Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

Kristina Straub, Julia Epstein and Patricia Meyer
Spacks all claim Evelina as a novel of dichotomies,
pitting city against country, public against private, and
most importantly, author against character. While all
three appreciate Evelina's status as a young woman of
quality grievously deprived of her rightful position as
heir to Sir John Belmont, none addresses directly the
important roles inheritance and strict settlement play in
constructing the primary plot of the novel and its
character, or how inheritance practice forces her into an
mis-identified position. What is more, not only she, but
all the other characters as well, are in such mis-
identified positions throughout the novel, and critics
have not touched on how their mis-identifications play on
Evelina's ability to become herself, with her own
identity, and with her true inheritance. None of the
three, Straub, Epstein or Spacks, explores the importance
the language of inheritance plays in the actions of
characters and plot direction. This study is the first
to look specifically at inheritance language and the
power it wields in Burneyrs novel.