Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair (William Makepeace Thackeray)

Introduction:

Vanity Fair written by William Makepeace Thackeray is generally recognized as his masterpiece, through which he established his important position in the history of English literature. In the novel, Thackeray profoundly exposes the social evils and reality of the times through realism and satire. Numerous surveys attempt to make some explorations of its elements of realism and satire that contribute much to its great success.

Thackeray utilizes satire to make criticisms of the life of the bourgeoisie and aristocracy, which is sharp, penetrating and unique. His Vanity Fair fully embodies his viewpoint that a novel should reflect nature and reality, and transmit the real situation and true feelings.

Vanity Fair, whose subtitle is known as A Novel Without A Hero, and which was published between 1847 and 1848, gives a satirical picture of a worldly society. The events of the novel happened during the Napoleonic wars, but William Makepeace Thackeray, the author of the novel, intended to represent his own times. It follows the fortunes of two sharply contrasted characters, Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley.

This masterpiece represents Thackeray’s philosophy of life. The author describes the world around him, as he sees it, extenuating nothing, but assuredly, depicting some human ugliness. He sees clearly enough the seamy side of society: its littleness, its meanness, its selfishness, its baseness, its false religionism, its secret impurities in a word which sums all up, its worldliness.

Vanity Fair is full of strategic schemes of satire, such as constant sarcastic commentaries, caricatures and satiric ending to represent its themes. Satire makes accounts and descriptions vivid, euphemistic and profound in meaning, thus deriving satirical targets of the novel. All seem to be the targets of satire, including gentlemen and ladies, main characters and minor ones, forming a distorted value system and constituting a struggle for survival.

Vanity Fair is a portrait of a variety of vanity and corruption, focusing upon descriptions of a chaotic upper society and a chaotic middle class in the 19th century. It is also a miniature of numerous declining societies, full of rumor, deception, hypocrisy as well as life’s ups and downs. Satire is an efficient scheme used to reveal the characteristics of the communities and human minds, which is euphemistic as well as forceful.

William Makepeace Thackeray was born at Calcutta in 1811. His father, Richmond Thackeray, had been an Indian civil servant, as had William's grandfather. His mother was nineteen at the date of his birth, was left a widow in 1816, and married Major Henry Carmichael Smyth in 1818.

On his way to England from India, the small Thackeray saw Napoleon on St. Helena. His attendance at a school run by a Dr. Turner gave him experience later used in Vanity Fair.

Always an independent spirit, he went his own way, attending various schools, but leaving Cambridge without taking a degree. His relatives wanted him to study law; he leaned toward the fine arts. At Trinity College, Cambridge, he contributed to a little paper called The Snob.

A visit to Weimar bore fruit in the sketches of life at a small German court, which appears in Vanity Fair. In 1832, he inherited a sum which amounted to about five hundred pounds a year. The money was soon lost — some in an Indian bank, some at gambling, and some in two newspapers, The National Standard and The Constitutional.

About 1834, Thackeray went to Paris and took up the study of art. He had early shown talent as a caricaturist. His pencil was at its best in such fantastic work as is found in the initial letters of the chapters in his books, and in those drawings made for the amusement of children.

He married Isabella, an Irish girl, daughter of Colonel Matthew Shawe, who enchanted him with her singing, and who was the model for Amelia in Vanity Fair. Three daughters were born, one dying in infancy. After the birth of the third child, Mrs. Thackeray's mind was affected and she had to be placed with a family who took care of her. The little girls were sent to Thackeray's mother in Paris. Although Mrs. Thackeray outlived her husband by thirty years, she did not recover.

In 1837, Thackeray came to London and became a regular contributor to Fraser's Magazine. From 1842 to 1851, he was on the staff of Punch, a position that brought in a good income. During his stay at Punch, he wrote Vanity Fair, the work which placed him in the first rank of novelists. He completed it when he was thirty-seven.

In 1857, Thackeray stood unsuccessfully as a parliamentary candidate for Oxford. In 1859 he took on the editorship of the Cornhill Magazine. He resigned the position in 1862 because kindliness and sensitivity of spirit made it difficult for him to turn down contributors.

His writing was filled with wit, humor, satire, and pathos. It is impossible to list here his many works of literature.

The best known are The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. (1844), Vanity Fair (1847-48), Pendennis (1848-50) The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. (1852), The Newcomers (1853-55), and The Virginians (1857-59).

Thackeray drew on his own experiences for his writing. He had a great weakness for gambling, a great desire for worldly success, and over his life hung the tragic illness of his wife.  Thackeray died December 24, 1863. He was buried in Kensal Green, and a bust by Marochetti was put up to his memory in Westminster Abbey.

