How Are Men Depicted in Frances Burneys Evelina - Essay Example

College: How Are Men Depicted In Frances Burneys "Evelina"? The 18th century novel “Evelina” ed by Frances Burney is a classic piece of work that mirrors the society as it were then. Through the novel and the main character, Evelina, Burney manages to bring out the transpiring intricacies of the society in London in different shades. Written in the form of letters, the novel brings out Burney’s perspective of the society and how people related through the lens of the characters. The main theme in the novel depicts women as having the capacity to overcome the numerous challenges that the society, especially men, have placed on them. Evelina goes through the normal life of a woman from an innocent girl to a grown woman who has experienced the harsh treatment from several men, and women, in her life. Having lost her mother, Caroline, during her birth, Evelina is trying to find her real identity by tracing her real parentage. To achieve this objective, Evelina has to confront the men and women in society who make her life miserable. Ultimately, she confronts her father. Although the novel depicts the nature of women in society more explicitly, Burney also depicts the role of men through the novel. The classic piece contains several men, whose characters are highlighted in a manner that brings out the nature of the men. Apparently, Burney depicts men as varied in terms of character and personality in the novel. Some men are depicted as being good while others are quite the opposite. The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical discussion of how the novel depicts men in their various characters and personalities. Although a broad distinction between the good and bad men can be made, this paper will go into more specific details of how men are depicted. First, the novel depicts men as being caring and supportive. The nature of human beings to care for others and support them implies that such human beings are good. In a virtuous society, being good is praised and entails being mindful of others. Therefore, by noting that Burney depicts men as caring and supportive, the paper is actually arguing that men are virtuous based on some of the characters in the classic novel. According to Blake et al (346), caring as a virtue entails engaging in efforts that show concern for others irrespective of their relationship status to the care giver. This nature of men is well represented by the character of Mr. Villars. In Chapter 2 of the novel, Mr. Villars writes a letter to Lady Howard where he talks of his dedication to seeing Miss Evelina grow to be a successful and literate woman in society. After Caroline’s death while giving birth to Evelina, his biological father, Belmont, abandons her. Without a biological parent to support the child Evelina, Mr. Villars accepts to take care of her until she reached the age of eighteen. While under his care, Mr. Villars treats Evelina with a fatherly love. He loves her and provides for her needs just like a caring father. He even educates her. By being such a caring father-like figure to an orphan girl, the character of Mr. Villars shows that men are actually caring and supportive of those in need in society. Burney used the character of Mr. Villars to bring this point out clearly. In fact, taking care of an orphan from birth to adulthood with parental love is not an easy task. It requires a greater level of a caring heart such as Mr. Villar’s. Second, the novel also depicts men as being influential in society. Being influential in society means that the men are presented as having some authority over other members of society especially women. This kind of society is often referred to as a patriarchal society. This type of society is also depicted in various literary works such as Angela Carter’s novel, “Nights at the Circus”, which brings out the inequalities of sexes in society where men seem to dominate while women take a passive role (Servranckx 8-9). Although the patriarchal society is depicted differently in different literary works, Burney brings the male dominance in both positive and negative aspects. In the positive aspect, Burney actually shows that male dominance is necessary for the good of society. She achieves this through using characters such as Mr. Villars, whose authority is evident in the manner in which he is addressed and respected in society. Mr. Villars uses this male dominance to take care of Evelina’s mother after her father’s (Mr. Evelyn) untimely death. On his death bed, Mr. Evelyn wrote to Mr. Villars requesting him to be the sole guardian of his daughter, Caroline, until she was of adult age. Mr. Evelyn also left a legacy of amounting to a thousand pounds under Mr. Villar’s name (Burney 8). The fact that Mr. Evelyn ignored his wife, Mrs. Duval, when making his last wishes on his death bed shows the patriarchal nature of the society then. As a woman, Mrs. Duval seemed to have no power or authority over her husband, even during his weakest moment. Luckily, Mr. Villar’s, to whom the responsibility of raising and educating Caroline was left, used his male authority to offer the best care he could. The positive male dominance is also depicted in the manner in which Mr. Villar’s protected Caroline and later Evelina, mother and daughter respectively. He protected the two from the ills of society that could have threatened