HANOI UNIVERSITY

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FINAL ASSIGNMENT
ENGLISH LITERATURE

An analysis of Becky Sharp in “Vanity Fair”

by William Makepeace Thackeray
Chapter III: Rebecca Is in Presence of the Enemy

Supervisor: Chu Quang Bình, M. A.

Students:
1. Lê Thị Phương Anh – ID: 1907010013
2. Vũ Thị Minh Hằng – ID: 1907010098

  
  

Ha Noi, 2022
 I. INTRODUCTION

1. Background

“All is vanity, nothing is fair” - A famous quote derived from the notable novel “Vanity
Fair” by the author William Makepeace Thackeray, who is entitled a critical writer of the
Upper Class coming from the Age of Queen Victoria. The artwork was the first significant
work published under Thackeray’s own name and was serially published in London in 1847-
1848. “Vanity Fair” is well known for being a Novel without a Hero, which denounces and
pictures the lives of people who are either from high or low status in the 18th-century realists.
With the setting of the early 19th century, where The English Critical Realism wore the
golden crown, the novel particularly shows the readers its injustice world under the iconic
satirical tone from Thackeray (Mohamad, 2020).

For a better understanding of Vanity Fair, it is worth acknowledging some factors

pertaining to the father of the artwork. W.M. Thackeray was born in Calcutta, India, into the
family of a high-ranking English official family. Being known as of the two famous novelists
in the Victorian time, while Charles Dickens wrote about low life and was a warm-blooded
romantic, Thackeray showed interest towards the upper classes and was an anti-romantic
person. Unlike Charles Dickens, Thackeray received an excellent education both at school
and at Cambridge University. He desired to be an artist and traveled to Europe to study art at
the time. He spent some time in the artistic circles of Paris. When he returned to London, he
discovered that he had lost all of his money because his bank had gone bankrupt. As a result,
he needed to start earning a living. At first, he began sketching but was not very successful.
Thus, he continued with another path by writing satirical, comedic stories and essays.
Thackeray wrote novels and gave lectures afterward. Some of his well-known writings
include Catherine (1839-40), The Paris Sketchbook (1840), The Luck of Barry Lyndon
(1844), The Book of Snobs (1848), The Rose and the Ring (1855), etc. In late 1862,
Thackeray’s health condition declined, hence his sudden death on Christmas Eve in 1683
(Walker, 2007). Due to the high and low that Thackeray had been through, readers may know
why he was merciless in his satirical attacks on the bourgeois society and its vices without
softening any minutiae.

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 2. Niche of artwork

For the current world, it is beyond a brand new thing when it comes to the image of an
unprivileged woman trying to climb up high on the social ladder without concern for the
methods to achieve her ambition. It is, however, indeed an extraordinary story back to the
days of the 18th century. It is not to say that it was even considered a corruption of morals,
especially for women at the time. This is also the major point that attracts us to dig deeper
into this world. Additionally, there are not many bodies of research mentioning this aspect of
the story.

3. Purpose of the paper

Some people might say that Becky Sharp embodies all the negative traits of society which
was a slave to gold and profit, but is it all of the truth? Or are there any reasons worth
considering? Therefore, in the hope of exploring some hidden corners of the mass world of
Vanity Fair, this body of research involves an analysis of Thackeray’s Vanity Fair’s
protagonist - Becky Sharp in terms of her characteristics and controversies around her,
specifically through chapter III: Rebecca Is in Presence of the Enemy.

II. BODY

1. Plot summary

This chapter begins with the arrival of Jos (Amelia's brother), Jos' appearance is described as
a very plump gentleman, wearing a well-dressed outfit with luxurious accessories but the collar
covers most of the face. The owner of the house, Mr. Sedley, mocked his son for the suit he was
wearing, hearing his father's jokes. Jos just wanted to get away from the story as quickly as
possible because of what he embarrassed him. Even though Jos worked at the East India
Company as the revenue collector of Boggley Wollah, was wealthy and enjoyed a luxurious
lifestyle, but Jos has always had low self-esteem. Jos meets his sister Amelia and her friend
Becky Sharp while walking up the stairs, Amelia introduces new guest Becky to Jos. Becky
seemed to have caught a "wonderful bait," and she began to try tricks to gain Josh's sympathy and
attention, such as referring to Jos as a handsome man. The plan to flirt with Josh continued to be
promoted at dinner, in Becky's calculation, she planned to "hunt" her husband, and the target was
none other than Jos. Becky's strategy begins to come together over the dinner table,