Thackeray and Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair was a turning point in Thackeray's life and career. A gentleman by birth and education, Thackeray was forced to earn his living by writing because most of his money had been lost in a financial crash. The articles, reviews, essays, and sketches he produced for magazines and newspapers did not provide sufficient income either to support a gentleman's status or to provide for the futures of his two daughters. In addition, writing for a living made his status as a gentleman somewhat tenuous (slight and thin). The serialization of Vanity Fair, which was a financial success, quickly established Thackeray's literary reputation.

John Forster wrote, "Vanity Fair is the work of a mind, at once accomplished and subtle, which has enjoyed opportunities of observing many and varied circles of society. . . his genteel characters... have a reality about them... They are drawn from actual life, not from books and fancy; and they are presented by means of brief, decisive yet always most discriminative touches" (1848). Charlotte Bronte, whose admiration for his genius was boundless, called him "the legitimate high priest of Truth."

A novel without a hero

“There is no hero in “Vanity Fair” and its subtitle is “A Novel without a Hero”, which is the original title. There are two explanations for this subtitle:  one point deems that no hero is due to no character becomes the central role”  When the novel was published in the journal “Punch” with the sub-title of "A Sketch of British Society", which also demonstrates this point. “Another point believes that it has no “heroic character". A hero is a supereminent figure who has aptitude to change social environment while the roles in the novel are all the common people suffering from the environment and the time.”

Vanity Fair is said by its author to be a novel without a hero, which is undoubtedly a truth. Furthermore, although there are two heroines, Rebecca Sharp and Amelia Sedley, who are called the puppets by Thackeray, they do not make up for this omission, since one is without a heart, and the other without a head.

Historical background of the novel and the role of the war

The actions in the novel take place at the beginning of the 19th century, during the war with Napoleon. The novel includes the historical events of this period. The destinies of the characters in the novel are connected with the famous fight of Waterloo. The battle took place on the 15th of June 1815 near Waterloo. At this battle under the pressure of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian armies commanded by Wellington and Blucher, Napoleon’s army suffered a defeat, and Napoleon himself was to abdicate for the second time.

The domestic scenes in the novel alternate with the military ones. The themes of war and peace cross in the novel. Thackeray writes “our surprised story now finds itself for a moment among very famous events and personages, and hanging on the skirts of history”, at the same time the author states that this is not a historical novel.

Still the war plays an important role in the novel. It influences and even changes the characters’ lives. Thus, Amelia’s father goes bankrupt, and Amelia herself loses her beloved husband, George Osborne.  George falls one of many victims of the war. He starts his military way full of romantic illusions. War is a game for him. “The great game of war was going to be played, and he one of the players.” But in the fight of Waterloo George dies, like many other soldiers. The author comments “Centuries hence, we Frenchmen and Englishmen might be boasting and killing each other still, carrying out bravely the devil’s code of honor.” With these words, Thackeray defines the war as one of laws of “the devil’s code” in Vanity Fair.

Significance of the title, Vanity Fair

“Vanity Fair” is a very vain, wicked, foolish place, full of all sorts of humbugs and falseness and pretensions. The title of the book is borrowed from the “The Pilgrims’ Progress” by John Bunyan. It is one of the greatest stories of the second half of the 17th century.  Vanity Fair literally means Vain and frivolous lifestyle especially in large cities, a manner of living that reflects the person's values and attitudes.

Summary/story

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 — the world of social climbing and search for wealth. Amelia does not esteem the values of Vanity Fair; Rebecca cares for nothing else.

Rebecca first attempts to enter the sacred domain of Vanity Fair by inducing Joseph Sedley, Amelia's brother, to marry her. George Osborne, however, foils this plan; he intends to marry Amelia and does not want a governess for a sister-in-law. Rebecca takes a position as governess at Queen's Crawley, and marries Rawdon Crawley, second son of Sir Pitt Crawley. Because of his marriage, Rawdon's rich aunt disinherits him.

First introduced as a friend of George Osborne, William Dobbin becomes the instrument for getting George to marry Amelia, after George's father has forbidden the marriage on account of the Sedley's loss of fortune. Because of George's marriage, old Osborne disinherits him. Both young couples endeavor to live without sufficient funds. George dies at Waterloo. Amelia would have starved but for William Dobbin's anonymous contribution to her welfare. Joseph goes back to his post in India, claiming such valor at Waterloo that he earns the nickname "Waterloo Sedley." Actually he fled at the sound of the cannon. Both Rebecca and Amelia give birth to sons.

