Vanity Fair: Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Amelia’s Piano

To Amelia, the piano at which she spent many hours with George represents the love they shared, but in reality, the piano symbolizes Dobbin’s unselfish love for her. The piano is a present from Dobbin, who understands how much the instrument means to Amelia, but he allows her to continue thinking the piano came from George because he worries that without George’s love, Amelia might give up the will to live. In the years following George’s death, the piano holds additional value to Amelia as the only present she received from him. Once Amelia finds out the truth, the instrument serves to represent her dashed hopes and dreams.

The Spider and the Web

Early in the novel, the narrator compares Becky to a spider entangling Jos in her web, depicting Becky as an animal of prey who ensnares Jos in a web of yarn that binds his arms. Jos escapes Becky’s entanglements upon their first meeting, but the spider returns. Eighteen years later in Germany, Becky manages to trap Jos in her web made not of yarn but flattery, charm, and a guise of helplessness. By the time Jos realizes that Becky is a predator, he is unable to extricate himself from their relationship. At this point, much like a spider’s victim might feel, Jos has grown ill from Becky’s poison and is afraid of her as she feeds off his substance, which to Becky is his money. Jos dies firmly stuck in Becky’s web.

George’s Portrait

After George dies in battle, Amelia often looks at his portrait above her bed, symbolizing her ties to the past and her refusal to move forward. Instead of trying to create a new life for herself and Georgy, Amelia keeps her George in their lives as much as possible, even viewing him as an angel who watches over them. Because George maintains such an emotional and physical presence in Amelia’s life through the portrait, she is unable to appreciate or even discern Dobbin’s love for her and the possibility of real happiness. Amelia believes that if she married again, George’s picture would judge her. Her views on the portrait only change once Dobbin declares he will no longer waste his love on her. George’s portrait stops reproaching her, for it has achieved its goal of keeping Amelia attached to George and her past.

Diamonds

Diamonds represent Becky’s rise in society, and her acquisition of diamonds is one of the ways she can determine that she has achieved the sought-after social and economic success. Everyone in the upper classes has diamonds, from Miss Swartz’s bird’s-egg-sized diamonds to Jos’s diamond ring to George’s diamond shirt pin. Even Amelia, impoverished from her father’s bankruptcy, has a diamond brooch given to her by her mother. Becky, however, lacks diamonds until she begins to move into high society in London and her male admirers—Pitt Crawley and Lord Steyne—present them to her as gifts. For Becky, these diamonds prove that she has finally achieved her goal.

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