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demonstrating her specific interest in things relating to India. Becky recalls having studied
"Arabian Nights and Guthrie's Geography," and it was time to use it as a ruse. Furthermore, the
curry assisted Becky in gaining the compassion of Mr. Sedley and Jos when she ate a chili, which
made Mr. Sedley rudely happy. Over meals. Becky imagines her future in luxury when her
flirtation with Jos succeeds. Mrs. Sedley recognizes Becky's intentions but sympathizes with her
because Beck no longer has a mother to guide her marriage. Jos, a lonely and scared guy, panics;
he knows Becky is courting with him, but his temperament is too shy; he goes to the theater to
conceal, but his head is filled with pictures of Becky. Seeing Jos leave, Mrs. Sedley felt sorry for
her son and worried about her son's character

2. Character Analysis

2.1 Character traits

Becky Sharp is amongst the four protagonists of the novel. It is no exaggeration to say
that, the girl is the most outstanding in the story and still is a major interest to the current
taste. The novel is chiefly concerned with her struggles and successes. Thackeray destined her
to be the heroine of the story, and his depiction of her is crystal clear. Becky is the most well-
developed protagonist of the novel. She was characterized as being witty and competent,
desperate and unethical, fascinating and dangerous, and beyond a warm-hearted to truly love
anybody at all. Her major title must be selfishness. She desired high-ranking social status as
well as financial security.

When it comes to appearance, miss Sharp was described to possess a breathtaking beauty
with “green eyes, fair skin, pretty figure, famous frontal development” and “bare shoulders as
white as snow - the picture of youth, unprotected innocence, and humble virgin simplicity”
(Thackeray, 2021). With such fascinated figure, Becky becomes a hidden desired dream for
any man. Acknowledging her charm with men, Becky utilizes her physical attraction and
excellent skills to lure people in boosting her to get closer to her noble dream of wealth and
bliss. 

Rebecca also has been depicted as a woman of ambition. It can be thoroughly seen
through the moment after she had asked Amelia about her brother, and whether he was very
affluent, Becky immediately had a magnificent vision in her mind about a “castle in the air, of
which she was mistress, with a husband somewhere in the background”. She had surrounded

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herself with an infinity of diamonds, shawls, and turbans in that imagination despite the fact
that she had not met Amelia’s brother yet at the time.

Becky Sharp, apart from her stunning look, is also an independent and intelligent woman,
which is emphasized through her behaviors and intentions when encountering different
situations. 

First of all, it can not be arguable that Becky was such a sympathetic character when
becoming an orphan at a very young age. This fact forces our girl to stuck in a vulnerable
condition as well as a low life, yet makes Becky be more mature compared to her peers at the
same time. A piece of thorough evidence of this is when Rebecca decides to make the
conquest of Amelia’s brother - Joseph Sedley. Since she has no parent left to arrange these
complicated matters for her, it is no one but herself to get a husband and no one but she would
willingly take the trouble off her hands. 

Secondly, Becky was obviously a witty woman when determined to conquer a big beau with
various strategies to attract the attention of her target. The very first move showed her
significant skill. The young girl gave compliments on Joseph’s look to Amelia, which was
extremely clever since she knew that her friend would definitely tell her mother, who would
likely tell her son per se. In this way, she also marked her first score in the eyes of her
hopefully-to-be boyfriend’s parents. Rebecca, besides, spoke loud enough so that Mr. young
Sedley would probably overhear that. And he did hear it, “the praise thrilled through every
fibre of his big body, and made it tingle with pleasure” (Thackeray, 2021). Her gesture was
subtle as well when she “made a respectful virgin-like curtsey to the gentleman” and “her
modest eyes gazed so perseveringly on the carpet that it was a wonder how she should have
found an opportunity to see him”. In order to serve her purpose, Rebecca could be low-key
modest when always holding her beautiful green eyes downwards. And when being invited to
dine with the Sedleys, she wore white clothes which complimented her bare shoulders as
white as snow. What an unprotected innocent angel look she owned. Besides her exquisite
figure, Becky gave her shot in the middle of the meal with her knowledge of Arabian Nights
and Guthrie's Geography. Furthermore, she also earned Mr. Sedley and young Joseph’s
compassion when eating curry with a chilly, which made Mr. Sedley burst out laughing. All
the ladies thought that Rebecca would likely choke Mr. Sedly for his rudely happy laugh, but
she swallowed all the left chilly in her mouth as well as the awful curry before, and in an
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amusing and intelligent manner, she said “I ought to have remembered the pepper which the
Princess of Persia puts in the cream-tarts in the Arabian Nights. Do you put cayenne into your
cream-tarts in India, sir?”. This entertained old Sedley even more, hence he began to think of
Rebecca as a good-humored girl. One more considerable skill to conquer young Sedley’s
heart was to create apparently unintentional moment when Becky dropped her handkerchief at
the dinner not once but twice and the way she made eye contact definitely defeated our
young, reserved man. 