Rebecca claims she will make Rawdon's fortune, but actually she hides much of her loot, obtained from admiring gentlemen. When she becomes the favorite of the great Lord Steyne, she accumulates both money and diamonds. 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 is convinced that money means more to her than he or the son whom she has always hated. He refuses to see her again and takes a post in Coventry Island, where he dies of yellow fever.

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 (socially acceptable) 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. Rebecca has been the one who jolted Amelia into recognition that George, her first love, wasn't worthy.

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. The reader feels that these young persons of the third generation will be better people than their predecessors in Vanity Fair.

Why is Amelia called a virtue without wit, and Rebecca wit without virtue

At the very beginning of the book the author opposes Amelia and Becky. When the girls leave the school, we learn that “for Amelia it was quite new, fresh, brilliant world, with all the bloom upon it”, and for Rebecca it was not quite new.

Rebecca Sharp is the principle person of the book, with whom all the others are more or less connected. She is a very wonder-fully drawn picture. Becky is a clever, energetic and beautiful young woman with strong character. The author points out that Rebecca “was proud of her wit”. But her green eyes and her fascinating smile horrify. Becky is insidious, hypocritical, self-interested. She wants to be rich and respectable at all costs. She doesn’t care for anybody who cannot help her to rise up. Becky is very clever, she knows how to handle men but what she lacks to be a heroine is virtue.

We see that Amelia is full of virtue: she is faithful to her husband, even after his death, she loves and respects her parents, adores her son, but the author does not make her a heroine either. She does not see that George does not love her, she does not see Dobbin’s feelings. At the beginning of the book the author often calls her “dear little creature, poor silly thing, silly little thing”, later after her marriage Amelia wonders if George would not be bored with her. That is why the author called her a virtue without wit.

Concept of marriage

Using this technique of generalizing from the individual, he exposes the mercenary and impersonal basis of marriage in an acquisitive, money-oriented, status-conscious society.  Becky's desperate attempt to lure Joseph into marriage gives Thackeray the opportunity to discuss society's institutionalization of husband hunting, which "is generally, and with becoming modesty, entrusted by young persons to their mammas."

Satirical novel

Thackeray’s criticism is strong, his satire is sharp and bitter. He is a genius in portraying negative characters; his positive characters are less vivid, but all of them are true of life. Thackeray used to say that he wished to describe men and women as they really are.

In his novel Thackeray gives a vivid description of the upper classes of society, their mode of life, manners and tastes. He shows their pride and tyranny, their hypocrisy and snobbishness, their selfishness and general wickedness.

The social background of the novel is high society at large. Thackeray attacks the vanity, pretensions, prejudices and the corruption of the aristocracy (while describing the Crawleys); the narrow-mindedness and greed of the bourgeoisie (while describing the Osbornes and the Sedleys). The author mercilessly exposes the snobbishness, hypocrisy and money-worship of the upper class.

Thackeray’s knowledge of human nature is broad and his portrayal of it is keenly analytical. The picture of life of the ruling classes of England in the 19th century drawn by Thackeray remains a classical example of social satire up to the present day. He developed the realistic traditions of his predecessors, the enlighteners, Jonathan Swift and Henry Fielding in particular, and became one of the most prominent realists and satirists of his age.

 

The world to him is Vanity Fair where men and women to use his own words “are greedy, pompous, mean, perfectly satisfied and at ease about their superior virtues. They despise poverty and kindness of heart. They are snobs.”

Thackeray loathed snobbishness, and in his works he used satire to expose the pretensions of the snobs and social climbers whom he depicted in his novels.

Human as commodities

Regarding others as commodities or objects to be used for one's own ends is widespread, almost universal, in this society. Miss Crawley uses Miss Briggs, Becky, and her relatives to amuse herself and drops them without a pang when they no longer suit her needs. In turn, she and her fortune are commodities which her relatives want to secure for themselves. After a stroke incapacitates Sir Pitt and his son takes control of the estate, Sir Pitt becomes a worthless object and is kept out of sight.

Things, possessions are more important than people. Ironically, people's possessions outlast them or their wealth, as shown by the numerous auctions resulting from bankruptcy or death.   As a mother Becky, who expresses neither love nor interest in her son, becomes an object for him. He admires her appearance and her possessions.

Conclusion:

Vanity Fair is a portrait of a variety of vanities and corruption, indicating a chaotic upper and middle class of the 19th century. It is also a miniature of numerous declining societies, full of rumor, deception, hypocrisy as well as human’s struggle in the society. Satire is an efficient scheme to represent the characteristics of the communities and human minds, which is euphemistic as well as forceful.