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Baylee Wallace

Dr. Witherington

ENGL 4993

30 October 2022

Men of the Day: Representation of Distasteful Masculinity in Jane Austen’s Sense and

Sensibility and Fanny Burney’s Evelina

Though most men are welcoming and understanding to the progressions women have

made through the years on creating equality between the genders, there are still those few who

look down upon women as if they are only objects, and these few have made examples of

themselves in novels throughout the years, especially years back when written into novels like

Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and Fanny Burney’s Evelina. Men during the times of

Austen and Burney tended to treat women as property, both in novels and reality, and they only

seemed to have an interest in marriage when money was involved. Austen can be seen through

multiple of her works trying to pull the views away from money, but it is still a key element,

especially with characters like Willoughby who plays with Marianne’s heart and breaks it only

with money being his main motive. Looking at Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and Fanny

Burney’s Evelina, readers can see the types of men that existed during the Regency Era, who

carried a sole motive to gain material wealth and better public appearance through the use of

women, which is vastly different than the romanticized idea that society has created of them

today.

It is not a secret that women are still fighting for equal opportunities in places of the

home and work life, and it is a battle that has been going on for ages. Austen and Burney try to

advocate for marriage based on love, a rare case of their time, rather than what the woman could
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give the man. While other authors of the Regency Era tried to mimic a true form of love on the

page, many were unsuccessful as compared to Austen and Burney. These authors took a large

step in a fight that today seems like a common sense aspect to any marriage. It is hard to consider

a marriage to be loving when the man's only motivation is the wealth he can gain. Could it be

that the greedy man was the biggest influence for the mistreatment of women? When comparing

this statement to Austen and Burney's Willoughbys, it seems that greed and mistreatment go

hand in hand.

Men during the Regency Era were different from men today in many ways. For starters,

the upper class did not tend to work, and much of their wealth came from inheritance. John Tosh

provides examples of what men of Austen’s time were like. As the 19th century rolled around,

men grew increasingly more self-conscious of their occupation, which falls in line with the upper

class men typically not working (Tosh 332). Though it falls into more recent years, more jobs

today are respected in ways they weren’t before due to the realization of their importance to both

society and the economy; whereas during the Regency Era when there was the self-conscience

mindset, it was a common practice for men of higher status who did not work to survive off of

family inheritance that was given to them.

It is also a common occurrence for the society of today to romanticize the gentleman as a

compassionate, kind, and tender man, but it would seem to be the opposite when considering that

it was once seemingly applauded to be violent. High levels of violence were also once tolerated,

but by the time of Austen, it was starting to dwindle greatly, and men were beginning to be

expected to handle themselves more civilly, instead of resorting to violence to solve all of their

problems (Tosh 333-334). This was a large change for men as they then had to settle their

disputes in a different manner, rather than fighting their way through it. When reading through
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Evelina or Sense and Sensibility, the idea of that change seems to be there as Sir Clement

Willoughby in Evelina is pushy with what he wants and petty towards those who seem to be in

his way, and Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility seems to be more querulous and immature

about his feelings. Neither man gets out-right violent, but the thought could linger in a reader’s

mind throughout the story as both get upset with not getting their way.

Though fighting was no longer such a strong aspect of their lives, and the insecurity

about job titles and positions swarmed their minds, the overall idea of being a real man still

stayed with them. The role of “manliness” was so important to the men of this era that it had

even been found as being taught in public schools (Tosh 335). The importance of separating

oneself to the rest of society was important to them, and they needed to be distinguishable in

their own unique ways. To be a real man is even something that continues on into today as men

argue about what they should and shouldn’t do. It may not be to an extent where they are taking

classes to identify these ideas that society created for them, the ever living idea is still being

force-fed to them and is continuing to thrive in their minds.

With the change of the world that society created for men, their lives were flipped around

in every way as past practices to deal with disputes were stopped and job self-consciousness was

being introduced, all while trying to still uphold their original ideas of “manliness”. They were

meant to have a certain charm about them, but it was a charm that both Willoughbys were unable

to gain from the reader. Austen’s Willoughby, did have some sort of charm based on all the

things he was able to do with the use of manipulation throughout the book, and the other,

Burney’s Sir Clement Willoughby, truly believed he had all of the charm, even when nothing

went his way with Evelina.

