ABSTRACT
Eighteenth-century law and literature encourages us to rethink the figure of the orphan and to recognize the importance of the “valued” orphan to that century’s explorations of the individual. The eighteenth-century’s interest in positioning the orphan as a positive figure that represents the possibilities of estate, blood, and body—qualities such as wealth, property, family, education, virtue, marriage, desire, and freedom—can perhaps be best seen in short novelistic tales that compress these interests into characters who cannot help but be overdetermined as a result. In short fiction, the attempt to represent the value of the orphan results in characters who become formulaic in that excess; predictably, they are have a surfeit of beauty and admirable qualities, are desired by all who meet them, inherit large estates, locate loving families and spouses, and overcome extreme tests of mind and body. A quick glance at two short fictions that bookend the eighteenth-century development of the novel reveals just how consistently compelling this orphan figure is and just how valuable the terms of estate, blood, and body are for imagining his or her worth.