2.2 Controversial opinions on Becky

“Vanity Fair is a very vain, wicked, foolish place, full of all sorts of humbugs and
falsenesses and pretensions.” - said the father of Vanity Fair. We all know Thackeray leaves
no room for mercy when depicting the harsh community in the novel, yet by being exposed to
the artwork ourselves, people are likely to have their own perspectives of the story, especially
of the famous Becky Sharp. 

Amongst those, the accusation of Becky being no more than a heartless, cunning woman,
who is desperate for everything she owns to pursue her goals, is the most common. However,
some readers also choose to seek Becky’s reasonings for living like that. That is to say, our
girl did have her helpless vagrant of low birth. Being born into a material-driven society,
where morality and culture are undervalued. Women at that time hardly had their own voices
in life as well as social standing. Moreover, her parents so soon left her alone in that cruel
world. Therefore, she had to fight for herself, starting by finding a beau to earn her financial
stability for a living and also the power of a high-ranking class to be respected in society.
Even Mrs. Sedley realized Sharp’s intention of approaching her son, but she, apart from
trying to stop Becky, was rather worried about her son for being too shy. This might be a
sympathy coming from woman to woman, from a parent to a little, vulnerable orphan like
Becky. 

In general, the question about Becky Sharp, whether she is a plain selfish, cold-hearted,
insidious woman or just a misjudged lady is still arguable until now. However, one thing
worth being considered is that no issue has solely one aspect to be seen, so it is readers’ ways
of seeing and feeling things that matter.

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 2.3 Literary devices

Tone 
The line has a comedic irony tone to it, the comic irony that stabilizes the work as a whole,
checking and managing its different rolls and lurches. Thackeray's narrator is not simply
describing the development of the story, his tone of voice is somewhat ironic, sometimes
condescending, so that we can also feel the intentions of the character. Typically the tone of the
narrator's voice when describing Becky “whispered Rebecca to Amelia, rather loud.” or “ On
which, of course, Miss Sharp looked at her friend, and they both set off in a fit of laughter, highly
agreeable to the old gentleman.”. It was clear that the ironic tone was deliberately exposing Lady
Sharp's fake actions - the tactics she employed to flirt with Jos. The tone employed in the passage
is quite unique, focusing on the characters rather than describing the scene, and the majority of
them are utilized to irony and create a witty and appealing irony for the passage.
Satire
Aside from aspects that show Becky as an ambitious lady, author Thackeray incorporates
amusing sarcasm. If the author characterizes Joseph in Chapter 3 as an unattractive person with a
peculiar fashion sense, attempting to be aristocratic while wearing numerous layers of cloth to
disguise his thick bulk, even Mr. Sedley, Jos's father, also felt his son struck him as weird. On the
other hand, lady Sharp sought to woo him by calling him handsome and flirting with him in
various ways, even at the dinner table and in front of the Sedley family. This suggests Thackeray
is borrowing Becky's actions to be satirical and morally critical. Readers can readily see that
Becky is not in love with Jos because of his appearance or personality; all she thinks about is Jos'
money. Menippean satire not only helps the story situation to have humorous features, but it also
reflects the dark side of society, tragedies and misfortunes that have changed Becky's perspective
and her whole person. Becky began fantasizing about a rich existence in order to disregard things
like love, morality, and personality, and she eventually became “a gold digger” in search of a
"gold mine." Thackeray's sarcastic art is more than just a form method; it has become the writer's
primary artistic thinking. The innovative technological breakthrough produces a contemporary
appearance as well as a genuinely democratic attitude. Thackeray also displayed a spirit of
desecration to the Victorian age, which required individuals to be rigid in their attire, shattering

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notions about psychological ethical standards, readers' aesthetic tastes, overturning old beliefs
and moral values, the norms that mold people via the art of satire.
The mock-heroic style
Vanity fair is special in part because of the boldness in the choice of content, Thackeray
ignored the content of writing about heroes, a very popular genre at that time, to create a book
with the title "A" novel without a hero". Instead of writing about heroes, Thackeray focused on
high society, class, and ladies. Becky wasn't created to be a hero, but she did make other
characters fade, standing out as the "hero" of the whole series. Becky is defined as energetic,
"fighting" for a stable and comfortable position in society, as well as skilled, intellectual, and
capable of pleasing others. Unique and daring, Thackeray brought Rebecca Sharp to the fore for
almost all of the attention, a villain that stood out from the crowd of heroes.

2.4 Messages

During a time when women gossiped, Becky was in control of her own fate. The classic
story goes from gradually poor to rich, but Becky is not Cinderella, she is not waiting for a prince
to come to make her a princess. Becky wants to be in control, she's in charge of her own life,
using things as she pleases, Lady Sharp has intelligence, charm and beauty and she knows how to
use her to her advantage to have a place in society. Men are only stepping stones on her path to
social rank and money prosperity. Becky Sharp is more than a character on a novel’s pages. She
represents the corruption in the old society and the hope for a better life and hundreds of years
later, Becky's image is still admired by many people, not of course in terms of morality but the
intelligence and courage of a woman.
Lady Sharp is portrayed by Thackeray as a spoiled woman with sinister motives.
However, this image has a positive aspect; readers can see that Becky is extremely effortful;
despite the challenges in early childhood, this does not indicate that Becky will endure that
existence for the rest of her life. The way Becky decided to get married on her own was beyond
the norm for Victorian women. If we disregard the negative aspects, we can see that Becky
possesses all of the attributes of a modern woman: self-control, resilience, toughness, and
ambition. The author who builds a character like Becky is also bold, he can condemn Becky's
unethical and moral acts but we can't deny Thackeray is also letting go of literature praising the
intellectual beauty of women.

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III. Conclusion

Vanity Fair is an avant-garde novel in which author Thackeray creates a Becky who deviates
from the stereotypical female image. Rebecca Sharp meets Jos, Amelia's brother, in the third
chapter "Rebecca Is in the Presence of the Enemy." Becky tries very hard to court Jos, and the
Sedley family sympathizes with her, but her scheme fails. The chapter features several hilarious
and sarcastic incidents, contains details describing different sections of society. Thackeray
specifically chose Becky as the major character, conspicuous throughout the passage, despite
exchanging love for a luxury life and a place in society. Becky, on the other hand, is a person
trying and fighting for her own life. In addition to Becky's image, Vanity Fair has many symbols
and meanings for us to explore and analyze further. We hope that future analyzes can provide
more detailed information and give readers the most authentic experience of Becky and the work.

[Wordcount:
3047]

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 REFERENCES

About Vanity Fair. (2021). Cliffsnote.

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/v/vanity-fair/about-vanity-fair

Mohamad, J. (2020). Novel Vanity Fair. Research Gate.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349280117_Novel_Vanity_Fair

Thackeray, W. M. (2021). Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. Independently

published.

Thackeray, W. M. (2022). Vanity Fair Tone. Shmoop.

https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/vanity-fair-thackeray/analysis/tone

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 GROUPWORK CONTRIBUTION ASSESSMENT SHEET 
 
Date: 23/5/2022
Class: 3
Assignment topic: An analysis of Becky Sharp in “Vanity Fair” by William Makepeace
Thackeray - Chapter III: Rebecca Is in Presence of the Enemy

Group leader’s name:

HANU email: 1907010098@s.hanu.edu.vn
  
Student’s name Student’s ID Contribution (%) Special comments
(The maximum
percentage of each
member is 100%)

1 Vũ Thị Minh Hằng 1907010098 100% Excellently

2 Lê Thị Phương Anh 1907010013 100% Excellently
 
 
                                                                                                
Group leader 
                                                          (Signature and full name) 
Hằng
Vũ Thị Minh Hằng

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