Student ID No: 20373162 Module Code: ENGL2028 Module Title: Victorian and Fin de Siecle

Literature: 1830-1910

Identify the social classes and structures that form the background of the the story.

-How does this social struture affect a character’s rise and fall (Factors)

Why this standard is valid to judge and find Vanity Fair’s social classes.

-Evidence from passages

From the novel, we can determine that a person’s social class is determined by economic

income, social prestige, education and family ties. (Evidence, how did we come to this

conclusion)

How to identify social class and structures: Social privilege, education, employment

opportunities.

Which one is above the other: who works for who? Advancement by capitalistic means

The difference between men and women occupying different social spheres.

The Working Class

-Where Becky comes from?

-Ascension through marriage (women)

-Isolation during eating as Governess

-association with Lord Steyne to meet Queen

The Middle Class

-Where Amelia comes from?

-Their affinity for emulating the aristocracy

The Aristocracy

-Their crude potrayal by William Thackeray

-Moral Degradation

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Student ID No: 20373162 Module Code: ENGL2028 Module Title: Victorian and Fin de Siecle
Literature: 1830-1910

Identify 3 Characters and the reason for their rise

Why does he rise? His moral superiority. Altruism.

Identify 3 Characters and the reason for their fall

Why do they fall socially?

Make connections between:

1) The reasons the novelist gives for the characters’ rise and fall (Social and moral

reasons)

2) What the novelist considers good/bad in the society’s institutions and moral

values (How does he criticizes the social influences and moral influences)

(The takeaway from the characters’ end)

One consideration we must address is what system of measurement we should

use to identify the social classes to be found within Vanity Fair, and how we can detect

each’s position within the social structure of Vanity Fair, and their relation to one

another. Borrowing an analysis by Gagnier, who proclaimed that social relations within

the story are organized according to the exchange value of money, (Gagnier 2005, 50)

we can ascertain the (Performing our own analysis we can see…) In the zeitgeist of

discussions, many consider Thackeray to be attacking capitalism itself and many of its

faults; however, I have to disagree, as it would be more accurate to describe the

behaviors of “eating and drinking, making love and jilting, laughing and the contrary,

smoking, cheating, fighting, dancing and fiddling” as various forms of consumerism (and

thus a satirization of consumerism itself) rather than capitalism itself. We too can see in

various forms of the business aspect of the world outlined in Vanity Fair, that many of

the satirizations are based on people’s behavior with money, rather than the market

place which supplies them the money. As such, Thackeray’s description of “not a moral

place certainly; nor a merry one, though very noisy”, is an accurate respresentation of

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Student ID No: 20373162 Module Code: ENGL2028 Module Title: Victorian and Fin de Siecle
Literature: 1830-1910

such a sentiment. This contradiction also reveals the fact that people are not happy in

Vanity Fair despite the plenitude of entertainment shown by Thackeray through his

satire.

1)

The social dynamics in Vanity Fair (especially for women) are made clear in the chapter

‘Chiswick Mall’, Thackeray outlines Becky’s economic background and Amelia’s economic

background to exemplify the class hatred Becky faced, and the favouritism Amelia

experienced by Miss Pinkerton due to their separate socioeconomic background. Miss

Pinkerton also displays some classic vanity (snobbery), as the president of Chiswick Mall,

she can’t speak French, as such when Becky points it out, and prove her resiliance to

fight back against the social discrimination she experienced. Miss Pinkerton honors those

who come from money and families have a high position in this social landscape. We can

outline that Becky’s social class is lower than Amelia’s, and thus we see the interaction

between an upper class, and a lower class (because of Becky position as an educator

here, we can aptly refer to her class as defined by working to survive), we shall then

refer to them as the working class.

The first one we have a definite name for their social class: first appears when we

are describing Sir Pitt Crawley after the author’s condemnation of him keeping his hand

clean, and allowing others to do his dirty work. As such, we can place aristocracy above

both the working class and the upper class (which we can now change to refer to the

middle class, as such taking from real-life sources of the actual dictation for this class).

