Evelina · Chapter
Letter XX: Evelina in Continuation explained
Evelina attends a performance of Love for Love with the Mirvans, Sir Clement Willoughby, and Lord Orville.
What happens
Evelina attends a performance of Love for Love with the Mirvans, Sir Clement Willoughby, and Lord Orville. Mr. Lovel, the fop from the earlier ball, arrives and makes sneering remarks about Evelina's country upbringing. Lord Orville and Sir Clement defend her, and the group discusses the play's merits and the nature of beauty and artifice. Evelina is distressed by Mr. Lovel's impertinence but finds consolation in Lord Orville's support.
Themes in this chapter
Satire of Society
Mr. Lovel's affected ignorance of the play and his sneering at Evelina's country manners satirize the superficiality and pretension of fashionable society.
Virtue and Reputation
Evelina's modesty and distress at the play's indelicacy highlight her virtue, while Mr. Lovel's impertinence threatens her reputation by mocking her innocence.
Love and Courtship
Lord Orville's defense of Evelina and his admiration of her natural beauty signal his growing affection and the early stages of their courtship.
Characters to notice
- Evelina Anville
Evelina is distressed by Mr. Lovel's impertinent remarks about her country upbringing and feels relief that Lord Orville defends her honor.
- Lord Orville
Lord Orville joins the party in the box, defends Evelina against Mr. Lovel's sneers, and offers insightful commentary on the play and on natural versus artificial beauty.
- Sir Clement Willoughby
Sir Clement escorts the ladies from the carriage, joins in the conversation, and supports Lord Orville in defending Evelina.
- Mr. Lovel
Mr. Lovel enters the box and makes condescending remarks about Evelina's rural origins, revealing his resentment from the earlier ball.
- Captain Mirvan
Captain Mirvan engages in a sarcastic exchange with Mr. Lovel about the play and about the cost of attending the theatre.
- Mrs. Mirvan
Mrs. Mirvan defends Evelina's modesty and later expresses concern that Mr. Lovel's resentment might lead to a duel.
Key passages
“The play was Love for Love ; and though it is fraught with wit and entertainment I hope I shall never see it represented again; for it is so extremely indelicate—to use the softest word I can—that Miss Mirvan and I were perpetually out of countenance, and could neither make any observations ourselves, nor venture to listen to those of others.”
Evelina finds the play Love for Love too indecent for her taste, leaving her and Miss Mirvan too embarrassed to speak or listen to others' comments.
Evelina's modesty is offended by the play's content, reflecting her sheltered upbringing and moral sensibility.
“I think, Ma'am, you was never in town before? ... Doubtless, Ma'am, everything must be infinitely novel to you. Our customs, our manners, and les étiquettes de nous autres , can have little very resemblance to those you have been used to.”
Mr. Lovel condescendingly implies that Evelina, being from the country, must find London customs strange and unsophisticated.
Mr. Lovel's sneering remark is a deliberate insult aimed at embarrassing Evelina for her provincial background.
“the difference of natural and of artificial colour seems to me very easily discerned; that of nature is mottled and varying; that of art set , and too smooth; it wants that animation, that glow, that indescribable something , which, even now that I see it, wholly surpasses all my powers of expression.”
Lord Orville praises natural beauty over artificial cosmetics, describing natural color as lively and varied, while artificial color appears fixed and lifeless.
Lord Orville's compliment to natural beauty is implicitly directed at Evelina, reinforcing his admiration for her genuine character.
