Madame Duval
Evelina's maternal grandmother.
Core Belief
"Social status and wealth are the most important things in life, and one must be assertive and even aggressive to achieve them. She values appearances above all else."
Worldview
Madame Duval sees the world as a place where one must fight for their place and assert their dominance. She believes that good manners are less important than material success and that foreigners, especially the English, are generally ill-mannered and inferior.
Personality
Madame Duval is vulgar, ill-mannered, and prone to rash decisions. She is obsessed with social status and determined to make Evelina a fine lady, though her own behavior often undermines her efforts. She is easily angered and frequently engages in loud, undignified quarrels.
In Their Own Words
"I pretend to give you advice; you, to whose generous protection this helpless orphan is indebted for every thing, are the best and only judge of what she ought to do; but I am much concerned at the trouble and uneasiness which this unworthy woman may occasion you."
"It's quite a shocking thing to see ladies come to so genteel a place as Ranelagh with hats on; it has a monstrous vulgar look: I can't think what they wear them for. There is no such a thing to be seen in Paris."
"Pick your pockets, Sir! I wish nobody wanted to pick your pockets no more than I do; and I'll promise you you'd be safe enough. But there's no nation under the sun can beat the English for ill-politeness: for my part, I hate the very sight of them; and so I shall only just visit a person of quality or two of my particular acquaintance, and then I shall go back again to France."
Other Characters from Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World
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