"As the manager of the Performance sits before the curtain on the boards and looks into the Fair, a feeling of profound melancholy comes over him in his survey of the bustling place. There is a great quantity of eating and drinking, making love and jilting, laughing and the contrary, smoking, cheating, fighting, dancing and fiddling; there are bullies pushing about, bucks ogling the women, knaves picking pockets, policemen on the look-out, quacks (OTHER quacks, plague take them!) bawling in front of their booths, and yokels looking up at the tinselled dancers and poor old rouged tumblers, while the light-fingered folk are operating upon their pockets behind. Yes, this is VANITY FAIR; not a moral place certainly; nor a merry one, though very noisy. Look at the faces of the actors and buffoons when they come off from their business . . . "And with this, and a profound bow to his patrons, the Manager retires, and the curtain rises."
LONDON, June 28, 1848*
With these words, Thackeray opens his tale of life in Vanity Fair. What is Vanity Fair? The term itself comes from John Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress":
"Then I saw in my dream, that, when they were got out of the wilderness, they presently saw a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity; and at the town there is a fair kept, called Vanity Fair. It is kept all the year long. It beareth the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where it is kept is lighter than vanity, and also because all that is there sold, or that cometh thither, is vanity . . .
"This is no newly begun business, but a thing of ancient standing. I will show you the original of it. Almost five thousand years ago, there were pilgrims walking to the Celestial City, as these two honest persons are; and Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion, with their companions, perceiving by the path that the pilgrims made that their way to the city lay through this town of Vanity, they contrived here to set up a fair; a fair wherein should be sold all sorts of vanity, and that it should last all the year long. Therefore at this fair are all such things sold as houses, lands, trades, places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts, as wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not."**
Not a very pleasant description. And not a pleasant place - Thackeray never appears to set out to make this world of Vanity Fair welcoming or beautiful. No, indeed. To Thackeray his society was merely a modern version of Bunyan's Vanity Fair. However, while Bunyan's protagonist Christian makes it through Vanity Fair and continues to the Celestial City, Thackeray's characters are caught in Vanity Fair and must survive its heartless cruelty, duplicity, and greed.
Like a Dickens tale, "Vanity Fair" follows many characters, makes many detours to keep the reader up-to-date with the activities of its numerous players. Its principle characters are Becky Sharp, Amelia Sedley, and William Dobbin. Other key people are George Osborne, Rawdon Crawley, and Lord Steyne. It may be necessary to take notes while reading this book to keep track of who is related to whom. It is a tangled web of familial relations.
The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and covers several decades. Becky Sharp is a resourceful, clever school mistress. She has been teaching French at Miss Pinkerton's academy, a school that teaches young ladies. She occupies a low station in the social world because her father was a poor and a painter. To make her situation worse, Becky's mother was French and performed on the stage. In those times, a woman who was a performer was assumed to have loose morals.
The story begins with Becky Sharp leaving the school with her friend Amelia Sedley. Amelia, beloved of her schoolmates, is young, beautiful, innocent, and wealthy. Everything Becky is not, with the exception of beauty. Becky is quite beautiful. Amelia is taking Becky to her home where the two friends will stay for a few weeks before Becky begins her job as a governess.
In the arts of flirtation and flattery, Becky quite outshines gentle Amelia. Amelia, who looks for the best in people, is blind to Becky's dark nature. She does not realize that Becky's affection for her as a friend is merely a ploy to enable her to move among her superiors.
From the beginning, Becky is unconventional. She is a superb actress but a terrible schemer. She does not want to accept the lowly station of governess. She eyes the success, money, property, and popularity of the rich with a cunning, lustful eye. However, the only way that she can achieve her desired position in society is through matrimony. But who will this remarkable, ambitious woman woo?
There is Amelia's well-to-do older brother Joseph Sedley. He is a government employee who works in India. He is shy around women and not at all handsome. However, Becky discovers his weak point: flattery.
There is George Osborne, Amelia's fiancé. He is in the military and the son of a wealthy businessman. His weakness is his pride and selfishness.
There is William Dobbin, George's good friend and fellow officer. He is humble and selfless, unlike his friend. He worships the ground Amelia's walks on and feels that George doesn't value her as he ought.
There are the Crawleys; the father and two sons. The father's wife is sickly and the old man comes to rely on Becky's strong nature and resourcefulness. The older son, Pitt, finds her attentions and subtle flattery pleasing. The younger son, Rawdon, is a dashing, careless soldier. In spite of his reckless nature, he is the favorite of his rich aunt, Miss Crawley, and, it is assumed, stands most likely among his family to inherit her considerable fortune.
Becky plays for high stakes, risking everything for a chance to climb to the top of society. Her struggle is critically chronicled by William Thackeray, as are the adventures of the rest of the characters and players who make up Vanity Fair.
"Vanity Fair" is an attack on society - an all out attack on its ways, habits, and life. No one escapes Thackeray's barrage. To him, everyone lives in Vanity Fair and we all participate in its useless, purposeless existence. I think Thackeray could agree with Solomon and say "vanity of vanities; all is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 1:2, KJV) It is this hopelessness that I found most discouraging in the book.
Thackeray reminded me of his contemporary Dickens. Both critiqued society; both created stories with large casts; both wrote serialized novels; both were fluent in their use of the English language; both created stories based on the complexities of their characters. Despite the similarities, however, I find Dickens more pleasing to read than Thackeray. Why? Dickens has a special sense of humor. Even when he was describing something morbid or some horrid social injustice, he said in with a wry smile. Many times I'd find myself chuckling or smiling at something that, upon further reflection, I realized wasn't a bit humorous. Thackeray does this but not with the same comic effect as Dickens.
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| Wilkins Macawber |
The subtitle to "Vanity Fair" is 'A Novel Without a Hero.' This is very true. After reaching the middle point of the book, I realized that I only liked one character out of the entire host. Becky is too cruel and heartless for me to root for her, and the others were too blind, greedy, and selfish for me to like or wish them well. Becky and her compatriots are a far cry from the sympathetic protagonist of a Dickens tale.
If you love Thackeray or are purposefully exploring famous works of literature, then you may enjoy this lengthy novel. That's why I picked it up - I love classical literature. If, though, you are looking for an uplifting, pleasant novel, classical in nature, I would recommend Dickens or Elliot. Vanity Fair is a lonely, sad place.
*Vanity Fair. Thackeray, William Makepeace. 1848.
**The Pilgrim's Progress. Bunyan, John. 1678.
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