We can also firmly establish the social structure of Vanity Fair, being seperated by

aristocracy, who money allows them to exploit others greatly to improve their own social

wealth, standing; the middle class, whose wealth allows them accommodate ammount of

luxuries due to the family’s steady income, but still share common spaces with the last

class: the working class, whose characters are heavily reliant on menile tasks passed

down from the other two classes, and which rely on them for financial gain though

notably not enough for social ascension to escape their social class from the bottom rank

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Student ID No: 20373162 Module Code: ENGL2028 Module Title: Victorian and Fin de Siecle
Literature: 1830-1910

of their society. Social segregation based on wealth. An additional often overlooked

detail in Thackeray satirization of Miss Pinkerton’s academy is how he criticizes the

women’s lack of choice to ascend further in the social classes; social mobility only

achievable through marriage. At the academy, there is also a pretentious presentation-

focused principal with vain values; showing lack of sincerity reflected in educators, and

how they assess and manage their students seperately based on social class. Even so,

though not yet relevant, we should look towards how Becky’s work as governess in

Russel Square, and many of her future attempts at social mobility rely heavily on the

men around her, or those more heavily affluent members of society. And even many of

the highly influenctial women she associates with is usually to build rapport with their

husband. (Quote) Displaying a rather patriachal society, where women’s choices were

limited for social mobility, regalated only for marriages and

Next, we shall skip forward a bit in chapters, to analyse Dr. Swishtail’s School for

gentlemen as it is useful to observe the differencent educational approaches for girls and

boys, and the social expectations of each gender. Whilst not divided into social classes

between genders, we can observe how each gender occupies a different social sphere,

and more importantly for our case how the methods for men and women for social

mobility economic income differ. In Miss Pinkerton’s billet (used to announce the

graduation of Amelia from her academy), she expresses the sentiment of Amelia having

the proper virtues which define ‘the young English gentlewoman’, the importance here is

not the subjects she aced, or alluded to having a weakness in; but rather the traits she

is highlighted to having including ‘INDUSTRY’ and ‘OBEDIENCE’, which ‘become her birth

and station’. ‘INDUSTRY’ is an interesting word to be capitalised, in conjunction with

obedience. However, I propose that these combinations of lexicons show Thackeray

subtle criticisation of the industrial education system which reinforces obedience in

Amelia, which ‘have endeared her to her instructors’. It’s also subtly criticised here that

Mrs. Pinkertons postion is unearned, as it’s pointed to ‘a visit he (Doctor Samuel

Johnson) had paid to her was the cause of her reputation and her fortune.’ Implying that

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Student ID No: 20373162 Module Code: ENGL2028 Module Title: Victorian and Fin de Siecle
Literature: 1830-1910

many occupational positions for the upper classes are unearned, or given due to a

reputable close connections’ certain members of the lower classes have with more

estalished members of the upper class. Whilst in ‘Dobbin of Ours’, we are introduced to

many class conflict and discrimination facing our little Dobbin, whom due to his father’s

occupation of being a merchant (middle class), he faces bullying and name-calling in

school: ‘and Mr. William Dobbin retreated to a remote outhouse in the playground,

where he passed a half-holiday in the bitterest sadness and woe.” Here the author

agains expands Dobbin’s individual experience into a wider context: “Who amongst us is

there that does not recollect similar hours of bitter, bitter childish grief?”, which he then

condemns (Showing his Social Criticism) “and how many of those gentle souls do you

degrade, estrange, torture, for the sake of a little loose arithmetic, and miserable dog-

latin?” Using this we can observe, how through Dobbin social ostratisation due to social

class structure, he criticizes the concept of ‘gentleman’ and the hypocrisy that comes

with it. For many of the students behave morally poor. Class hatred based on social

standing instead of purely wealth is displayed here. And on top this is where we first see

aristocracy, though many of the middle class emulate their wealth with George (whose

father is a merchant too) is expressed as: “My father’s a gentleman, and keeps his

carriage”. Showing the worship of wealth doesn’t just allude to hoarding welath, but also

extranvagant spending.

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Student ID No: 20373162 Module Code: ENGL2028 Module Title: Victorian and Fin de Siecle
Literature: 1830-1910

One important note we must make, is that all characters in Vanity Fair aren’t black and

white morality, villains such as Becky have a redeeming moment at the end, whilst

heroines such as Amelia begins as warm-hearted and kind (though overly sentimental

and naive at times) but by the end of the story is potrayed as vapid and shallow. When

analysing a character’s rise and fall we shall be analysing their economic rise and fall

within the social structure as that is the connecting factor we have used for social

stratification ere.

Now, we must establish three characters whose rise through the social classes, and to

explain the reasons for their social mobility. Our first consideration will focus on one of

our central characters: William Dobbin. To establish a rise in society, we must first use

the definition we use for discrene where he begun. Beginning as the son of a merchant

father, though financially supported, he lacked the social respect from his peers due to

his father’s occupation.

