Preview

Vanity Fair

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1233 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Vanity Fair
VANITY FAIR
William M. Thackeray | 1811–1863

Monday, October 29, 12

The Title
Vanity: excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements Fair: a competitive exhibition for the amusement of the public In his 1678 allegory “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” John Bunyan called London “Vanity Fair.” A well-known passage of the Bible claims, “All is Vanity.”

Monday, October 29, 12

The Title
“But my kind reader will please to remember that this history has Vanity Fair for a title, and that Vanity Fair is a very vain, wicked, foolish place, full of all sorts of humbugs and falseness and pretensions.” –p. 98 Vanity Fair is the place where the vanity of upper class of English society is put on display.

Monday, October 29, 12

Subtitle: A Novel without a Hero
All the characters, good or bad, are flawed.
OLD SIR PITT CRAWLEY: rude & unkind LADY CRAWLEY: timid & apathetic MISS CRAWLEY: snobbish & arrogant RAWDON CRAWLEY: extravagant & later penniless LORD STEYNE: corrupt & immoral
Monday, October 29, 12

JOSEPH SEDLEY: imperceptive & awkward REBECCA SHARP: cunning & flirtatious AMELIA SEDLEY: good but weak and hypocritical CAPTAIN DOBBIN: honest & kind, but melancholy & foolish

Summary
This satire of a materialistic society centers on BECKY SHARP and AMELIA SEDLEY. They are boarding-school friends, whose lives are contrasted. Clever, ambitious Becky is born into poverty, the daughter of a penniless artist. She wants to marry Amelia’s brother Joseph, but her plan fails. Instead, she marries RAWDON CRAWLEY, but his father disinherits him as a result. Despite her destitute husband, Becky manages to live at the height of fashion through the patronage of LORD STEYNE. When her husband learns about Lord Steyne, he departs to become the Governor of Coventry island. Becky is ostracized and she moves to Continental Europe.

Monday, October 29, 12

Summary
In the meantime, Amelia’s father loses his fortune in a series of unfortunate
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Clueless Regency England Analysis
    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Clueless Regency England Analysis

    Qualities of relationships have transformed through time along with values, the parallel worlds within postmodern Beverly Hills and Regency England display the contextual shifts brought forth. The bildungsroman novel Emma by Jane Austen exemplifies the strict values within Regency England society whilst Amy Heckerling’s film Clueless illustrates the transformation of these values within Beverly Hills. The values of social status and pride and vanity are explored through the inflexible Regency England society in comparison to the more fluid postmodern society of Beverly Hills. The use of various language and film techniques enhances the observation of the parallel values displayed within both contexts.…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sir Gawain Character Analysis Essay
    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sir Gawain Character Analysis Essay

    Lady "seemed so gorgeous, so gloriously attired, / So faultless in her features and fair complexion"…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Greek Mythology: A Comparative Analysis
    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Greek Mythology: A Comparative Analysis

    As we were told when we were young children, too much of a good thing is not a good thing. The same phrase can apply to aspects in lives now. Literature shows how pride can be a good thing, but too much of it is not. In fact, the opposite of pride, humility, is an extremely important value. The Bible and Edith Hamilton’s Mythology both show how a lack of the value humility will result in consequence through characterization and plot.…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Transformation - Jane Austen Emma to Clueless
    • 2160 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Transformation - Jane Austen Emma to Clueless

    Emma presents her audience with the ills of a socially stratified society and its repressive constraints manifested through her characters. The conservative social structure of Regency England is established through a clearly defined social organisation which is responsible for determining class by a families inherited wealth and lineage. The eponymous character is presented as the regency stereotype of the upper-class elitist, with the preliminary stages of the novel reflecting the context through the establishment of Emma’s social superiorty. “Emma Woodhouse, clever, handsome, and rich with a comfortable lifestyle and happy disposition seemed to unite some of the best blessings in existence.” The opening sentence uses a trochaic rhythm to reveal the heroines place in the higher echelons of Highbury society. Emma’s moral development and her “disposition to think a little to well of herself” as stated by the omniscient narrator amplifies Emma’s vanity gently satirising the…

    • 2160 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Mr Bennet Rhetorical Analysis
    • 1315 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Mr Bennet Rhetorical Analysis

    A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us." (18)…

    • 1315 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Comparing The Great Gatsby And Their Eyes Were Watching God
    • 1489 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Comparing The Great Gatsby And Their Eyes Were Watching God

    The novel features Janie, a young black women, as the main character. Janie’s experiences in the American south during this time period help to shape the novel's themes of class and appearance. The American south during this time period saw many successful black men who committed with one another for popularity. In the novel, Joe Starks uses Janie to enhance his appearance and his social status among other successful black men. The setting serves as the basis for the theme of class, as the setting illustrates the class differences between wealthy Joe Starks and middle class Tea Cake. The novel’s setting pertains to the economic boom that many Black communities enjoyed during the 1920s and the resulting individual rivalries that occurred as a…

    • 1489 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Humor of Flannery Oconnor
    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Humor of Flannery Oconnor

