Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

Susan Greenfield points out that Villars "candidly
tells Evelina the accurate details of her past, but
withholds this information from the public" (307).
Greenfield blames Villars in part for Evelina's
disinheritance, citing that he "effectively secluded and
buried her story," affirming he is the one responsible
for the secrecy surrounding her (307). Greenfield
observes that Villars participates in Evelina's
disinheritance "unwittingly," yet she also asserts that
he deliberately withheld knowledge of her existence from
the reformed Belmont in order for Evelina to "develop
into an ideal domestic woman," believing she must stay
home with him in order to become one (307). Villars
tells Lady Howard, " . . . this deserted child, though
legally [the] heiress of two large fortunes, must owe all
her rational expectations to adoption and friendship"
(20). He does not tell her why. Nor does he tell Lady
Howard or the reader whether Evelina is aware of her
position as heiress, either.
Greenfield seems reticent to grant that Mr. Villars,
through his position as a younger son and servant to
another family, as well as the inheritor of a thousand
pounds, is shrewder than she wishes to credit him.
Evidence supports the idea that Villars intentionally