Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice
Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice
inheritance rather than James, Jr., and Lord M. should have had more control over Robert Lovelace. All are manipulated; their language is confounded by strict settlement power. Virtue, the personal standard set for young unmarried women, had special meaning for heroines. Virtue meant avoidance of fault, putting the heroine in a passive position and making virtue a suffering, or making her suffer the faults of others (Alliston 83). How true for poor Clarissa. Her death heightens the importance of her own will, steeped in legal language and certainly the centerpiece of the novel's denouement. Even in death, Clarissa cannot escape the language of inheritance as she wills away those few things she has left in the world. The irony of having Clarissals story framed by written wills and driven by her independent will is extraordinary. Evelina, on the other hand, is based on a "non- existent" will, as there is a "non-existent" marriage. Public sentiment and common law can do nothing for our heroine without a written document. In order for Evelina Anville to recapture her real name and her status as a worthy inheritor, she must produce or have produced for her a document proving her identity.
For all the recent criticism dealing with the importance of names and naming in Burney's novel, Sir Louis Namier reminds us that although a name is a "weighty symbol," it is "liable to variations; descent traced in the male line only" (19). Namier declares the estate becomes the family identification, implying that the length and greatness of a family, as a name often changes. Primogeniture and entails help psychologically to preserve the family and its position through successive generations, thereby fixing a conscious identification through succession rather than name (20). This is the competitive nature of inheritance language in Evelina. Though Evelina may well be searching for her identity and her name, she must ultimately find her father and prove her lineage in relation to his estate. Further, Evelina is not the only character influenced by inheritance. The veracity and sincerity of Mr. Villars are affected, as well. He, of all people, should be versed in titles and inheritance. Through the movement of the plot and the effective silencing of Mr. Villars, Evelina is able to realize her identity through her marriage to Lord Orville. His decision to have her as his wife before he knows her identity asserts the relative unimportance of her name
- Page 1 and 2: THE INHERITANCE NOVEL: THE POWER OF
- Page 3 and 4: Three points are fundamental in ide
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- Page 7 and 8: Chapter Three ....................
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- Page 19 and 20: would "resettle" the estate. In oth
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- Page 47 and 48: Chapter Two Unhappy Transactions: R
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- Page 51 and 52: Since Zomchickfs study, Eileen Spri
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- Page 59 and 60: The eighteenth-century reading publ
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- Page 63 and 64: to [the Solmes marriage settlement]
- Page 65 and 66: Grandfather Harlowe was one of many
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inheritance rather than James, Jr., and Lord M. should<br />
have had more control over Robert Lovelace. All are<br />
manipulated; their language is confounded by strict<br />
settlement power.<br />
Virtue, the personal standard set for young<br />
unmarried women, had special meaning for heroines.<br />
Virtue meant avoidance of fault, putting the heroine in a<br />
passive position and making virtue a suffering, or making<br />
her suffer the faults of others (Alliston 83). How true<br />
for poor <strong>Clarissa</strong>. Her death heightens the importance of<br />
her own will, steeped in legal language and certainly<br />
the centerpiece of the novel's denouement. Even in<br />
death, <strong>Clarissa</strong> cannot escape the language of inheritance<br />
as she wills away those few things she has left in the<br />
world. The irony of having <strong>Clarissa</strong>ls story framed by<br />
written wills and driven by her independent will is<br />
extraordinary.<br />
<strong>Evelina</strong>, on the other hand, is based on a "non-<br />
existent" will, as there is a "non-existent" marriage.<br />
Public sentiment and common law can do nothing for our<br />
heroine without a written document. <strong>In</strong> order for <strong>Evelina</strong><br />
Anville to recapture her real name and her status as a<br />
worthy inheritor, she must produce or have produced for<br />
her a document proving her identity.
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