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Taking a look at the two different Willoughby’s presented from both authors, one was the

type who would rather sit and use charm to get what he desires: the infamous Sir Clement

Willoughby from Evelina. Burney created Sir Clement Willoughby as one of the villains in her

story, and he had an exponentially strange way of treating women. Rather than looking at a

woman as a business transaction by which he could gain fortune and pleasure, Sir Clement

Willoughby seemed to want something more material, like a trophy to hang on his arm, or even

just someone to call his own, though he goes about it all in the creepiest of ways. In a way, this

woman would be a gain of pride for the man, and he thought Evelina was absolutely gorgeous,

so he made it a plan and wished to have her as his own trophy. His idea of women being

something so easily attainable is apparent all through Evelina, as he does all the things he

believes will steal the heart of Evelina, though he fails terribly in every sense of the word.

Sir Clement Willoughby is first introduced at a dance, where he insists that Evelina owes

him a dance that she continuously refuses to give him for several pages. Evelina even tried to

create the excuse of already having an engagement, but Sir Clement does not budge as he

ridicules the mysterious man who was not taking the chance to dance with Evelina, eventually

getting her to admit that there was not engagement, and that she just wanted to be left alone

(Burney 37-38). Sir Clement eventually follows her to Mrs. Mirvan, the lady that Evelina is

staying with, and begs her to force Evelina into a dance with him. At that point, Evelina failed to

create any excuse, and was then unhappily made to dance with the man. (Burney 39-42). This is

only the first of many pursuits that Sir Clement has after Evelina, but it shows the reader what

his character will be like: pushy, stubborn, manipulative of situations, and persistent. These are

not actions that change throughout the book; he is a static character and chooses to stick to his

ways which shows the true colors of his character. He is the kind of man who refuses to
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acknowledge the word ‘no’, and believes that with a constant whine and persistence, he can gain

whatever his heart desires.

Sir Clement Willoughby is a man who enjoys the long game of trying to weasel his way

into one’s life as long as it means he can have some sort of gain from them. There is the instance

with Madam Duval for example, where she blatantly calls out his true intentions with her. Sir

Clement continuously flatters her with no truth to his words, and being finally fed up with him,

Madam Duval says, “O Sir, you're vastly polite, all of a sudden! but I know what it's all for;—it's

only for what you can get!—you could treat me like nobody at Howard Grove—but now you see

I've a house of my own you've a mind to wheedle yourself into it,” (Burney 250). She continues

on in the same speech to assure him that he will get nothing from her house, and this stumps him.

He seems unfamiliar with getting told no in such a promising way, that he almost has no way of

retorting, but he tries the final card up his sleeve as a last chance to get what his wretched heart

desired: Evelina.

If his honeyed words won’t get him what he wants, then Sir Clement shows his way of

feigning innocence. On the following page after Madam Duval calls out his insincerities, he tries

to prove himself innocent of the suspicion, but it all seems to back track as Madam Duval

continues to recollect instances where he had said things to try and win a place in her home

(251). Madam Duval was not doing any of this to protect Evelina, but rather to call out a man

who was trying to humiliate and make a fool of her in front of others. Though this does not have

a direct tie to Evelina, it does show that Evelina herself is not the only thing Sir Clement

Willoughby is willing to target in hopes of gaining a name for himself among the public. He

desperately wishes to belittle Madam Duval in hopes of gaining the approval of Mr. Mirvan, who

already seems to have a distrust of the woman, so that he can get Evelina. He is a man who has
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learned that sweet talk and persistence gets him what he wants, and though this time he did not

succeed in getting those gains, it will surely not be his last attempt with anyone.