Amelia: In lieu of dobbin’s success, the parasite clings on

Our last main character will be Rawdon Crawley/ Rawdon Crawley Jr.

He becomes baronet and inherits the Queen’s Crawley estate and the Crawley fortune

and doesn’t seem too traumatized by his childhood thanks to the care and love of his

aunt and adopted mother, Lady Jane.

We must not begin with him but his father Rawdon Crawley, where he begins.

For characters and their fall, we should analyse:

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Student ID No: 20373162 Module Code: ENGL2028 Module Title: Victorian and Fin de Siecle
Literature: 1830-1910

Becky Sharp (Rawdon Crawley/Joseph Sedley)

Sir Pitt Crawley

“For this was all that was left after more than seventy years of cunning and struggling,

and drinking, and scheming, and sin, and selfishness—a whimpering old idiot put in and

out of bed and cleaned and fed like a baby.”

Mr. John Sedley

As a rule, in order to build the connection between the individual's moral values

and social behaviors and society's, we will use Thackeray frequent generalizations from a

particular situation or an individual's action to subtly critizcise the behavior and value of

society. He universalizes the greedy fawning of the Crawleys over Miss Crawley's

inheritance into a common behavior in society: "What a dignity it gives an old lady, that

balance at the banker's! How tenderly we look at her faults if she is a relative" (page

104, chapter IX).  He also identifies himself and the reader with this greed and

opportunistic behavior; note the "we" and the "you" with which the narrator addresses

the reader throughout this passage. From here, we can use our analysis of individual

behavior and virtue or flaws, to evaluate whether certain values or behaviors is what

leads to their rise or fall in the social structure. Though we must understand the stage

manager’s interjection shouldn’t be considered as Thackeray’s concrete view of society’s

good-and-bad; many of the interjections are contradictory with one another, sometimes

he praises a character as the story’s saint, and later he exposes their shallow core, as if

he too were just realizing their faults. A better perspective, is to use these commentaries

as Thackeray emphasizing a certain point he wishes to make.

A main strand in the plot is the operation of retributive justice, meaning we can use a

character’s fate to decipher whether Thackeray intends for us to emulate certain social

and moral traits or condemn any immoral behaviours shown, which has affected their

social mobility. Though a logical misstep may be at play, at implying Thackeray

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Student ID No: 20373162 Module Code: ENGL2028 Module Title: Victorian and Fin de Siecle
Literature: 1830-1910

condemns certain social behaviors. Ironically, due to the nature of satire, whist we can

infer certain moral lessons from the text, we are more accurately study Vanity Fair as a

place where Thackeray attacks many of the unprincipled conduct, but he also displays

great fascination with society’s ills, and thus emphasizes the allure of these immoral

pleasures of the society he lived in. For Thackeray: “It is all vanity to be sure: but who

will not own to liking a little of it? I should like to know what well-constituted mind,

merely because it is transitory, dislikes roast beef? That is a vanity, but may every man

who reads this have a wholesome portion of it through life, I beg… Yes, let us eat our fill

of the vain thing and be thankful therefor. And let us make the best of Becky’s

aristocratic pleasures likewise —for these too, like all other mortal delights, were but

transitory.” This shows that though many of the acts in Vanity Fair are vain in nature,

but they are necessary; they are transitory, but they are a part of reality. Another

aspect of the story, is his devotion to reality; though a concious moralist in the narrator’s

commentary, he cannot displace the earthly pleasures aside. Instead, he chooses to

proudly display the vanity in society, whilst acknowledging the inherent entertainment

vanity provides society.

“O, Vanity Fair—Vanity Fair! This might have been, but for you, a cheery lass: Peter Butt

and Rose a happy man and wife, in a snug farm, with a hearty family, and an honest

portion of pleasures, cares, hopes, and struggles:—but a title and a coach and four are

toys more precious than happiness in Vanity Fair: and if Harry the Eighth or Bluebeard

were alive now, and wanted a tenth wife, do you suppose he could not get the prettiest

girl that shall be presented this season?” In placing such emphasis on many of the

perverted and distorted values of this fashionable world, Thackeray is implying that

many of these values worshipped in Vanity Fair actively rebel against happiness in Vanity

Fair, which is another measurement we shall discern his moral judegement of the

characters is whether they’re happy with the post they end up with in life.