“Remember, my dear Evelina, nothing is so delicate as the reputation of a woman; it is at once the most beautiful and most brittle of all human things.” Mr. Villars, 166
This quote frames an interesting perspective about what Evelina’s role is in society as well as the role of young girls around her age. Mr. Villars takes this letter to inform Evelina of the standards that she would be held to while she lived in London. They were expected to be pure and virtuous for the good of attracting a man. In fact, it seems that Evelina’s innocence is what attracts men to her. She must retain this virtue though, because if she were to lose it then she would have no hope of finding a good man for marriage. However, men are not placed in a similar constricting structure. This sounds oddly familiar. Oh that’s right, this is the same theme that we saw in reading Pamela. Expect, here in Evelina, men could still have a bad reputation and it would not even faze them for a second. They act as they wish and do as they please. This is the realism and emphasis on the natural that Evelina’s theme seeks to demonstrate. Surprisingly, this approach gives the story some creditability because modern culture sees this all the time.
George Clooney is one of Hollywood’s biggest bad boys. Many would say he is out of control and cannot be tamed. He is like a dog, and the world is his fire hydrant (you can imagine the rest of that analogy). Would you consider him to be bad? Sure, he is a heart breaker and seems to not be fazed by female emotion (Like Lord Merton). Yet, no one is going to stop going to see his newest movies or endorse his latest charity causes. Society seems to just turn their backs and accept his actions. But the second Kristen Stewart is caught playing tonsil hockey with another man, the whole vampire world comes to a screeching halt and suddenly she is on everyone’s hate list. Where are women held to such a high standard while men are given a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card? Sometimes, men are even praised for these acts.
It’s about time that women are given their own ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card! Women should not be judged on the basis of a separate set of rules compared to men. Since men are not willing to give up these freebie cards, then it is only fair to share these cards with the female population. Don’t mistake my comments. For I am not encouraging the misconduct or abuse of this situation, but rather, I am encouraging that society (men) give some grace whenever a time does come that a women conducts herself in an obscene way. Before we judge the other sex, we should place our own sex into the equation and see how the results would look then. If they were different, then I would act the way that you would if it were your own gender. This is not a perfect way of creating equality, however, it is a fair start.