Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

causes a rift in family communications, aggravated by the
presence of Lovelace and brought to tragic ends by the
language of inheritance and the inability of the Harlowe
males to talk of anything else. The older, more
experienced males defer all judgment to James, Jr., who
schemes to confiscate the dairy house and marry Clarissa
to Solmes, connecting the Harlowe estate to his. The
driving desire to "raise the family" is beyond the
control of the senior Harlowe men and proves ultimately
to be beyond the control of anyone. The power of desire
is so strong, coupled with a language so powerful that
Mr. Harlowe, Sr., cannot speak and young James Harlowe
can speak of nothing else.
Evelina presents us with a notably different set of
inheritance problems. Mr. Villars is guardian of John
Evelyn and then of Evelynf s child. Caroline Evelyn asks
Villars to raise her child in the absence of the father,
yet that right is not hers. Children belong to fathers.
Mr. Villars should feel it his duty to unite father with
child. Instead, Villars keeps the child and chooses to
raise Evelina, keeping her hidden from the world and from
her father. Mr. Villars, like James Harlowe, Sr., and
his son, exerts his authority over Evelina, assuming the