Huston 1

Taylor Huston

English 3200

Anne Myers

December 9, 2015

Evelina and Problems in London Society

Evelina, a novel written by Frances Burney in the 18th century, centers around a

young lady, Evelina, who was raised by Arthur Villars in the quiet village of Berry Hill in

the English countryside. Having been sheltered throughout her entire life, Evelina is

excessively innocent and naive, with no knowledge of life outside of her guardian’s care.

The novel depicts her entrance into society in London as well as her struggles to learn

and adapt to an urban environment and the expectations concerning her behavior and

appearance that are dictated by London society. Evelina is introduced to these mores and

due to her inexperience, she is able to observe their shortcomings and form her own

opinions of them. She finds that many of these rules do not complement her own beliefs

and do not necessarily aid in constructing an honorable community. Burney uses the

setting of London to illustrate the problematic aspects of urban society, specifically, the

code of behaviors in which Evelina and others are expected to follow, the restrictions

created by constructed gender roles, and the assumed superiority of the elite members of

society. The purpose of this is to provide social commentary on the behaviors and

manners that were dictated by society at the time and encourage readers, who would have

been familiar with them, to question the motives behind these expectations.
 Huston 2

Evelina is entering into London society with no prior knowledge of the behaviors

she will be expected to perform. This can clearly be seen when she attends the ball given

by Ms. Stacey. It is her first time attending a ball and she undergoes a transformation of

sorts to prepare, and is then accosted by a man who she immediately dislikes because of

his “foppish” dress and affected manners. She refuses to dance with him, but when she is

asks by Lord Orville she is extremely nervous, but agrees. The first gentleman, Mr.

Lovel, returns later to ask her why she has treated him so impolitely. Evelina is

astonished, and says that she “ … had not once considered the impropriety of refusing

one partner, and afterwards accepting another. I was thunderstruck at the recollection…”

(27). This shows that she was completely ignorant of the manners that were expected of

her at a social event such as a ball. This does not only apply to social events, but to

conversation as well. At the same ball, Lord Orville attempted to engage Evelina in

conversation, but she could not as she was so nervous and embarrassed at her behavior.

She describes herself as being, “…unused to the situations in which I find myself, and

embarrassed by the slightest difficulties, I seldom, till too late, discover how I ought to

act,” (248). This shows that at the same time she is extremely embarrassed to be

oblivious to these social customs she desperately wants to conform to them and fit into

London society. This does not mean, however, that she agrees with all of these customs.

She simply desires to be accepted into society and not be continually embarrassed by her

ignorance. One such custom that she does not wholly agree with is that of acknowledging

her relations, the Braughtons. During the opera that she attended with them, she thought

their comments were quite rude and used Sir Clement’s appearance to avoid riding home

with them in their coach. Evelina knew this would be considered rude and that, “Madame
 Huston 3

Duval, I doubt not, will be very angry…” (79), but saw this as a better alternative to

spending the rest of her evening with them. Both Evelina’s struggle to conform to social

expectations and her poor opinion of her cousins’ behaviors as well as that of some of the

restrictive customs serve to show that manners that are considered proper and necessary

in London society are not naturally acquired. This suggests that some of these behaviors

are not truly valuable and are more restrictive than constructive, particularly those

concerning the roles of men and women.

Evelina comes to realize that the traditional gender roles that those in London

society abide by are confining and limit her ability to express herself and to act in a way

that she believes is moral. For example, during the ball in London, Evelina immediately

notices and disapproves of the manner in which the gentlemen act towards the ladies. She

describes them as having "…passed and repassed, looked as if they thought we were

quite at their disposal, and only waiting for the honor of their commands; and they

sauntered about, in a careless, indolent manner, as if with a view to keep us in suspense,”

(23). Evelina did not care for this idea at all and declared that she was “…determined, in

[her] own mind, that, far from humoring such airs, [she] would rather not dance at all,

than with any one who should seem to think [her] ready to accept the first partner who

would condescend to take [her],” (23). This shows that she thoroughly disapproved of the

objectifying way in which ladies were viewed and resented that they should assume that

she would accept them after behaving in such a way. It was because of this that she

refused to dance with Mr. Lovel when he asked her. She found his manners ridiculous

and refused out of rebellion of this idea as much as genuine dislike of him. This was the

reason that she did not think it improper for her to accept another partner, one which she
 Huston 4

found much more agreeable. Another issue Evelina had concerning the restrictions she

was unwilling placed under was concerning the Captain and Sir Clement’s treatment of

Madame Duval. They engaged in a cruel prank in that involved making her believe that

Monsieur Du Bois had been imprisoned, faking a robbery and physically assaulting her.