There were many other times where he had approached and tried to swindle Evelina for

her hand in marriage. He didn’t care for her heart or love she could give, but rather how he

would look with her next to him. For instance, there is the time Evelina wants to leave Madam

Duval, and Sir Clement offers her a ride in his own chariot. She originally declines, bothered

about being stuck in a small space with him, but his persistence and unwillingness to listen wears

her down, and she finds herself riding along with him. Unbeknownst to her, he tells his servant to

take a long route back to her home (Burney 107-109). Throughout the continuing scene, Evelina

is uncomfortable as Sir Clement pours out his heart to her as he gets a little too uncomfortable

with their close quarters, and it finally gets to a point where Evelina threatens to throw herself

from the chariot. She eventually has to lean out the window in hopes of directing the driver to

speed up because she believes that Sir Clement may be leading the chariot down a different route

to gain more time with her (Burney 111-114). Evelina finally puts an end to things when she

points out his behavior, but this only resulted in him refusing to let her go until she has promised

not to tell anyone what happened in the chariot, to which she begrudgingly agrees to his request

(Burney 114). This section in the novel is just one example of the true colors to Sir Clement

Willoughby. Though he failed, he played dirty and would have possibly done worse if he was not

stopped.

He was obnoxious all throughout the book, and he shows that he is willing to corner

those who are unwilling to give into his desires. He is not necessarily a wretched, wicked, evil

man, but he is more so a creep that cannot take no for an answer. Sir Clement himself does not

seem the type to physically harm anyone, but he does push and cross too many boundaries that
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are quite obviously put in place. He refuses to listen to Evelina and her wishes if they do not line

up with his own. There is also the uneasy feeling that comes with his character on what he could

do if he were truly left alone to do as he pleases. Though it is hard to truly hate his obnoxious but

quirky character, his inability to take ‘no’ for an answer makes him aggravating for the reader at

times.

The thing with Sir Clement Willoughby is that he does not seem to have an interest in

Evelina based on any kind of wealthy gain. It is not a matter of making more money, but making

a title for himself by having a pretty, young girl at his side. He seems absolutely infatuated with

her in all of the worst ways, and perhaps it is all due to what he had been told is acceptable by

society. Gayle Rubin provides an example of two men’s thoughts on treatment of women: “one

begins to have a sense of a systematic social apparatus which takes up females as raw materials

and fashions domesticated women as products,” (Rubin 34). This was a form of male dominance:

to conquer the woman and subject her to a life of domestication. It was the game that the men of

the time played, including Sir Clement Willoughby, who truly believes in his power over women,

which is shown in his actions. Patriarchy created these thoughts; that the “specific form of male

dominance” gives men the right and power over women (Rubin 40). These men do as they

please, say what they want, and enforce their wishes upon the women of the time because that is

what they were told they could do. The men were fed spoonfuls of seemingly self-imposed

privileges that belittled those around them, and they didn’t get the chance to decide for their own

minds as society told them the powers they held over others. Perhaps if things were different, Sir

Clement would not have been such a creep. There is the chance that he would have been more

respectful to women if he were raised to see them as people, and not as items for him to have.

Then again, there is also the argument that some people are just genuinely like this: refusing to
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take ‘no’ for an answer. Either way, there is only so much a person can do when being raised in a

world that teaches those sorts of ideologies.

Taking a step further into the world of men, Jane Austen’s novel, Sense and Sensibility,

the case of men is different as the reader is introduced to a different kind of creep that would

treat women as nothing more than his own item of pleasure no matter what world he grew up in.

He was not interested in the idea of a trophy to have, but rather the materialistic gain he could

gather from a woman. His heart was not set on love of beauty, but he yearned for power and

money. There are many examples a reader could pull to express the unrightful masculinity that

believes it can both control not only the world with wealth, but also control the women of that

period to do as he wishes, and then discard them in the end. The greatest of these examples

would be Willoughby, Marianne’s lover in the beginning of the novel, who was cruel not only to

her, but other women as well. He was unempathetic in more ways than one, and seemed to have

no care for others’ feelings throughout the book.

Austin’s Willoughby had no respect whatsoever for Marianne and even dashed her heart

by constantly toying with her emotions several times throughout the novel. It was most

prominent to the reader when he sent a letter to Marianne to tell her he was engaged to another

and did not have such feelings for Marianne, even after spending so much time with her, and

after word had gone around that they were engaged to each other (Austen 148-149). In the letter

Willoughby says that he was “unfortunate as to give rise to a belief” that he had any sort of

feeling for Marianne (Austen 149). This was especially hard to read for Marianne, as it would be

for any teenage girl who believes that they had found love, and it states that she found him to be

“deep in hardened villainy” and “impudently cruel” (Austen 149). It seems as if Willoughby is

only trying to save his relationship with Marianne’s family, and has no regard for her true
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feelings, which is abundantly clear to the reader. No girl asks to be put in such a situation where

a man they believed to truly love, and who they thought truly loved them, would go to say that

not only do they have no feelings for them, but that they are engaged to another. Willoughby

shows no remorse for what he had done either, and is shown to have a history with his heartless

ways.