    The most blatant and simple type of humor is found while observing the flat characters of Mrs. Freeman and Mrs. Hopewell. These two women begin the story by participating in routine gossip with one another. Their constant bickering and desire to feel superior to the other is humorous because of how uneducated they sound. O’Connor puts them in the category of “good country people” due to the fact that they are pure, simple, and honest. This is ironic because good country people are referred and compared to as trash multiple times in the story. Another example of irony includes when Mrs. Hopewell said that the Freemans were a “godsend,” but the reason she had hired them was that there were no other applicants. Despite Mrs. Freeman being extremely nosy, Mrs. Hopewell ironically refers to her as a “lady and that she was never ashamed to take her anywhere or introduce her to anybody they might meet” (O’Connor 379). O’Connor uses these two women to lighten up the mood of the story before introducing Mrs. Hopewell’s atheist and pessimistic daughter Joy.…

    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Example of a Satire: Vanity
    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Example of a Satire: Vanity

    How does one measure beauty? Is it measured by the depth of an individual’s personality, or perhaps by the goodness of a person’s heart? Of course that would entail actually having to interact with someone longer than the casual glance and judge routine we have spent generations mastering. No matter how twisted, cracked, and deformed a person’s soul may be doesn’t matter, as long as they have enough cosmetics to cake on and can afford some minor surgery that is. In today’s society we measure beauty through what we see and what we are told is beautiful, because deciding on our own would just be too difficult. Thankfully we have the influence of things like television and celebrities to guide the way into the glamorous world of beautiful people. Because who cares if the majority of your beauty could be removed with a moist tissue and you haven’t seen food in a week as long as you look pretty.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Female friendship in The Coquette.
    • 3807 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Female friendship in The Coquette.

    This bond of female friendship is responsible to shape Eliza’s thoughts and actions to some extent and helped the plot of novel to grow in a significant manner. The theme of sisterhood remains prominent with Foster’s work; The Coquette and The Boarding School can be quoted for example. Such bond of female love and enmity is evident at various junctures across popular romantic novels, where women come to the rescue of each other, but somewhere down the line happen to scrutinize each other for the prospect they are vying as women. Jane Austen’s masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice offers a parallel theme of female love and rivalry, where the female characters, though bears enormous love for each other, but are also competent with each other in pursuit of a better match making for themselves.…

    • 3807 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Good Wives Book Review
    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Good Wives Book Review

    The author is giving an account of what life was really like for the women in Northern New England of 1650-1750. The book starts with a letter address from a father to his daughter pertaining to the death of his wife and her mother, Dorothy Dudley. He says he sorrowful but gives his daughter a “list of qualities in a long passage of advice reminding her to imitate her mother virtues to the best of her abilities. Thatcher then goes on in great detail to give many examples of what life was like for these…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Themes of F663 Part B Ocr English
    • 272 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Themes of F663 Part B Ocr English

    ‘Flawed characters are always more memorable than any moral lessons that literature seeks to draw from them’…

    • 272 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Old English Baron
    • 1093 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Old English Baron

    This primary text from Clara Reeve’s “The Old English Baron” exhibits the struggle between Sir Phillip Harclay and Lord Fitz-Owen (The Old English Baron) about allowing Edmund to marry his daughter. Although “The Old English Baron” takes place in the Medieval period, Reeves integrated modern 18th century culture into her story. English society in the eighteenth century held social class in very high regards and there wasn’t much one could do to change their status. Aside from Sir Phillip, many of the characters have shown a very didactic approach to society and their social class. Following these moral standards, how does society react when someone amongst them exceeds their ranked class in terms of looks, charm, and strength?…

    • 1093 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Atlantic Monthly
    • 392 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Atlantic Monthly

    Even 100 years ago, writers and people have confronted issues that still remain today. In this essay by one of the writers from The Atlantic Monthly, he utilizes the use of an analogy, strong and even diction, and uses strong facts to support his ideas on what he thinks of the arguments and ideas which existed during the time period of his life, which still don't really contain any validity due to our complex society in which we now live in.…

    • 392 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Great Gatsby, the Failure of the American Dream
    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Great Gatsby, the Failure of the American Dream

    Fitzgerald expresses his commentary on the American dream through the character of Myrtle. She is an example of how the political and social ideals of American culture conflict in a way that corrupts the American dream into a nightmare. Contrary to what the American dream represents, there are indeed fine class distinctions within American society. With these come strict social boundaries that cannot be crossed. It is almost as if there are unspoken rules understood by low and high classed individuals alike. Myrtle Wilson is no exception. She represents the low and ignorant class of America. Instead of abiding by these unspoken rules, she attempts to break the social barriers and pursue wealth and power by any means necessary. Using her sexuality in her affair with Tom, she becomes deceitful by abandoning and forgetting her own social foundation. The illicit ways Myrtle attempts to breach the impenetrable barriers of the class system are meant to disgust the reader. Nick notices the sham when he accompanies Tom to meet her, and spends the night drinking with them.…

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Cosmopolitan Magazine
    • 1330 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Cosmopolitan Magazine

    Cosmopolitan magazine plays an important role in American Pop culture influencing women all across the United States. With catchy headlines on the covers of their magazines such as “UNTAMED VA-JAY-JAYS” and “What Men Find HOT” Cosmopolitan magazine focuses on the idea of American beauty and women’s sexuality. Because Cosmopolitan magazine displays provocative images of American Beauty while promoting sexual promiscuity allows the magazine to remain popular in American Culture today which is resulting in women feeling pressured to conform to the ideas society constantly places upon them.…

    • 1330 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics