Contents
- About
the author
- About
the book’s publication
- The
main heroes of the book
- The
summary of the book
- The
opinion on the book
About
the author
William
Makepeace Thackeray was born in Calcutta,
India, in 1811. He is the son of
Richmond Thackeray, an Indian Civil Servant, and his wife Anne. Just
a few years later his father died, his mother remarried, and young William
was sent to England for studying in the Charterhouse, a private school
in London. Then he kept on studying in Trinity College and Cambridge
University. Afterwards he went to Paris, where he tried the career of
a painter, met his future wife and married her some time later.
Back
in England and suffering massive financial
losses, Thackeray started writing as a
journalist. Travel articles about France were among his first efforts
appearing in various magazines and journals including The
Times.
Haunting
the Literary Clubs of London including
the Garrick Club, Thackeray also travelled
the Mediterranean. Book
of Snobs (1848) and Vanity
Fair (1848) followed soon
after, but it was not until The
History of Pendennis (1850),
his semi-autobiographical novel that Thackeray's success as a humorist
was confirmed. He then embarked on a series of lectures.
In
1860 Thackeray became editor of the monthly literary journal Cornhill
Magazine, but died suddenly
three years later, in 1863, at the age of fifty two.
About
the book’s publication
The
book was being written in 1845-1847. Firstly
it was published chapter by chapter in a satirical
magazine named “Punch”. At the time the name of the serial was
“Pen and Pencil Sketches of English Society”. Later it was changed
to “Vanity Fair”, which referred to
a stop along the pilgrim's progress: a never-ending fair held in a town
called Vanity, which is meant to represent man's sinful attachment to
worldly things. Vanity Fair was
the first work that Thackeray published under his own name, and was
extremely well received at the time and Charlotte
Bronte was the first to champion the author of the serial as a new star.
Thackeray
meant the book to be not only entertaining
but also instructive, an intention demonstrated
through the book's narration and through
Thackeray's private correspondence. The novel
is considered a classic of English literature,
though some critics claim that it has structural problems.
The
main heroes of the book
Thackeray
gave the novel a subtitle “A Novel
without a Hero”, but I can still
point out a few figures, whose stories the reader follows during
the development of the plot.
Two
main heroines are Rebecca Sharp and Amelia
Sedley, who differ a lot from one another.
Amelia
is good natured, but passive and naïve and does very little to help
herself. Although she is not outstandingly beautiful, she is well liked
by most men who get to know her because of her sweet personality, a
popularity which is often resented by other women.
Rebecca
Sharp, the anti-heroine
and Amelia's opposite, is an intelligent young woman with a gift for
satire. She is described as a short sandy haired girl who has green
eyes and a great deal of wit. Fluent in both French and English, Becky
has a beautiful singing voice, plays the piano, and shows great talent
as an actress. She does not seem to have the ability to get attached
to other people, and lies easily and intelligently to get her way. She
is extremely manipulative and is not shown as being particularly sincere.
Becky
never has known financial or social security
even as a child, so she desires it above all things. Nearly everything
she does is with the intention of securing a stable position for herself.
Although
Becky manipulates men very easily, she
does not even try to cultivate the
friendship of most women, so many of them see
right through her.
The
Crawley family
Rawdon,
the younger of the two Crawley sons, is an empty-headed cavalry officer
who is his wealthy aunt's favourite.
The
well-meaning Rawdon does have a few talents in life, most of them
having to do with gambling and duelling. He is very good at cards and
billiards, and although he does not always win he is able to earn cash
by betting against less talented gamblers. He is not particularly talented
as a military officer.
Rawdon
Crawley's elder brother Sir
Pitt is
very religious and has political aspirations, although not many people
appreciate his intelligence or wisdom because there's not much there
to appreciate. Moreover, he is pedantic and conservative.
The
elderly Miss Matilda Crawley is
everyone's favourite wealthy aunt. Sir Pitt and Rawdon both dote on
her, although Rawdon is her favourite nephew and sole heir until some
point in time. While she loves scandal and particularly stories of unwise
marriage, she does not want scandal or unwise marriage in her family.
The
Osborne family
George
Osborne, his father,
and his two sisters are close to the Sedley family.
George
is raised to be a selfish, vain,
profligate spender, handsome and self-obsessed,
he squanders the last of the money he receives from his father.
Mr.
Osborn is
a contentious, enterprising, arrogant, stubborn old man, obsessed with
his accounts and profits. He is ungrateful by his nature, easily gets
angry and hates it when someone does anything against his will.