their lives as women because of their passive role. The passive role of women in the society is well captured in the novel where Miss Evelyn was forced to marry John Belmont (Burney 8). Since she had no authority as a woman to challenge the male-dominated society, Miss Evelyn succumbed to the pressure and accepted to marry a person she did not like. When her husband, Belmont, decided to end their marriage and burnt their marriage certificate, Miss Evelyn ran to Mr. Villars for protection (8). This brings out the positive aspect of male dominance and authority in the society as brought out in the novel. Miss Evelyn could have ran to Mrs. Duval, her mother, for protection but she opted for Mr. Villars because she knew the latter commanded authority in society. She knew Mr. Villars could offer her more protection than her mother, who was also experiencing the same predicament as herself because she was a woman. Therefore, the influential nature of men as brought out in the novel is positive in the sense that it helped to protect women against the ill-motives of other men in the same society. The main character, Evelina, and her mother, Miss Evelyn, owe their lives to the protection and support they received from men such as Mr. Villars and Lord Orville. However, the main aspect of the male dominance and influence in the society as brought out in the novel is negative. One character that brings this negative male dominance clearly is Captain Mirvan. Evelina describes him as disagreeable, surly, and vulgar person (Burney 22). Captain Mirvan had this negative perception of almost everything and everyone around him. He could openly criticize people using harsh and vulgar language without considering that he was hurting their feelings. This character, which made him to be feared even by his wife, made him to appear as a hostile person. Evelina actually feared him to the extent that she would avoid sitting close to him at any cost. At some point, Evelina wondered why Mrs. Mirvan, with her good and happy character, would stand such a man for a husband (22). Captain Mirvan’s negative character was directed towards women rather than towards his fellow men. He treated women with disrespect and hatred. The fact that he chose to treat women differently from how he treated men shows his male influence in society. Apparently, he understood that the women could not do much to challenge him. Therefore, he determined that they were an easy target for his negative outbursts and treatment. It is like he found contentment in making the women around him uneasy and fearful. Even though the women felt the pain of Captain Mirvan’s negative behaviour, they opted to remain silent rather than challenge him. This also emphasizes the dominance of the men in the society. Probably if the women had opted to confront the captain about his behaviour they would have ended up getting more hostility from him. Other male characters in the novel are also depicted as having this negative influence. Lord Merton is depicted as an immoral man who is wasteful and loves women (Burney 172). Sir Clement Willoughby also depicted a similar character in the manner in which he treats other people. For example, he disrespected and mishandled Evelina (126). Third, the novel depicts men as exploitative. Most of the male characters in the novel especially those from the high class exploit others. Lord Merton, who is part of the privileged class, exploits other people especially those from the less-privileged backgrounds such as Evelina. Drunk with his noble title, Lord Merton openly discriminates against people he feels are not of his class. He openly ignores such people as Evelina when greeting others such as Mrs. Beaumont (Burney 173). Exploitation of the lower classes by the nobility took many forms at the time the novel was written. For example, the nobility imposed taxes on the lower classes as a form of this exploitation (Salmon 194). While such forms of exploitation were quite extreme, other mild forms of exploitation also existed. The open despising of the lower class people by the nobility in the novel captures this reality as well. Exploitation can be physical or emotional. Lord Merton chooses the latter to show people like Evelina that they do not deserve his bowing. This treatment works because Evelina takes note of it and actually complains about it. She expresses her anger because she feels that she was mistreated just because she did not belong to the same class as Lord Merton. Yet, people such as Mrs. Beaumont are treated differently in her presence. Burney must have been trying to bring out the men, especially those of the privileged class, as exploitative and insensitive to those who were less privileged. She succeeds in doing so because this point comes out clearly. Through Evelina’s own expression through her letter to Mr. Villar, Burney manages to depict the high class men in the society as being exploitative and discriminative. Sir Clement and Captain Mirvan also depict the exploitative character of the high-class men in the novel. These respected men find fun in exploiting and manipulating others especially those that they consider to be below them. Sir Clement loved to ridicule people that he considered to be foolish and uneducated. At one time when he met Captain Mirvan, he ridiculed Madame Duval in the presence of the Captain. While the Captain seemed to love the whole