‘My brain is on fire!’ Anglican Womanhood and the Limits of Politeness in Frances Burney's <i>Cecilia</i>

Abstract

The influence of courtesy literature on Frances Burney’s second novel has been well documented. Yet the question of religion remains overlooked. This essay reasserts both the Anglican nature of Cecilia’s polite behaviour and asserts the Catholicism of the Delvile family. It argues that Cecilia needs to be read against The Gordon Riots of 1780 as a wider critique of the utility of politeness as a social glue. In a romance plot that reflects contemporary legal attempts to reconcile Britons after centuries of religious warfare, Burney ultimately suggests that politeness lacks the vocabulary with which to confront social and economic inequalities.