The
best friend of George Osborne, William Dobbin is tall, ungainly,
and not particularly handsome. He is a few years older than George but
has been friends with him since his school days. He defends George and
is blind to his faults in many ways although he tries to force George
to do the right thing.
Joseph
Sedley
Amelia's
older brother, Joseph
"Jos" Sedley,
is a "nabob", who made a respectable fortune as a tax collector
in India. Obese and self-important but very shy and insecure, Jos is
not a courageous or intelligent man.
The
summary of the book
The
story starts in Miss Pinkerton's Academy
for Young Ladies, where Becky Sharp and
Amelia Sedley have just completed their studies and are preparing
to depart for Amelia's house.
At
Russell Square, Miss Sharp is introduced
to Miss Sedley’s fiancée Captain George Osborne, and to
her brother Joseph Sedley, a clumsy and boastful but rich civil servant
from the East India Company. Hoping to marry Sedley, Becky tries to get
him to fall in love with her, but she fails because of warnings from
Captain Osborne and Sedley's his embarrassment over some foolish drunken
behaviour of his that Becky had seen.
Becky
Sharp says farewell to Sedley's family and enters
the service of the crude and profligate baronet Sir Pitt Crawley, who
has engaged her as a governess to his daughters. Her behaviour at Sir
Pitt's house gains his favour, and after the death of his second wife,
he proposes marriage to her. Then he finds she is already secretly married
to his second son, Rawdon Crawley.
Sir
Pitt's elder half-sister, Miss Crawley, is
very rich. How she will bequeath her
great wealth is a source of constant
conflict between the branches of the Crawley
family who fight shamelessly for her affections;
initially her favourite is Sir Pitt's younger son, Captain Rawdon Crawley.
For some time, Becky acts as Miss Crawley's companion, taking the loyal
Miss Briggs’s place in an attempt to establish herself in favour before
breaking the news of her secret marriage with Miss Crawley's nephew.
However, the misalliance enrages Miss Crawley so much that she crosses
her nephew out of her will in favour of his elder brother, Pitt Crawley.
The married couple constantly attempts to make up the quarrel with Miss
Crawley, and she relents a little, but still refuses to change her will.
Thus, Becky is trying to make the way up to the higher society by herself.
Amelia's
father, John Sedley, is bankrupted. The Sedleys and Osbornes
were once close allies, but the relationship between the two families
breaks down after the Sedleys are financially ruined, and the marriage
of Amelia and George is forbidden. George ultimately decides to marry
Amelia against his father's will, pressured by his friend Dobbin, and
is disinherited. The newlyweds and Dobbin go to Brighton, where they
meet Becky and Captain Crawley. While these personal events take place,
the Napoleonic Wars have been ramping up. The holiday is interrupted by
orders to march to Brussels. The newly wedded Osborne is growing tired
of Amelia already, and he becomes increasingly attracted to Becky.
At
a ball in Brussels George gives Becky
a note inviting her to run away with
him. He regrets this shortly afterwards and makes peace with Amelia,
who has been deeply hurt by his attention towards her former friend.
Next morning he is sent to Waterloo with Captain Crawley and Dobbin,
leaving Amelia behind. Becky, on the other hand, is indifferent to her
husband's departure. She tries to comfort Amelia, but the latter responds
angrily, disgusted by Becky's flirtatious behavior with George and her
lack of concern about Captain Crawley. Becky resents this snub and two
women lose each other for years.
Captain
Crawley survives, but George dies in the
battle. Amelia gives birth to a son, who is
also named George. She returns to live in poverty with her parents and
raise her son there. She loves the boy unconditionally and devotes her
life to his welfare. Meanwhile, since the death of George, Dobbin, who
is Amelia‘s son’s godfather, gradually begins to express his love
for Amelia. She is too much in love with George's memory to return Dobbin's
affections. Disappointed and upset, he goes to India for many years.
Meanwhile,
Becky also has a son, also named
after his father, but unlike Amelia, Becky
is a cold, distant mother. She continues her ascent first in Paris
and then in London where she is patronized by the great Marquis of Steyne,
who pays for her debts and introduces her to London society. Her success
is unstoppable despite her origins, and she is eventually presented
to the Prince Regent himself.
Becky
and Rawdon appear to be financially successful, but their wealth
and high standard of living are fake. Rawdon gambles heavily and earns
money as billiards and cards shark. Becky accepts small pieces of jewelry
and money from her many admirers and sells some for cash. She also borrows
from the people around her and seldom pays bills. The couple lives mostly
on credit, and Rebecca is fully aware that her heavy borrowing and her
failure to pay bills bankrupts at least two innocent people: her servant,
Briggs, and her landlord Raggles.
