In Evelina by Frances Burney, Rev. Mr. Villars' letters to Evelina as well as Sir John Belmont's addresses to Evelina or generally his speech during their meetings are often heavy with use of archaic language and pronouns. For example:
Wilt thou, in obedience to her will, own for thy father the destroyer of thy mother?
I believe such language had fallen out of ordinary use by the time the novel was written. Does this language then mark the style of romanticism? What does using archaic language signify in these particular passages? Language aside, the meetings between Evelina and Sir John often become too theatrical and melodramatic with characters dropping to their knees and shouting all that they say which seems to diverge in style from the rest of the novel. Is this practice seen in other novels of the romanticism era?
