Frances Burney like most of the
women novelists of the time, published her novels using a pen name as it was
considered taboo for women to indulge themselves in writing fiction. Those who refused to bow down to the societal norms and dared to
challenge the exclusive monopoly of men over the profession of writing were
considered to be masculine, transgressive, and ungodly. Following in the
footsteps of Jane Austen, Burney published her novels anonymously. She took up
Richardson’s tradition of writing epistolary novels and
published Evelina in 1778. Fanny rose to fame with the success of
Evelina as literary giants like Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, and Hester Thrale
were full of praise for the genius of the author.
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Evelina is told through
letters. It is the story of a young and innocent girl Evelina, who is being
forced to live with her guardian the reverend Mr. Villars as her father is
refusing to recognize her as his legitimate child. The novel narrates the
adventures of Evelina in London as she discovers its culture, meets with
different people, and reconciles with her true father. Evelina is ignorant of
the finer manners and lifestyle that the city demands. She faces dangerous suitors
and seducers, encounters prostitutes in public places, goes into fashionable
balls, and finds the perfect match in Lord Orville. Evelina is the
story of the heroin coming of age as she learns to live in London by overcoming
her social and emotional insecurities.
Though Evelina is not a
feminist novel in the strict sense, it raises certain issues faced by women at
the time. Burney portrays women's issues such as the harassment they faced at
the hands of men, gender hierarchy, and patriarchy. In the crowded metropolis
of London, women's harassment went largely unnoticed as evident from the scene
when Evelina and her cousins are surrounded by a group of lunatics, tossing
them against each other and trying to touch their bodies. Preying upon women of
the lower class was commonplace. Evelina encounters dangerous seducers
including Sir Clement who tries to kidnap and rape her.
Another issue that Burney brings to
the limelight in the novel is related to class differences. It was highly
unlikely for women coming from the lower economic class to get a potential rich
suitor. Though they were trained to hunt rich husbands, the chances of them
succeeding in this endeavor were slim. This is the sole reason that Evelina
hesitates to confess her feelings to Lord Orville despite being fanatically in
love with her. In her words, “She regards him as being superior to her
race”. She has fallen head over heels for him, but the insecurity arising
from her poor economic status is hindering her advance towards him.
Women were thought to need strict
supervision of their enlightened male counterparts owing to their physical,
emotional, and intellectual inferiority. This dependency of women on men is
reflected in the character of Evelina who is a highly dependent girl, first on
Mr. Villars and then on her friends. She transforms towards the end of the
novel as she manages to emancipate herself gradually. She is an alien to the
finer London society in the beginning, but she learns to blend in gradually
towards the end of the novel.
Sir Clement and Captain Mirvan
represent the traditional masculinity of the time. According to Evelina, the
Captain is "surly, vulgar, and disagreeable". He is a
misogynist, who believes in the superiority of the male sex. He is very insulting
and shows racists tendencies towards Madame Duval. Sir Clement has a
potentially more dangerous attitude towards women as he tries to kidnap and
rape Evelina. He also looks down on Evelina by calling her a girl of
obscure birth. Such misogynist tendencies were commonplace because of the
deeply-rooted patriarchal values in English society at the time.
It should be noted that Burney has
not painted every man with the same brush in her novel. Not everyone who lived
in that society was a sexist or male chauvinist. Lord Orville’s character is
the antithesis of that of Sir Clement and the Captain. He is polite and
respectful towards women and represents the changing masculinity and gender
relations of the time. In the words of
Evelina, Orville’s conversation was sensible and spirited; his air
and address were open and noble; his manners were gentle, attentive; He treats
people with great respect and dignity and refuses to weaponize his social
status against the poor.
This article is written by Asif Abbas, one of the contributors at the School of Literature.