episode, Mrs. Mirvan did not. She actually attempted to change the topic in vain. The target of the ridicule and provocation, Madame Duval, was so enraged (Burney 35). This example from the novel emphasizes the depiction of men as manipulative. It seems as though that acquiring a high status intensified the feeling of authority and influence of men. They felt superior to everyone else. Therefore, they did not see any problem in making this clear to those they thought were undeserving of their respect and honour. The fact that Sir Clement and Captain Mirvan seemed to enjoy the provocation and manipulation of Madame Duval just shows that this behaviour was common among the noble men. Otherwise, Mr. Mirvan would have not joined Sir Clement in manipulating the poor Madame Duval. In fact, the captain should have sided with his wife, Mrs. Mirvan, who attempted to come to Madame Duval’s aid by trying to change the topic of discussion. However, probably her being a woman made her attempts useless in the presence of men who believed that they had so much authority in their hands. The fact that the Captain Mirvan could actually ignore his wife in this context leaves no doubt as to the influence and authority that the noble men felt they possessed. Yet, not all noble men are depicted as being exploitative and manipulative. Lord Orville defies this character despite the fact that he is part of the noble class. As Quawas (225) points out, Lord Orville showed what a man should be rather than what a man is. Although his first impression after meeting Evelina was almost similar to those of other noble men, he later realizes that Evelina is actually an intelligent, sensible, and informed girl. He realizes that he had made a mistake in his first perception of the girl and makes attempts to correct this. He does not remain adamant that Evelina is just a poor girl like the other noble men do. Lord Orville becomes so close to Evelina and makes efforts to ensure her well-being. He acts as her guardian against the oppression and negative treatment from the other noble men with whom he ought to side with going by the common trend. However, he chooses to defy this commonality and stand for the good and just. Although he risks being perceived as an outcast by the other noble men, Lord Orville does not see this as a major issue. Through Lord Orville’s character, Burney challenges the very exploitative nature of the noble men that dominates in the novel. It shows that not all men fall into one category. Some men, through personal choice, can actually defy tradition and norms. The message that Burney is trying to express hear is that society needs not remain rigid especially in the presence of negativities such as oppression and inequality. According to Myers (1), literature is an effective tool for creating positive change in society. This is what Burney is doing by using characters such as Lord Orville who defy the norms and status quo in society, which inspires positive change. Fourth, Burney depicts men as greedy and cunning. This is best exemplified by the character of Sir John Belmont. Sir John Belmont had married Caroline through a private and arranged marriage by working together with Caroline’s mother, Madame Duval, and her cousins. This marriage was arranged in a cunning manner, which compelled Caroline to consent to the marriage to avoid the suffering she had been experiencing in the hands of her parents (Burney 8). Apparently, Monsieur Duval and his wife, Madame Duval, had persisted upon the young Miss Evelyn to marry Sir John Belmont because of wealth gains. Sir John Belmont was an extravagant man, which may have played a role in influencing the parents of Caroline to pressurize her into marrying him. On his part too, Sir Belmont had ill motives too. He was eyeing the fortune of Caroline that had been left with reverend Villars by her late biological father. Therefore, after their arranged marriage, Sir Belmont decided to take Caroline back to England, where reverend Villars lived. This was a strategic move that Belmont hoped would mark the beginning of his enjoying the fortune that was under the custody of Villars (Pansch 13). To his shock, this did not happen as he had planned and expected. Without the likelihood of enjoying the fortune, Belmont decided to break the union with Caroline. He even burned the marriage certificate to erase any evidence that they had been legally married. This entire story depicts men as cunning and greedy. Monsieur Duval and Sir John Delmont were driven by greed in arranging the marriage despite Caroline’s disapproval. Their greed was so much that they actually infringed on Caroline’s independence and human rights. To quench their greed for wealth, they devised cunning strategies including the arranged marriage and moving to England. Fifth, the novel depicts men as extravagant. Several male characters in the novel live extravagantly by spending wealth unreasonably. One such character is Lord Merton who had already spent half his fortune despite the fact that he had just gained the title of lordship. Lord Merton was immoral and spent his fortune in gambling and on women (Burney 172). Just like Lord Merton, Sir John Belmont was also an extravagant young man. The extravagant lives of these two men depict men of the 18th century as extravagant and wasteful. They spent their fortunes without caring about tomorrow. Such wasteful