Evelina was enraged by their behavior but was fearful of asking them to stop. Eventually

she gathered the courage and asked the Captain to stop his tormenting. He, not being used

to given commands from a lady, responded coldly, “A sullen gloominess instantly

clouded his face, and, turning short from me, he said, I might do as I pleased, but that I

should much sooner repent than repair my officiousness,” (126). The Captain was

obviously displeased with Evelina’s intrusion into his affairs and thought it to be

extremely inappropriate. Evelina was aware that it would not be taken well, but chose to

confront him anyway. She felt that it would be unfair to both herself and Madame Duval

to remain silent and let the antics continue and let her opinion remain unexpressed. This

is a marked difference from how the Captain treated her previously. It was at the second

party that Evelina and Mirvans attended that Sir Clement first approached Evelina and

asked the Captain, then a stranger, to persuade her to accept him as a dance partner. He

responds to Sir Clement by saying, “That lady, Sir…is her own mistress,” (35). This

statement seems contradictory, as here he lets Evelina make up her own mind and

encourages her to express her opinion and later has no interest in her judgments. It merely

defines, however, the parameters in which women should be able to make their own

decisions or express their own opinions. He believes they should be permitted to be

included in social discussions and decisions but not in matters do not directly involve

them or that are more serious. These examples illustrate how the gender roles constructed
 Huston 5

by London society restrict Evelina and other women and do not necessarily improve this

urban community.

Not only do restrictions on the behaviors of men and women limit society, but

also sometimes blur the line between the elite members of society and those that are well

mannered. As we have seen often throughout the novel, the elite may not behave in a way

that is concordant with societal expectations, and those that belong to a lower class may

not have poor manners. Evelina observes this many times throughout her time in London,

particularly with Lord Merton. Lord Merton was engaged to Lady Louisa, Lord Orville’s

sister, but flirted with Evelina whenever they were together. Evelina, who at first did not

know that he held the title of a lord, thought his behavior was reprehensible, saying, “I

was quite surprised, that a man whose boldness was so offensive, could have gained

admission to a party…I naturally concluded him to be some low-bred and uneducated

man…” (89). With no previous knowledge of the man, Evelina made this judgment of

him solely based on his inappropriate behaviors. Later, when she learns of his status she

is extremely surprised, “...how extraordinary! that a nobleman, accustomed, in all

probability, to the first rank of company in the kingdom…can possibly be deficient in

good manners…” (89). Evelina would never have believed that a man of such status

could behave so poorly, as the assumption in this society is that those that belong to a

higher social class are better acquainted with societal expectations. Another example of

this is when Mr. Lovel, who is also a man highly regarded in society, refers to Evelina as

a “toad-eater” (243). This term refers to someone who is dependent on a wealthy patron.

It was not news to Evelina that Mr. Lovel harbored some negative feelings towards her,

but she was surprised that he would speak badly of her to other members in the
 Huston 6

community. She felt that this was in poor taste and made her already sour opinion of him

worse. This sharply contrasts some other characters such as Mr. Macartney, who is poor

but has good morals and Evelina herself whose struggles and exploits in London do not

diminish her innocence despite her comparably lower status. She strives throughout her

journey to maintain this as well as strong sense of self while learning the complexities of

an urban social scene. These characters serve to illustrate the shallowness of London

society and the ineffectiveness of these behavioral codes and restrictions on determining

a person’s merits.

Overall Evelina’s introductparkion to London society as well as her struggles to

understand and conform to behavioral expectations shows that these codes of conduct and

the pressures to conform to traditional gender roles are restrictive and do not contribute to

the improvement of society. Evelina’s role as a newcomer allows both her and the reader

to experience London as an outsider, allowing for the formation of unbiased opinions and

observations concerning these widely accepted expectations.