Sentimentalism and Morality in Pamela and Evelina

Abstract

Sentimentalism and the epistolary novel go hand in hand in eighteenth-century British literature. Morality is an important recurring theme in sentimentalism. This research paper aims to analyse the use of sentimentalism and importance of morality in Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded and Frances Burney’s Evelina. Richardson’s use of the epistolary form and his heavy emphasis on virtue were a pivotal point in the rise of the sentimental novel. Burney’s use of sentimentalism paved the way for later female authors such as Jane Austen. The conclusion is that both these novels and the way sentimentalism and morality is used in them proved to be influential to the rise of the sentimental novel and eighteenth-century British literature.