Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

culture, this is the first study to analyze the effects
of that practice and language on the eighteenth-century
novel.
The predicament of a young woman involved in the
inheritance structure of her family developed early in
eighteenth-century literature and continued to grow as an
important aspect of plot. Thompson suggests, "From
Pamela to Amelia to Evelina to Emma, the question each
narrative explores is what makes the heroine worthy,
suitable, valuable" (22). Nancy Armstrong and Katherine
Soba Green argue strongly for the value of virtue and a
womanf s worthiness to marry or be successful in real life
as virtue strongly centers itself in early novels. This
study argues that marriage, so closely linked with
primogeniture and strict settlement in the eighteenth
century, was a form of inheritance. After all, women who
were "conduits" for land could not be more closely tied
with inheritance.
Eighteenth-century ownership of land was
inextricably tied to economic, political and social
power. The tie, emphasized by Armstrong through the
sexual contract and Green through the marriage contract,
also emphasizes the importance of marriage as an economic
and commercial venture for families of importance.