Vanity Fair: Full Book Analysis

Vanity Fair is the story of one young woman’s rise to the top of England’s shallow upper-class society and her swift fall. Vanity Fair also focuses on the people who populate that world, including Becky’s friend, Amelia Sedley, who in many ways lives out a parallel life to Becky’s. The story itself is presented in a frame of a puppet show, which the narrator introduces at the beginning of the novel. The major conflict surrounds Becky Sharp, the orphaned daughter of an artist and a dancer, and her striving ambition to attain higher social status and money. Becky has grown up mingling with members of the middle and upper classes, at the school these students attend and where Becky worked in exchange for a few lessons. These early contacts made her acutely aware of the vast divide between herself and those who populate the higher classes of English society.

Told in a series of interconnected chapters, Vanity Fair chronicles Becky’s movements from working as a lowly governess to socializing with lords and ladies, even meeting the king, and beyond. At the same time, the novel unravels Amelia’s smaller story, which centers on her ill-fated relationship with George Osborne, to whom she has been engaged since childhood. When Amelia’s father goes bankrupt, George’s father breaks off the engagement. For both Becky and Amelia, the forces of society emerge as the chief antagonist. Becky must overcome the rigidity of social class and its conventions to achieve her goals. Amelia’s antagonist is also societal, as the lure of acquiring more money makes it difficult for a young woman with a bankrupt father to marry a man from a family of means.

The inciting incident that sets the larger plot in motion is Becky’s arrival at the Sedley household. She quickly becomes intertwined with Amelia’s family and friends, leading to her first attempt to marry for money and status when she meets Amelia’s brother, Jos. Becky calculates all her actions based on what has the best chance to increase her status, so when she fails to win Jos, she continues to look for others who can help bring about her goal. Becky then ingratiates herself with the Crawleys, including the wealthy Miss Crawley, who claims Becky is an equal, and Sir Pitt, who proposes marriage. Readers do not witness the secret marriage between Becky and Rawdon Crawley, but this episode has a profound effect on the pair because it leads to Rawdon’s disinheritance by Miss Crawley.

Becky’s time in Belgium shows her successful effort to captivate the elite of the military society. Once she returns to London, she ignores her husband and son and swiftly charms her way into London aristocracy, partially through her “friendship” with Lord Steyne. She is even presented to the king. The climax comes when Rawdon catches Becky in an intimate dinner with Lord Steyne and concludes they are having an affair. Becky has no way out this time. Although she tries to get Rawdon to take her back, she must leave London because, as a poor woman of low birth, her reputation can’t survive the scandal. Her leave-taking shows Becky’s ultimate failure to achieve her goal. Even though she is among the shallowest inhabitants of Vanity Fair, ironically, she can’t establish herself there.

Amelia’s plotline is simpler but still displays certain similarities to Becky’s in the focus on marriage, motherhood, and financial status. The inciting incident is Dobbin’s actions to reunite Amelia and George. From that point on, Dobbin takes control: He arranges their wedding, attempts to reconcile George and his father, and makes Jos swear to take care of Amelia should Dobbin and George die in battle in Belgium. Amelia goes along with all his plans, and in Belgium, she follows George’s lead. She takes an active role in her own life only when she gets upset by Becky’s flirtatious behavior with George in Brussels. The story arc climaxes with George’s death on the battlefield. As with the climax of Becky’s story, when Becky was essentially banished from London society, Amelia has lost what she holds most valuable: her husband.

Once the battle is over, Amelia and Becky’s storylines part ways. Though both women return to London, Becky’s star is on the rise, while Amelia lives a quiet life with her son and parents as an impoverished mother and widow. Amelia makes Georgy the center of her world and seems content. However, she loses what she values most as she eventually must give up guardianship of her Georgy to Mr. Osborne to provide for her parents. Fortunately, Dobbin, having returned from India, comes to her rescue again and helps win Mr. Osborne over to Amelia’s side. As a result, upon Mr. Osborne’s death, Amelia gets Georgy back and inherits enough money to live quite comfortably.

When Amelia, Georgy, Jos, and Dobbin take an extended trip to the Continent, Becky’s and Amelia’s paths converge once again. They rekindle their friendship, while Becky picks up her captivation of Jos as if no time had passed since they first met. The only person unhappy with this turn of events is Dobbin, who still distrusts Becky. In an argument with Amelia, Dobbin comes to an astounding realization: The obstacle to their being together is not her love for George but the fact that she is not worthy of him. This astounding revelation leads to a new conflict: Dobbin, disgusted that he has wasted his life pining after Amelia, rejects her by returning to England. When Becky reveals that George pursued an affair with her, Amelia reaches out to Dobbin. They marry, have a daughter, and live a quiet life outside London. Jos remains on the Continent with Becky, but he dies of a mysterious illness, possibly murdered by her. Becky returns to England and takes up the role of a churchgoing, charitable lady.

The novel closes by showing one final encounter between Becky and Amelia at a charity fair at which no words are spoken. The narrator then puts his puppets back in the box without further explanation. The play is over. Putting the puppets away signifies the end to Becky’s and Amelia’s stories, but ultimately, the narrator, who has interjected himself through the entire story, leaves unanswered certain questions about what happened and why. While resolution comes for each woman, neither ended up having the life she expected.

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