lives were attractive to these men because it was a source of power and prestige. They used their wasteful spending habits to loo women and control other men who lacked such fortunes. The life of extravagance prevailed in the whole of Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries and shaped the development of the societies there (Robertson and Dugald 65). Such extravagant lifestyles mostly affected the noble and affluent men. The poor men could not afford such lifestyles. Therefore, extravagant men such as Sir Belmont and Lord Merton used their extravagance to portray their fortunes with the intention and winning admiration and respect from the less privileged. Burney emphasizes the extravagant lifestyles of these men to ensure that the message comes out clearly. What stands out in the depiction of men as extravagant is the intentional depiction of women as non-extravagant. None of the women characters in the novel is depicted as sharing the extravagant lifestyle as the men. By showing this clear difference between the lifestyles of the men and women, Burney was making a point the men, and not women, were extravagant. For example, although Madame Duval appears to be extravagant when she forces Caroline to marry Sir Belmont, Burney dilutes this perception by showing that Madame Duval was only acting according to the pressure from her husband, Monsieur Duval. Ultimately, the reader understands that the extravagant person here is Monsieur Duval and not Madame Duval, who was only acting to please the former. Sixth, Burney depicts men as being natural. The concept of the natural man was espoused by philosopher Rousseau in his writing “Discourse on Inequality”. According to this theory, man is naturally good but tends to be corrupted by society (Scott 1). Under the theory of natural man, Rousseau emphasizes the importance of letting nature shape man’s behaviour (Lange 97). Burney seems to apply this concept of natural man in her novel. This is clearly evident in the character of Mr. Macartney. When Evelina meets Mr. Macartney for the first time, he appears to be a desolate man in need of love and support. In fact, Evelina saves Mr. Macartney from a possible suicide attempt. Later on, Mr. Macartney writes a letter to Evelina revealing to her about his past life. Through the letter, it emerges that Mr. Macartney had actually had a humble upbringing with a single mother. His humble upbringing made him a good man, as Rousseau would argue in his theory. However, the naturally good man, Mr. Macartney, begins to change when he pays a visit to his friend from a wealthy family in Paris. While there, Mr. Macartney meets a young lady with whom he develops an intimate relationship. As fate would have it, the young lady’s father ambushes them together, which triggers a fight between him and the Macartney. From the fight, Macartney thinks that he has murdered the girl’s father. At almost the same time, Macartney learns of his mother’s death after an illness. Since his mother had hitherto been his main financier, Macartney begins to borrow money from his wealthy friend and his mother’s friend. This behaviour lands him into great debts. In an effort to repay the debts, Mr. Macartney becomes an armed robber. Using his gun, he starts robbing people. Ultimately, the good Mr. Macartney turns out to be the bad Mr. Macartney. His transformation is influenced by society (Mixon 42-44). Seventh, under the same concept of natural man, Burney also depicts man as abnormal in nature. The picture of Lord Orville challenges that of most of his peers. Actually, Evelina notes this weird character of Lord Orville when she notes that his good nature does not fit within the existing generation (Hamilton 425). In this description of Lord Orville, we see a mismatch between the natural man and the unnatural man. While the male characters like Mr. Macartney displayed the normal man character that was subject to society pressures, Lord Orville challenges this theory. Apparently, Lord Orville is a man of high social standing than Evelina and his father. Yet, he chooses to treat them as equals, which was not the norm in that society. From the analysis of other male characters in the novel, the norm was for the men of higher social status to treat those of lower social status differently. If the natural theory as articulated by Rousseau was to apply here, Lord Orville would have been just like Lord Merton and Sir Clement. He would not have associated well with Evelina and his guardian. In fact, the marriage between Lord Orville and Evelina could not have happened because of the different social statuses. Therefore, while Burney tries to depict men as natural in that they are influenced by society, she also challenges this notion through the character of Lord Orville. As Hamilton notes, perhaps Burney intended to show that being the unique one does not necessarily imply that Lord Orville was the ultimate hero (440). Although he seems to have emerged the ultimate patriarchal winner by marrying Evelina, his unique character does not do much to change the prevalent patriarchal behaviour in the society. The message that Burnley is trying to pass is that being even in Patriarchal society, there are some few men who hold different views from the majority. Yet, this does not necessarily have a major effect on changing the behaviour of the greater society. Just like Rousseau argued, human