Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

displaying all the good things wealth can bring. Miss
Bingley, however, wishes to cement her own position in
the upper classes by marrying Darcy, a move that would
make her future more secure and less dependent on her
brother. Her brother's wealth brings him to a great
estate in Meryton and gives her the power of a large
portion, making her attractive as a marriage prospect for
the nobility. Without a substantial portion, Miss
Bingley' s future would have been tenuous, equal to that
of any of the Bennet girls.
Mr. Collins need not do anything, for his penchant
for being in the right place at the right time will bring
him wealth, an excellent living, and Longbourn. Austen
gives us the laughable prospect of a plodding,
unattractive, dull and unlikable minor cleric rising to
the top of society. Noble bloodlines run cold at the
thought of Mr. Collins moving among them.
Richardson, Burney and Austen present readers with
anomalies of inheritance law, an occurrence seemingly
overlooked by the legal community and unspoken of in the
daily language of marriage and inheritance. Clarissa,
Evelina and Elizabeth represent young women exhibiting
the newly fashionable independent will of the eighteenth
century. The curious combination of a subversive legal