maid left before the child was born, and Mrs. Clinton says that her daughter must be the girl whom Sir John has raised as his own and who he believes is Caroline’s daughter instead of Evelina. Evelina calls for Mrs. Selwyn, and Mrs. Selwyn takes Mrs. Clinton to see Sir John again.
Eighteenth-century Britain was strictly ordered around class, and lower- and middle-class people had few opportunities for social mobility. Therefore, lower- and middle-class people often went to extreme or devious lengths to ensure that they or their children reaped some of the social benefits of being upper-class. Dame Green took this opportunity for her daughter because she knew that, as a poor servant’s child, her daughter would have no opportunity to gain wealth or social status on her own.
Themes
When Mrs. Selwyn and Mrs. Clinton arrive to see Sir John, he tells them that, now that he has seen how much Evelina resembles her mother, he knows for sure that she is his daughter. Sir John summons Dame Green and, when she sees Mrs. Clinton, she breaks down. She confesses that instead of bringing baby Evelina to Sir John many years ago, she really gave him her own illegitimate daughter, whom he raised as Miss Belmont. When they ask Dame Green why she did this, Dame Green says that she knew Mr. Villars would provide for Evelina, whereas her child would receive nothing.
Unlike Dame Green, Caroline was wealthy and privileged before Sir John ruined her reputation. Dame Green knew that even if Evelina was considered illegitimate, she would have more social advantages than her own child.
Themes
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Miss Belmont knows nothing about her true status—she is not Sir John’s daughter, as she believes, but the servant, Dame Green’s, daughter. Sir John says that he rejected all attempts to introduce him to Evelina because he believed it was a trick to steal Miss Belmont’s inheritance. Evelina writes to Mr. Villars and says that she has no hard feelings against Miss Belmont and thinks of her as a sister. Sir John is too fatigued to see Evelina straightaway, but he will meet Mrs. Selwyn again the next morning.
Dame Green tricked Sir John into believing that Miss Belmont was his own, knowing that Miss Belmont would otherwise struggle in life and never escape her class. The nobility were often wary attempts like this made by social climbers, because they felt that social mobility undermined their superior position in society. Burney suggests that class is arbitrary, however, and that people may not be of the social status that they appear to be.
Themes