Another section in the story that shows the disrespect that Willoughby has for women in

general can be pulled from a conversation that Elinor has with Colonel Brandon. Colonel

Brandon goes on to tell Elinor that Willoughby is “expensive, dissipated, and worse than both”

when telling her what kind of person Willoughby really is (Austen 170). Colonel Brandon,

though a man, has first hand experience with Willoughby and his selfish antics. Continuing the

conversation with Elinor, he reveals that Willoughby had seduced his ward, Eliza Williams, and

left her “in a situation of utmost distress, with no credible home, no help, no friends, ignorant of

his address,” as well as stating that Willoughby had “promised to return,” but he never did. He

did not give her any information on his whereabouts, and he did not send her any help for her

situation of being pregnant (Austen 170). Willoughby had no remorse for the situation that he

had left Eliza in, and simply played on in life as if nothing happened. It was all a game to him,

and it was one that he had been willingly trying to play with Marianne as well before that

predicament of engagement arose.

Willoughby offered no empathy for his actions, and only seems to take women into

account as being objects for his own use and personal gain. Angela Leighton wrote about how

nothing is owned by the woman except for the laws of morality (110). Leighton focused more on

the point of women having to turn to prostitution to create their own gains and independence in a

world of men that created laws, but those laws targeted the women of England, and many fled to
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France to continue on supporting themselves (109-110). Even with the topic of prostitution, any

wealth that was created was made because of a man. Even when a woman of the time wanted

their own gains, it was because of man. There was no freedom from the ever peering eye of

patriarchy, and each grabby hand yearned to steal the women's coin purse. A character like

Willoughby would have groveled at the feet of men who were so easily capable of controlling

even the prostitutes life, and Willoughby himself could have arguably taken advantage of these

services if he was so willing to take advantage of two young women who expected love from

him.

Even going back and looking at the laws of morality that are supposedly women’s, taking

a step back and really studying the bigger picture, anyone can see that women don’t really have

control over this law. How are they supposed to have any sort of power when men like

Willoughby come along and take advantage of the one thing they are allowed to have, and twists

it so that it becomes his own law to corrupt. Women search for any area of life they can have full

control over, and even then there is the tearing away and wagging of fingers to stop them in their

tracks. They may have the law of morality or prostitution on their side temporarily, but it

eventually ended with men deciding what they can and can not do with it in the end.

To say that women had any power in a world where they were nothing but an object to

hang off of a man’s arm is preposterous. Leighton continues on to make the point about great

inequality between the sexes: “social and legal inequality” (110). One could say there is a lot of

inequality being presented when characters like Willoughby exist. He is in the predicament

where he pretends to be in love with, not one, but two different girls, one of which has the rumor

of engagement, and yet he is engaged to another woman solely for her money. The other girl is

pregnant with his child, and he still leaves her there to figure it out for herself as if it is her own
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fault for being pregnant, when it in fact takes two to make that happen. He does not even show

any signs of caring for her situation, and seems to completely disregard any idea of the reality the

child is even his, as the reader never gets his thoughts on the matter. He feels no remorse for any

of this at all because he is just a horrible man with wicked tendencies of misusing women.

Willoughby disregards others and the effects that his actions have for others, but there is

the character Elinor, Marianne’s older sister, that does not accept being treated in any such way.

One section that is most prominent of this is when Willoughby approaches Elinor with the intent

of apologizing to Marianne for all that he has done, and Elinor listens to his apology, but does

not allow him the place of friend in the family. Willoughby tells Elinor, “I do not mean to justify

myself, but at the same time cannot leave you to suppose that I have nothing to urge... if the

violence of her passions, the weakness of her understanding—I do not mean, however, to defend

myself” (Austen 260). Elinor listens to his long apology, and responds with,

“Your indifference, however, towards that unfortunate girl—I must say it,

unpleasant to me as the discussion of such a subject may well be—your indifference is no

apology for your cruel neglect of her. Do not think yourself excused by any weakness,

any natural defect of understanding on her side, in the wanton cruelty so evident on

yours. You must have known, that while you were enjoying yourself in Devonshire,

pursuing fresh schemes, always gay, always happy, she was reduced to the extremest

indigence” (Austen 260).

