Nature, Order and Disorder: the Arrival at Vauxhall in Evelina
Résumé
The Vauxhall scenes depict a clash between the dazzling surface of public entertainment and hidden pockets of disorder, epitomized by the dark walks. Men's dangerous attack on Evelina and the Branghton sisters in those dark walks connects this episode with other scenes of male violence aimed at women. Yet the description of the arrival at Vauxhall strongly affects our reading of this particular scene. It builds up a dreamlike atmosphere paving the way for the shifts in atmosphere and tone to come, with a series of reversals culminating with what Susan Fraiman presented as the transformation of the prince into the dragon, of rescue into recapture. But most importantly, it inscribes the attack in a deeper reflection on Nature and civilization. Evelina's discovery of Vauxhall gardens reveals the influence of new notions of landscape gardening, which are conflated with a reflection on the role of public places, raising the issue of the problematic relation between wilderness, order and disorder.