Discussion Starter 

Frances Burney, Evelina  pp. 370-406

Nixon Excerpts 105, 106, 107, 127

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FRAMEWORK

  • Burney’s utilization of diverse characters to emphasize sensibility and etiquette through the lens of our constant variable, Evelina’s inexperience, to work through the realities of this notion of “good-breeding” and “ill-breeding”.  

Diversity of Characters → 

Drawing from other discussion starters, we made a list and started to work through the different types of characters and how they may influence Evelina – I wanted to add to this and look at how their diversity showcases the many social cues of the era. On the female side of the list, it represents a type of social class Evelina feels comfortable with, such as Lady Howard, Mrs. Mirvan, and Miss Mirvan. They conduct themselves well in public, have compassion and kindness for others, and behave subtly and sophisticatedly. However, though there are aspects of “good-breeding”, certain characters such as Captain Mirvan, Sir Clements Willoughby, and Mr. Lovel within their party shake-up Evelina’s distinctions. 

When Evelina moves to the Branghton household with Madame Duval, who also employs the mixture of being high society but ill-bred, she encounters the social-climbing upper/middle-class family and examines how their behavior indicates their morals and virtues. However, through them, she learns that someone they look down on, Mr. McCartney proves more sentimental and mannerly than the Branghtons. 

Later in the novel, more characters emerge, and one that I found compelling was Mrs. Beaumont. She is of relation to Lord Orville and his sister Lady Louisa and is an excellent example of the satirical social commentary on the behavior of people who view nobility, status, and virtue to be all the same.

Sensibility and Etiquette → 

A central theme I picked out from the usage of so many diverse characters was the ability for Evelina to go beyond titles, wealth, and social standing and understand that sensibility comes from a sentimental standpoint, a way to empathize with others and have the ability to perceive situations beyond your own. In contrast, etiquette can be grotesquely shallow – a way for people to show they can play the game of societal relations but mainly as a method to advance their interests. A great example Burney uses for this is the characters of Mr. Lovel, Sir Clement, and the Branghton family. Mr. Lovel, for example, is incredibly fixated on Evelina’s inexperience with the etiquette of a dance and uses it to try and obtain what he wants. Madame Duval associates with families like the Branghton’s and wishes for every situation to be an opportunity for advancement of her or her group, entirely dissimilar to someone like Lord Orville, who keeps the social life and business life separate. The falsehood of sensibility is portrayed within Sir Clement Willoughby’s chameleon-like behavior. This highlights that true sensibility comes from a genuine sensitivity to the people you are surrounded by, while Sir Clement acts with immense self-interest.

 QUESTION 

  • How does Burney’s choice of embodying the characteristics and social norms into a diverse array of characters help the message of Evelina’s discernment regarding sensibility and etiquette? 
  • How does this choice dictate how the response to her novel was? Does our previous class discussion and analysis of possibility and probability play a role in its reception? 

EVIDENCE

  • Mr. Lovel → “Only, Sir, a slight objection which this young lady makes to dancing with me, and which I am endeavoring to obviate. I shall think myself greatly honored, if you will intercede for me” (44)
  • Sir Clement Willoughby → “He seemed disposed to think that the alteration in my companions authorizes an alteration in his manners…This observation, which he has given me cause to make, of his changing with the tide, has sunk him more in my opinion, than any other part of his conduct” (203)
  • Branghton Family & party → “There were many people all smart and gaudy, and so pert and low-bred, that I could hardly endure being amongst them; but the party to which, unfortunately, I belonged, seemed all at home” (194). “This grossness so much disgusted me”(191) – the family’s conduct towards Mr. McCartney. “Mr. Smith, upon hearing that he was a baronet, and seeing him drive off in a very beautiful chariot, declared that he would not have laughed upon any account, had he known his rank…Young Branghton vowed, that, if he had known as much, he would have asked for his custom: and his sister has sung his praises every since, protesting she thought, all along, he was a man of quality by his look” (214). 
  • Mrs. Beaumont → “and I make no doubt but she was miserable when she discovered me to be a mere country gentlewomen: however, he nice notions of decorum have me her load me with favors ever since” and “I am not much flattered by her civilities, as I am convinced I owe them neither to attachment not gratitude, but solely to a desire of cancelling an obligation which she cannot brook being under, to one whose name is no where to be found in the Court Calendar”(284). 
  • The Howard Family →  “She bore it with the utmost good-humor; but that kind of sweet-tempered woman, Mrs. Mirvan, deserved a lot better”(40). 
  • Lord Oriville → “When we walk out, he condescends to be my companion, and keeps by my side…When we read, he marks the passages most worthy to be noticed, draws out my sentiments, and favors me with his own…he obliges me by a thousand nameless attentions” (296) “My love, my sweet Miss Anville, deny me no longer to be the sharer of your griefs!”(367). 

SIGNIFICANCE/MY RESPONSE

  • I feel that the significance of Burney’s choice of engaging in such a multitude of characters, events, and varying social stratum make Evelina’s interpretations and views feel incredibly fresh and a testament to her natural sensitivity. It makes me believe in Evelina’s virtue and grace upon entering society as it proves that she can differentiate between the abundance of falsehoods and hollowed empathy hidden through the prominence of social rules, etiquette, and propriety. Keeping in mind the audience, I think Burney wants the readers to experience, along with Evelina, the ability to look for the people who elevate you along with themselves; they are not so shallowly engrossed in solely status. Nevertheless, remembering the type of people of this time who had the most access to books – it could resemble the people they know in society and perhaps draw attention to the high society’s shortcomings as acknowledged by an innocent and optimistic guide like Evelina.
  •  Incorporating the insights from the critics’ response to Evelina, they seem to bridge my observations into an area we have discussed in class relating to possibility vs. probability of real-life implications. An anonymous review from our Nixon excerpts stated that “many such characters as occur in the world, not raised so high as to be extravagant, not sunk so low as to be disgusting” (Anonymous review No. 48). To me, Burney expertly chose such characters that individually display the imperfections of society to isolate them for the audience so they can truly grasp what commentary she raises. As readers ourselves, though in a much different context as readers in 18th century England, we too can experience the complexities of people’s true intentions just as Evelina is navigating them.  

FOLLOW-UP 

  • As mentioned in another anonymous review, No. 46 from our experts, they state, “we wish, to see one novel in which there is no lord”. Would Burney’s message of the intricacies of sensibility, good breeding, and manners differ if our main character of superiority was not someone of one of the highest social standings?
  •  If the prominent model of the intangible elements of “good-breeding” was within someone of a lower class, could Burney have chosen him, or would that be too improbable for the time and dismissed? What can we draw from the novel that would make this case? 
  • In the same review of Evelina, the critics say, “What effect has this upon the readers? They are convinced that happiness is not to be found in the chilling climate of low life”. What do we think of the shifts between critic’s responses from previous novels when they mentioned how lower life is not fashionable and rather boring and people would instead read and aspire to a higher level of life to now conveying there should be a more realistic depiction so that the audience is not led to believe happiness only comes from high status? 
  • How does that conflict with Burney’s message that genuine sentiments are not imperative to rank?