Characters in Vanity Fair Essay

Vanity Fair

How does Thackeray present Rebecca Sharp and Amelia Sedley in the opening chapters of Vanity Fair

The novel takes place during the Napoleonic Wars and concerns the lives of two starkly contrasted girls: Becky Sharp, orphaned and poor but ingenious; and Amelia Sedley, sheltered daughter of a rich City merchant. These two meet at Miss Pinkertons Academy for young ladies. Sharps adventures begin with an attempt to marry Jos Sedley, Amelias brother, who is rich but dim. She soon finds her way to the Crawley household as a governess and marries Rawdon, the second son of Sir Pitt Crawley, although the father himself had proposed to her. Rawdon is, typically for the novel, an ignorant and self-indulgent man. Miss Sedleys story is less exciting, largely due to her first husband Osborne and moral by her uninteresting second love Dobbin. Thackerays portrait of the upper classes in the early nineteenth century as negative but is entertaining for its characters and hopeless, loveless relationships.

Child of a poor artist and a French opera girl, Becky Sharp early learns to shift for herself. Her mother dead, Becky's father with "a great propensity for running into debt, and a partiality for the tavern" brings her up. At her father's death (two bailiffs quarrel over his corpse) Becky is accepted at Miss Pinkerton's to teach French in exchange for schooling, free board and room, and a little money. Ingenious Rebecca manufactures a laudable ancestry for herself, and although she is at heart selfish and hostile, she can act the part of modesty, simplicity, gentleness, and untiring good humor.

Exactly opposite from Rebecca, Amelia has many advantages. Miss Pinkerton describes her as industrious, obedient, sweet, and beloved. She has mastered these accomplishments: music, dancing, orthography, embroidery, and needlework. However, Miss Pinkerton suggests that she use a backboard for four hours each day for the next three years to improve her carriage, "so requisite for every young lady of fashion." The author indicates her need of "backbone" by suggesting the use of the backboard. Whereas Rebecca's chief quality is ruthless ambition, Amelia exhibits weak humility and blind loyalty.