behaviour is subject to society and not the other way round. Eighth, Burney depicts men as capable of becoming dangerous to achieve their goals. Although this would suggest determination, it is much closer to being dangerous as displayed by the character of Sir Clement. After writing a letter to Evelina and signing it as Lord Orville, Sir Clement later threatens Evelina. After tearing the letter, Sir Clement holds Evelina’s gown as she tries to escape from him. He threatens her saying that he was only half-mad (Pansch 30). Although this does not actually end up in him physically harming her, it shows Sir Clement as a dangerous man who is capable of causing harm to someone to get what he wants. It must have been terrifying for Evelina when he held her gown and prevented her from running out. She must have thought that he was going to harm her. The main reason for Sir Clement’s hostile behaviour was that he felt envious of Lord Orville who had won Evelina’s heart and not his. Given a chance, he would have done anything to get Evelina. Ninth, Burney depicts men as weak despite their outward display of courage and rigidity. Towards the end of the novel, it emerges that some of the male characters that had hitherto appeared so rigid were actually weak. To begin with, Evelina turns down Mr. Lovel’s request to dance with her. Although Mr. Lovel had previously treated women as objects of manipulation, this incident makes him feel intimidated (Quawas 222). This scenario brings out the other side of men, which is hidden for the most part of the novel. It shows that men are also weak and vulnerable. Mr. Lovel was embarrassed that Evelina, a woman, had rejected him openly and opted for Lord Orville. The cards were now turning in favour of the woman and men who appeared to be different from the rest. The same weakness in men is evident when Sir, John Belmont finally accepts that Evelina is her daughter. After many years of denying her, he finally accepts her back. However, this was not easy for him. He is ashamed to confront her. He approaches Evelina without the arrogance he had when he divorced her mother, Caroline, and out rightly rejected her as her daughter. Sir Belmont actually begs Evelina not to hate him (226). The act of begging clearly shows the weakness of a man. He was begging a woman he had looked down upon since her birth. The many years of wearing a courageous and rigid face were over. It was time to be real and reveal what was deep inside his heart. In such a patriarchal society, such behaviour by a man is abnormal. Men are supposed to dominate and never given in to pressure from women, who they despise and treat as non-equals. Burney actually ends the novel by showing that men are also weak even when they tend to appear as brave and rigid. In conclusion, the novel depicts men in both positive and negative perspectives. Some of the positive aspects associated with some of the male characters in the novel include being caring, supportive, understanding, and loving. On the other hand, negative elements of men as depicted by some of the male characters include immorality, lust, extravagance, manipulation, and discrimination. The entire novel is filled with a conflict between the positive and negative aspects of the patriarchal society. The women in the novel are used to highlight these aspects. Specifically, Burney uses the women characters to show how the male characters treated them. With regard to Evelina, the main character, her womanhood is subjected to both the negative and positive elements of men. She is mistreated by some of the men that she encounters as she grows. Yet, she is also treated positively by some men who shape her destiny. Through this apparently conflict between the good men and the bad men, Burney shows that men are not necessarily good or bad. In fact, the Patriarchal society is comprised of natural men whose behaviour and attitudes are shaped by forces beyond themselves. The men who display the negative traits only do so because they have been exposed to such behaviour by the societies they live in. As with the case of Mr. Macartney, a good man today may change and become bad tomorrow. Likewise, a bad man can become good. The character of Lord Orville and Mr. Villar defy the blanket observation that a patriarchal society such as the one Evelina lived in after coming to London is bad. Ultimately, the novel depicts men as natural and subject to positive and or negative influences from the society. Works Cited Blake, Nigel et al. The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Education. John Wiley & Sons, 2008. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. Burney, Fanny. Evelina. 10th Ed. 2004. Print. Hamilton, Patricia L. "Monkey Business: Lord Orville and the Limits of Politeness in Frances Burneys Evelina." Eighteenth Century Fiction 19.4 (2007): 415-440. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Nov. 2014. Lange, Lynda. Feminist Interpretations of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Penn State Press, 2010. Web. 25 Nov. 2014. Mixon, Amanda. “Traces of Rousseau in Frances Burney’s Evelina.” Theocrit: The Online Journal of Undergraduate Literacy Theory and Criticism 2.1 (2009): 38-46). Myers, Ken. “Five Ways to Use Literature to Encourage Positive Changes in Children.” 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. 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