With these statements, Willoughby tries to come up with excuses as to why she should consider

his apology towards her sister, and each time Elinor once again calls him out for something else

that is not letting his apology add up to being sincere.

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A point to make from this lengthy conversation is how, throughout the apology,

Willoughby continuously defends himself, then tells that he is not trying to defend himself when

he obviously is. This shows just how insincere he is about the situation because, though it sounds

as if he is making an apology, the constant repeating shows that he is not truly taking

responsibility for his actions. He is not sorry for anything that he has done, but would rather

cover his trail and clear his name from any chance of getting repercussions in the future. If he

truly cared to make an apology, he would state what he had done wrong and nearly beg for

forgiveness, but instead he expects instant forgiveness with no real work put in on his part.

Elinor does not let these constant reminders of him supposedly taking responsibility fool her, and

she is aware that he is simply trying to clear his name, rather than take any sort of blame.

Willoughby believes he is owed the forgiveness without any work because these are just

women. They have no real power over him, the man, and he can say and do as he pleases, while

still getting what he desires. He wants the money and a clear slate, but he is unable to obtain that

through his false apologies. Willoughby clearly shows that women are nothing to him as he uses

and disposes of them. Luce Irigaray touches on just how much a woman was considered to be

nothing more than material for a man to have. Irigaray mentions that “women are traditionally a

use-value for man, an exchange value among men; in other words, a commodity” (Irigaray 31).

This statement showcases the mindset men could have; a mindset many men did have during

Austen’s time. Women were nothing more than items for men’s own pleasure and gain, and it

was through marriage that they could get so much more than they already had. Irigaray continues

that a woman “remains the guardian of material substance, whose price will be established in

terms of the standard of their work, and of their need/desire by ‘subjects’” (31). This quote

touches on the time of things. Again, women were objects to be married for additional gain to the
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man. Willoughby’s true engagement was solely for his own wealth because he wanted more

money. He was not going to get that from Marianne, and so he made due with what he could

without any care for how it would affect the women, arguably anyone in general, around him. He

could get his desires and make his empty apologies all that he wanted as long as it meant he got

his wealth.

Another topic to touch on throughout Austen’s novel is the treatment of women in

general. Simone de Beauvoir also talks about denying the woman. She says that to deny a

woman “does not represent a liberation for those concerned, but rather a flight from reality”

(Beauvoir 2). A world can not exist without women, so why bother acting like they are lesser

than? Another thing Beauvoir says is, “surely woman is, like man, a human being; but such a

declaration is abstract. The fact is that every concrete human being is always a singular, separate

individual” (2). These two statements represent so much of the characters, both Marianne and

Elinor. Marianne is a woman, a human being, and Willoughby seems to convince himself these

things are not true, even more so with the case of Eliza being pregnant with his child. Creating

this idea in his head that women are lesser really does let him take “flight from reality” due to

him refusing to look back on the mistakes he has made throughout the novel. He does not reach

out to Eliza even though he knows what he has done to her, and he does not take responsibility

for what he did to Marianne in his letter. Willoughby is baffled when Elinor denies him true

forgiveness and does not understand why she cannot just let things go, even though he claims to

understand just how badly he hurt her sister. He simply acts as if it will all go away with the

brush of his hand.

The written stories by both authors were important for women during the Regency Era.

These novels showcased men of the time that women were used to: persistent men who saw
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women as objects for self gain. With that, Burney and Austin took the reality of society and grew

from them to introduce both men and women to the prospect of marriage formed on love. These

courtship plots typically created would show the reader two people competing for a person that

would gain them some sort of leverage, but at the end of Evelina, the reader sees Evelina

marrying a man she could be happy with, and though it is arguable for Marianne and Colonel

Brandon, she is still better off with him, with the potential to be happy, instead of forever being

miserably misused by Willoughby.

