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Volume 3, Letter 17
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
The next morning, Mrs. Selwyn bursts into Evelina’s room and tells Evelina that she will be married next week. Mrs. Selwyn has discussed the matter with Sir John, and he has decided that Miss Belmont and Evelina should both marry immediately to avoid any disgrace. Miss Belmont will marry Mr. Macartney, whom Sir John has reconciled with, and Evelina will marry Lord Orville, who has spoken to Sir John and received his blessing.
Although Sir John has lived a debauched and immoral life, he clearly regrets his mistakes and is willing to make amends for them by treating both his adopted daughter and his biological daughter, Evelina, fairly. If people discover that Miss Belmont is illegitimate and working-class, she will be socially ostracized. However, Sir John does not want to deprive Evelina of her rightful, noble status as his daughter.
Themes
Mrs. Selwyn further explains that Sir John will give Evelina a portion of her inheritance, and she will immediately go to live at Lord Orville’s estate. Although Miss Belmont’s real identity will never be publicly exposed—she will now take the title of Mr. Macartney’s wife, and Mr. Macartney is also Sir John’s heir as he is his son—Evelina will now publicly claim her rightful place in society as Sir John’s daughter.
As Miss Belmont has never been formally introduced to society—young women were not allowed to socialize freely until they were old enough or were married—people will not know what Sir John’s daughter looks like and will accept Evelina in her place. Meanwhile, Sir John will allow Miss Belmont to retain her upper-class status: she will marry his son, Macartney, who has now discovered that he, too, is a noble.
Themes
Evelina asks if she can meet Sir John, and Mrs. Selwyn replies that Sir John thinks Evelina hates him. Evelina is distressed by this and wishes to assure him she does not. That evening, she and Lord Orville discuss their marriage arrangements. Evelina does not want to marry without Mr. Villars’s blessing, so she writes to Berry Hill to ask for it. Lord Orville also says that, after their marriage, they can spend a month at Berry Hill before moving to his house.
Evelina demonstrates her kind temperament and innate sensibility (an 18th-century term associated with empathy and emotional sensitivity), as she forgives Sir John even though he has wronged her. Meanwhile, Mr. Villars and Lord Orville both demonstrate that they have Evelina’s best interests in mind and want her to be happy—Mr. Villars by allowing her to marry Lord Orville, and Lord Orville by allowing her to spend time with Mr. Villars. In 18th-century Britain, women were generally considered to be their father’s or husband’s property. Evelina is lucky, because her adoptive father and future husband respect her wishes and allow her freedom to make her own decisions—something that Burney implies every woman should have a right to.
Themes