At
the summit of her success, Becky's relationship
with the rich and powerful Marquis of
Steyne is discovered after Rawdon is arrested for debt. Rawdon's brother's
wife bails him out and Rawdon surprises Becky and Steyne in an embarrassing
moment. Rawdon leaves his wife and through the offices of the Marquis
of Steyne is made Governor of Coventry Island. Becky, having lost both
husband and credibility, is warned by Steyne to leave the United Kingdom
and she wanders Europe. Rawdon and Becky's son is left in the care of
Pitt Crawley’s family. However, wherever Becky goes, she is followed
by the shadow of the affair she has been suspected in, so she never
stays anywhere for long.
As
Amelia's son George grows up, his grandfather
takes him from Amelia, who knows the
rich and bitter old man will give
him a much better start in life than
she or her family could ever manage. After twelve years abroad,
both Joseph Sedley and Dobbin return to the UK. Dobbin confesses to
Amelia all his feelings, but although Amelia is affectionate she tells
him she cannot forget the memory of her dead husband.
While
in England, Dobbin tries to arrange the
truce between Amelia and her father-in-law.
The death of Amelia's father prevents their meeting, but soon after
Osborn’s death it gets known that young George inherited half of old
man’s wealth and Amelia gets a good monthly payments. Later Amelia,
Joseph, George and Dobbin go on a trip to Germany, where they find helpless
and lonely Becky. She meets young George at a card table and then seduces
Jos Sedley all over again. Becky is strongly affected by the problems
she has, she is drinking heavily, has lost her singing voice and much
of her looks.
Following
Jos's requests, Amelia agrees to a truce when she hears that Becky's
ties with her son have been severed, much to Dobbin's disapproval. Dobbin
quarrels with Amelia and finally realizes that he is wasting his love
on a woman, who can’t return it. However, Becky shows Amelia the note
that Amelia's dead husband, George, had given her, asking her to run
away with him. This destroys Amelia's idealized image of George, but
not before she has sent a note to Dobbin claiming her love.
Becky
resumes her seduction of Jos and gains control over him. He
eventually dies of a suspicious ailment after signing a portion of his
money to Becky as life insurance.
Rawdon
dies weeks before his older brother, whose son has already died; the
baronetcy is inherited by Rawdon's son. Although Dobbin married Amelia,
and although he always treated her with great kindness, he never fully
regained the love that he once had for her. Becky appears for the last
time selling trinkets at a fair in aid of various charitable causes.
She is now living well again, as her son, the new baronet, has agreed
to support her, even though he declines any further relationship or
communication.
The
opinion on the book
“Vanity
Fair” is an amazing book to read, in my opinion. Firstly, I’ve always
loved books about this exactly period of time, about higher society
and people’s fates in these times.
Secondly,
this novel shows not just two stories
of women’s lives connected to each other.
This novel shows that whatever you go
through and whatever you suffer, you will
be rewarded for it accordingly. It is
well-known, that if you do well to
other people, it will return to you one day. It is all the same,
if you do badly, too.
Moreover,
this novel shows all the wicked, vicious
qualities many people have, especially the ones
who are ambitious or have a lot of power.
After
I have read this book, I can say,
that there is actually no particular hero in this book. This whole society,
or, as Thackeray calls it, Vanity Fair is the hero. Every person is
a piece of it and every thing connected to it is a decoration.
As
for me, I can’t say I like Amelia,
even though she is “the good side of the coin” in this novel.
Rebecca seems more attractive and closer to me, even with all of her
problems and disadvantages. Rebecca is a living person with passion,
overwhelming emotions, but sharp, quick mind and good lying and artistic
talents. Becky’s problem was that she wanted too much and too fast,
but I don’t think we can judge her for it, because who would refuse
in her place? Nowadays this novel can be even more actual, topical,
as people tend more than ever to get to the positions in the higher
circle by all means necessary, and almost nothing can stop them. Becky’s
story is very instructive. For example, I have pointed out some things,
which would never do any good anyone.
Amelia,
on the other hand, is a person I
can’t imagine in the real live. Her qualities are excessive and
unreasonable, so they don’t seem real. She is too easy to be influenced,
she never tries to figure her way out of the problems, and she never
does anything that can be counted as doubtful, even less bad or evil.
All
in all, I liked this book very much
and I’m sure I’ll never be sorry
for the time I spent with this book
in my hands. It gave me a lot to think about.