Evelina, Pamela, and liminal women

Julie Epstein raises several interesting points in her essay, "Marginality in Frances Burney's Novels." She talks about the "liminal" state that Burney's heroines Evelina, Cecelia, and Camilla inhabit. To be liminal
is to be between states, as Evelina is between girlhood and (married, assumptively) womanhood. She has left her father's house but has not yet entered her husband's, and as such she occupies an in-between and rather dangerous zone. Transitioning between these two stages requires her to place herself at a position of access, if only with designs of attracting a husband, but it also invites danger upon her. As we see repeatedly in Burney's narrative, Evelina seeks to control those who have "access" to her, both physically and in placing demands on her time, but she fails to exert a significant amount of control. As a liminal woman, she lacks the power to even control others' access to her. We see this particularly in scenes in which Evenlina struggles to maintain her bodily integrity, such as when her hand is taken against her will by Mr. Lovel and later by Sir Clement. Evelina attempts to free her hand, but such is her concern about offering offense to anyone, that she often ends up struggling fruitlessly. We also see scenes in which she is cornered not only physically but conversationally by other characters, such as when Sir Clement refuses to stop badgering her about her invented dance partner. The length and detail Burney invests in describing these scenes lead me to believe that they are very thematically important. At Evelina's first ball in London, she is faced with a sort of Gordian knot of etiquette. She cannot turn anyone down for a dance without a reason, such as being previously promised to dance, yet when she attempts to offer such an excuse, her equivocation is perceived and provoked by Sir Clement. Ergo under the constraints of etiquette Evelina cannot effectively free herself from anyone, either physically or other wise, without risking offense even in the act of protecting her bodily integrity. When she is confronted, she becomes tongue-tied and awkward. I am struck by the differences between Pamela and Evelina. Evelina, technically a lady born although she is not claimed by her family, seems to possess little recourse to protect herself should she wish to abide by conventional rules of etiquette. On the other hand, the plebian Pamela fights back verbally and often quite physically to defend her bodily integrity, and it seems that her wits and sharp tongue rarely desert her. As a servant, Pamela is not bound by the contstraints that bind Evelina, and although this seems to allow her more freedom it also seems to place her in more danger, as she has no titled or monied protector. The question of access is one I would like to follow up in class, given the opportunity.