Throughout Eve Tavor Bannet’s book, the reader is met with detail over the influence of

female writers’ works for women of their time. Bannet writes about how these works created

“familial histories” that women were able to read and understand better than true history because

it was situations that they were both familiar with in their day-to-day lives, and that they covered

behaviors pertaining to the family and household (60). These writings were not only useful in

showing understanding of the situation, but also showed that women of this time were not alone

in their struggles because just about every woman went through these same things. These works

read by many showed that there were more options in the world than what they perhaps thought

possible (61). The novels written were not just for show or to tell a story because they were there

to help teach a lesson, show morals, and educate the reader in different areas of life, even areas

that they did not live (61-62). Novels could be used to strike a fire within the reader that showed

them their worth and “to imprint ideas and values ‘almost without the interaction of the will,’”

(65). Bannet writes that this fire was to help create emotions and motives for the reader to take

control of their lives and show just how capable they are (64). These were teachings to be passed

down and taught to their offspring. Though, these were not just any teachings, but teachings only

for the women. These were for the ladies, for there is not a more repressed sphere than the
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domestic sphere where just about every aspect that one should have control over, is controlled by

someone else’s hand. These were not just stories for a relaxed Sunday evening, but logs being

thrown onto an ever growing fire of feminism. This was a breakthrough of women taking control

of their lives, even if it was the small step of writing fictional heroines who were doing what so

many dreamed of. It was a way of showing that gaining control of one’s self is not as difficult as

society wants one to believe, and taking back the life they never got to have was in their hands. It

may have been a man’s world, but who is to say that the world could not be wrangled into

another’s hands? Men so greatly believed to have some superior and other-worldly control, but at

the end of the day, they were dealing with the same being that they believed only pertained to

them: a human being.

Comparing the two Willoughbys gives the reader two different types of villainous men

that may have existed during the Regency Ear: Austen’s Willoughby the Cruel and Burney’s Sir

Clement Willoughby the Creep. Both Willoughbys were difficult characters for any reader; both

man and woman. They entailed the realities of worlds that many women had to live through, and

showed that society could create some of the most vile and degrading creatures. For some, it

mirrored their own reality of being nothing more to a man or spouse than a promise of additional

wealth. It is unsettling to think that there were people who were truly like this, and some may

even be able to see them in today’s world. Though many may find it hard to imagine being

nothing but material use for someone else, it was the world of these women. They tried to find

their own worlds of worth and control, but men continuously came and stomped out that spark of

chance. Perhaps it was a man who twisted his words in the most perfect way of manipulation, or

maybe it was a man who knew how to weasel his way into any person’s day to day life, but both

created a strong, smothering hand to a woman’s world. Anyone, including both men and women,
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like these two can ruin even the best of days with just a few words, and can ruin anyone’s

confidence quickly if given the chance. It was perhaps reassuring to many that this was not an

experience that only one person had to live through, but the life of many that could be shared and

understood, and it was novels like these that show that it happened to many; that there is not a

lonely world of being mistreated.

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Works Cited

Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. Cassell, United Kingdom, 1908.

Bannet, Eve Tavor. The Domestic Revolution: Enlightenment Feminisms and the Novel. Johns

Hopkins University Press, United Kingdom, 2000.

Beauvoir, Simone de. “Introduction: Woman as Other.” Simone De Beauvoir The Second Sex,

Woman as Other 1949. 1949.

Burney, Fanny. Evelina: Or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance Into the World. Macmillan,

United Kingdom, 1904.

Irigaray, Luce. “This Sex Which Is Not One”. Dossier on Feminism. Cornell University Press,

1981.

Leighton, Angela. “‘Because Men Made the Laws’: The Fallen Woman and the Woman Poet.”

Victorian Poetry, vol. 27, no. 2, West Virginia University Press, 1989, pp. 109–27,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/40002337.

Rubin, Gayle. “The Traffic in Women”. Toward an Anthropology of Women. Monthly Review

press, 1975. https://philpapers.org/rec/RUBTTI

Tosh, John. “Masculinities in an Industrializing Society: Britain, 1800–1914.” Journal of British

Studies, vol. 44, no. 2, [Cambridge University Press, The North American Conference on

British Studies], 2005, pp. 330–42, https://doi.org/10.1086/427129.