Cecilia (Burney novel)
Cecilia, subtitled (and alternatively titled) Memoirs of an Heiress, is the second novel by English author Frances Burney, set in 1779 and published in 1782.
Burney's father had concerns that the play, a comedic satire of bluestocking(s), would offend "real people" whom he depended on for artistic patronage, particularly Elizabeth Montagu.
[2] This disappointment and the pressure to produce a second novel in order to capitalize on the success of her first work Evelina, seems to have placed considerable strain on Burney, and may have coloured the tone and content of Cecilia.
On her arrival, Mrs. Harrel presents her to her “friends”, and every day is filled with parties and London amusements which soon tire Cecilia.
She sees Captain Aresby and Mr. Morrice again, and is introduced to many people, such as the insolent Sir Robert Floyer, who soon begins to pursue her for her money; Mrs. Harrel's gentle, serious, and shy brother Mr. Arnott, who falls in love with her; the sturdier of characters, Mr. Gosport; the frivolous and very chatty Miss Larolles; and the proud, silent Miss Leeson, but she cannot truly be attached to any of them.
The next morning, she sees a poor but honest woman named Mrs. Hill who begs her to help her starving family.
Cecilia, shocked at the meanness of Mr. Harrel, tries to make arrangements to stay with one of her other guardians, but finds out they are, in different ways, perhaps just as bad: Mr. Harrel is profligate and gambles with his money, her other guardian, Mr. Briggs, is a selfish miser, while Mr. Delvile is a vain man, over-proud of his family name and history.
Soon after, she meets Mrs. Delvile, and is delighted to see that she is a kind, witty, and refreshingly elegant lady, and begins to think of staying with them, instead of with the Harrels.
More and more disgusted with Sir Robert Floyer's rude boldness, and the Harrels’ silliness, she stays for a short, but very happy, while with Mrs. Delvile, whom she begins to really love, and Mortimer.
Cecilia tries hard to warn Mrs. Harrel not to spend money so thoughtlessly, but weak and in denial, she will not listen to her friend.
Mr. Harrel continues to rack up unpaid gambling debts, and his sudden violent behaviour to his wife frightens Cecilia.
Finally he explains that he cannot marry her, deeply as he loves her, because then he would have to change his name from Delvile to Beverley; and because he cannot bear to see her anymore, he decides to leave the country.
Lady Honoria plays a trick by stealing Mortimer's dog, Fidel, giving it to Cecilia to tease her.
He sends Miss Bennet, Lady Margaret's servant, and his helper, to interrupt the marriage ceremony; and Mrs. Delvile, hearing of it, comes and makes clear to Cecilia that she will never let them marry.
Mr. Albany comes, however, and says that his sadness is greater, and tells his history—how he loved a woman, but she became a prostitute, and after a fight, she died and this made him crazy for three years.
Cecilia listens to this bitter story, and decides that she is not really as unhappy as she thinks she is, and hopes, more cheerfully, to help the poor.
Cecilia, horrified, tells him that she has none of her personal fortune left, having lent most of it to Mr. Harrel, and using the rest for other things, such as helping the Hills.
Mr. Delvile, feeling very guilty when he hears that Cecilia almost died, finally lets her and Mortimer come to his house and see him again.
Burney spent about a year and a half, starting in 1780, composing Cecilia while staying at the home of family friend Samuel Crisp.
Burney then spent six months copying, correcting and proofing the draft and the book was published in 1782, the same year as her father's second volume of the General History of Music.
According to what can be inferred from her letters, Burney wrote under tremendous anxiety and familial pressure, but Crisp's home provided a respite and he highly encouraged her work.
[8] In Burney's novels, the heroine is tested by the hero and has to prove her worth, and marriage does not guarantee a fairytale happy ending.
[9] Burney's heroines are female counterparts to the male picaro and are described as "liminal" characters, orphans or youths, who must stake out their identity in a world of social obstacles.
[10] The highly emotional tone and the bizarre events in Cecilia have "disturbed" some critics and readers while others recognize these as among Burney's unique authorial merits.
'It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda'; or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best–chosen language.
[14] In Thackeray's Vanity Fair, Rebecca Sharp writes to Amelia Sedley and says they "used to read Cecilia at Chiswick".
[15] Burney often combined comedy and tragedy and her works contain some of the darker elements of Shakespearean characters such as Prince Hamlet or King Lear.
[16] In Cecilia, Burney quotes or references Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Henry IV Part 1, and The Merchant of Venice.
