Vanity FairVanity Fair, Thackeray's panoramic, satirical saga of corruption at all levels of English society, was published in 1847 but set during the Napoleonic Wars. It chronicles the lives of two women who could not be more different: Becky Sharp, an orphan whose only resources are her vast ambitions, her native wit, and her loose morals; and her schoolmate Amelia Sedley, a typically naive Victorian heroine, the pampered daughter of a wealthy family. Becky's fluctuating fortunes eventually bring her to an affair with Amelia's dissolute husband; when he is killed at Waterloo, Amelia and her child are left penniless, while Becky and her husband Rawdon Crawley rise in the world, managing to lead a high life in London solely on the basis of their shrewdness. (The chapter entitled "How to Live on Nothing" is a classic.) Thackeray's subtitle, "A Novel Without a Hero," is understating the case; his view of humanity in this novel is distinctly bleak and deliberately antiheroic. Critics of the time misunderstood the book, decrying it as (among other things) vicious, vile, and odious. But VANITY FAIR has endured as one of the great comic novels of all time, and a landmark in the history of realism in fiction. |
Contents
Miss Crawley at home | 116 |
In which Rebeccas husband appears for a short time | 133 |
The letter on the pincushion | 141 |
How Captain Dobbin bought a piano | 149 |
Who played on the piano Captain Dobbin bought | 156 |
Miss Crawley at nurse | 167 |
In which Captain Dobbin acts as the messenger | 177 |
A quarrel about an heiress | 186 |
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Common terms and phrases
admired Amelia asked Bareacres Baronet Becky Becky Sharp Becky's blushed Brighton brother Brussels Bute Crawley Captain Dobbin carriage child Chiswick Colonel Crawley's cried daughter dear delight dinner door drawing-room Emmy eyes face father fellow Firkin Frederick Bullock French Gaunt gave George Osborne George's girl Glorvina hand happy heart honest honour horses husband Jos's kind kissed knew Lady Crawley Lady Jane laughed letter little Rawdon London looked Lord Steyne Madame Major Dobbin Mamma married Miss Briggs Miss Crawley Miss Osborne Miss Sedley Miss Sharp morning mother never night O'Dowd old gentleman Osborne's passed Pitt's play poor pretty Pumpernickel Queen's Crawley Rawdon Crawley Rebecca regiment round Russell Square Sambo Sedley's servants Sir Pitt Crawley sister smile Southdown Street table d'hôte talk tell thought told took Vanity Fair walked wife woman women young ladies