Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

language and a feminine independence provides the "young,
ignorant and the idle" with a reasonable idea of the
expectations and pitfalls that can occur when life does
not follow a "perfect model." Inheritance language in
eighteenth-century novels was at odds with social and
cultural expectations. The tension it caused helped to
redefine the vocabulary of the age. It highlighted the
precariousness of life for females in rich and landed
families. It modeled expectations and solutions for
events arising in the daily disruptions of family life.
Richardson provides a novel about the consequences of
greed and inheritance. Burney gives a story of deception
and of personal, as well as social greed. Austen,
employing the unforeseeable and unexpected, incorporates
both.
Conclusion
Strict settlement and primogeniture were the forces
behind the search for land and title in the eighteenth
century. The language and practices of inheritance and
marriage settlements found their way into newly emerging
novels. The power of inheritance is sometimes the
central force behind the plots of early novels and