The Role Of Exile In Fanny Burney`s Novel Evelina

There is no doubt that Evelina, the eponymous protagonist of Frances Burney's 1778 novel, is a character who is exiled. Her biological father John Belmont refuses to accept she is his daughter throughout the majority of the novel, this means she has no claim to an inheritance and perhaps worse her lack of biological father means she is exiled from an upper class society she deservedly belongs to. Furthermore her mother died without successfully consolidating her marriage with John Belmont meaning Evelina is not only excluded from a family but a family name. This also means Evelina is excluded from having a fixed identity. Her rich relatives such as, Madame Duval allow her to access societal circles far beyond her education and her current societal position, her ignorance of the customs of the upper classes allow characters such as Mr. Lovell and Clement Willoughby to frequently take advantage of her. Rather than making her appear foolish her exclusion from an identity and an ignorance of the customs of the upper classes frequently empower her and expose her male counterparts to be fraudulent and conceited. Evelina is a novel which gives a voice to a repressed generation of women, the character of Evelina uses her status as an outsider to invert the male-female power dynamic whilst simultaneously trying to assert herself in a world she is yet to become a part of. As Evelina is in many ways exiled from the upper class society she becomes part of she is able to approach it with a kind of remoteness, allowing her to play with social conventions of the time. Frequently her naivety draws sympathy and makes us feel as if she is being constantly victimised in the world she lives in. In reality the entire novel is based on the fact that Evelina is exiled, were it not for her lack of a father she would never have left home. Therefore Evelina is not just a character who is exiled but Evelina is a novel which portrays the causes and effects of exile.