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Becky Sharp & Amelia Sedley
• Amelia's innocence and ready belief in other people make her unbelievably good in contrast to Becky's unbelievable duplicity. Both attract young men, but for different reasons. • Amelia remains blind to Dobbin's goodness throughout much of the book and although her eyes have been opened to a certain extent regarding Becky, yet when she thinks Becky needs a friend, she returns to comfort and help her. • Amelia depends on others for her opinions, and this is why it takes a sharp companion like Becky to set her straight — to make her see realities.
• Because her parents are starving and she can neither provide for them nor give little Georgy what she thinks he needs, Amelia gives up her son to his grandfather Osborne. William Dobbin comes back from the service, reconciles old Osborne to Amelia, whereat Osborne makes a will leaving Georgy half of his fortune and providing for Amelia. Rebecca, having lost the respectability of a husband, wanders in Europe for a couple of years and finally meets Joseph, Georgy, Amelia, and William on the Continent. • Rebecca sets about to finish what she started to do at the first of the book — that is, to ensnare Joseph. She does not marry him, but she takes all his money and he dies in terror of her, the implication being that she has, at least, hastened his death. At the end of the book Rebecca has the money necessary to live in Vanity Fair; she appears to be respectable. William has won Amelia. Little Rawdon, upon the death of his uncle Pitt and his cousin Pitt, becomes the heir of Queen's Crawley. Little George, through the kindness of Dobbin, has lost his distorted values obtained in Vanity Fair.
Analysis of the characters
• • • • • • • • Becky Sharp Amelia Sedley Jos Sedley Rawdon Crawley Sir Pitt Crawley Miss Matida Crawley George Osborne William Dobbin
• Amelia's loyalty and long, blind devotion to George amount almost to stupidity. Any fault in George she interprets as a fault in herself and accuses herself of guilty love to account for his having been killed. • Sweet, lovable, refreshing, she has neither the sparkle nor the mentality of Becky.
Becky Sharp
• Thackeray explains why Becky does what she does: “She was of a wild, roving nature, inherited from father and mother, who were both Bohemians 波西米亚人） （波西米亚人）, by taste and circumstance . . . "
• After eavesdropping on William's talk with Amelia, Becky says to herself, “What a noble heart that man has, and how shamefully that woman plays with it . . . if I could have had such a husband as that — a man with a heart and brains too! I would not have minded his large feet . . .” ”
• She sacrifices husband, child, friends to it; but she enjoys the battle. • " At least I shall be amongst gentlefolks — and not with vulgar city people."Publication
• Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero is a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published in 1847–48, satirizing society in early 19th-century Britain. • The book's title comes from John Bunyan's allegorical story The Pilgrim's Progress. Vanity fair refers to a stop along the pilgrim's progress: a never-ending fair held in a
Historical Context
• The novel is based on British upper-middle society in nineteenth century. • Britain has strong, developed industry and commerce, and merchants who became rich by exploiting colonists dominate the society. • Britain was at war with France, which is the battle of Waterloo. • All the people among the upper-middle society scrambled for fame, wealth and power.
Vanity Fair
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●Background ●Content ●Characters
significance and criticism
●Literary
Amelia Sedley
• Amelia is considered the heroine: good natured but passive and naive. She has a round, rosy snub-nosed face and brown hair. • Miss Pinkerton describes her as industrious, obedient, sweet, and beloved. She has mastered these accomplishments: music, dancing, orthography, embroidery, and needlework.
town called Vanity, which is meant to represent man's sinful attachment to worldly things.
Content of the novel
• Amelia Sedley, of good family, and Rebecca Sharp, an orphan, leave Miss Pinkerton's academy on Chiswick Mall to live out their lives in Vanity Fair. • Rebecca first attempts to enter the sacred domain of Vanity Fair by inducing Joseph Sedley, Amelia's brother, to marry her. Rebecca takes a position as governess at Queen's Crawley, and marries Rawdon Crawley. But because of his marriage, Rawdon's rich aunt disinherits him. • As a friend of George Osborne, William Dobbin becomes the instrument for getting George to marry Amelia. George dies at Waterloo. Amelia would have starved but for William Dobbin's anonymous contribution to her welfare. • Both Rebecca and Amelia give birth to sons. When she becomes the favorite of the great Lord Steyne, she accumulates both money and diamonds. But she hides much of her loot. In the meantime innocent Rawdon draws closer to Lady Jane, wife of Rawdon's older brother, Pitt, who has inherited from the rich aunt. When Rawdon discovers Rebecca in her treachery, he left her.
