Billiards And Sexuality: An Examination Of Coded Gestures

Billiards and Sexuality: An Examination of Coded Gestures
Although Vanity Fair often tries to provide a realistic portrayal of life in the 1800’s, it balks realism when confronted by issues of sexuality. Consistently, the narrator uses games, particularly billiards, as stand-ins for sex and sexual promiscuity. These coded gestures allow the narrator to comment on an otherwise taboo subject in Victorian England. At the same time, the narrator’s commentary on sexual promiscuity reflects back on gambling and calls into question its acceptability among polite society. Examination of several important appearances of the word “billiards” in the novel reveals how thoroughly yoked together gambling and sexuality are in Vanity Fair, as well as how
The narrator first presents this dynamic of using billiards as a coded gesture early in the novel. After George repeatedly neglects to visit Amelia, much to Dobbin’s chagrin, the narrator offers an explanation of George’s whereabouts: “I believe George was playing billiards with Captain Cannon in Swallow Street at the time when Amelia was asking Captain Dobbin about him; for George was a jolly sociable fellow, and excellent in all games of skill” (149). From the outset, the narrator calls into question the validity of his explanation by prefacing it with the phrase “I believe,” and choosing to omit an actual description of George playing billiards. Since the narrator is usually omniscient, both the qualification of uncertainty and the omission of a direct account of George playing billiards seem out of place.
I wish there were any tiger-hunting about here! we might go and kill a few before dinner. (There goes a fine girl! what an ankle, eh, Jos?)” (262). Immediately following his praise of Joseph’s skill at billiards, George admires a beautiful woman. The close proximity of billiards and womanizing in George’s speech bespeaks a mental association between the gambling and sexuality. Indeed, George links the two concepts through his professed desire to go tiger-hunting, an activity that taps into carnality. Thus, when George or the narrator discuss “billiards,” it is probably a veiled reference to sex and