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Amelia “Emmy” Sedley is a sweet, kind young woman, but her defining trait emerges as passiveness. Part of this passivity results from her upbringing as a protected daughter in a wealthy family, but she is also a product of her society, where young women follow the orders of their parents. Amelia emerges as the opposite of Becky. While Becky grabs life and molds it to her wishes, Amelia accepts what life offers with little complaint. But in doing so, she also has little grasp of reality. Amelia deifies George and Georgy while turning a blind eye to Dobbin, the truly worthy man who loves her.

Amelia occasionally shows some fire. In Brussels, she speaks sharply and candidly to Becky when the flirtation between George and Becky has become too serious to ignore. Amelia also gives guardianship of Georgy to Mr. Osborne to provide financial security to her struggling parents. When Becky forces Amelia to confront the truth about George, Amelia rejects her rosy-colored picture of her husband and marries Dobbin, but the narrator doesn’t make clear whether she does so out of love, out of the desire to be protected, or for some other reason.

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