Vanity Fair: Difference between revisions

| caption = Mr. Joseph Entangled

| author = William Makepeace Thackeray

| genre =

| publication date = 1848

* [[All There in the Manual]]: Or, rather, in the illustrations. Most famously, while it is hinted in the text that {{spoiler|Becky may have murdered Jos}}, it is much more strongly suggested in an illustration.

* [[Aristocrats Are Evil]]: The appalling Marquess of Steyne. Also, Sir Pitt Crawley, who is a classic "bad baronet."

* [[Beauty Equals Goodness]]: Subverted with Becky but played straight(ish) with Amelia. Dobbin looks horsey, but is the most noble character in the novel -- in fact, the subtitle can be taken to mean both that the novel has heroines and that Dobbin doesn't look the way a hero "should."

* [[Being Good Sucks]]: Dobbin spends the entire novel doing good things, virtually all of them going unrecognized and unrewarded; in fact, Amelia ascribes some of them to her [[Jerkass]] beloved, George. To make matters worse, Dobbin gets his "reward," {{spoiler|marrying Amelia}}, only after he has ceased to value it.

* [[Dirty Coward]]: Jos initially grows a [[Badass Moustache]] to try to attract women, but shaves it off and hides when he hears that Napoleon is slaughtering the British troops. It's because of this detail that, as with other characters, his pitiable features are balanced by some really unsympathetic traits/actions.

* [[Dirty Old Man]]: Sir Pitt Crawley

{{quote|"Ah! ''Vanitas Vanitatum''! which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?--Come, children, let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out."}}

* [[Evil Redhead]]: Becky; Lord Steyne

* [[Fat Bastard]]: Jos

* [[Freudian Excuse]]: Becky's father beat her and her mother and basically encouraged her to act as a [[Fille Fatale]] as a way of getting his debtors to hold off their demands for repayment.

* [[Generation Xerox]]: To the extent that the novel has anything of a happy ending, it's because the younger generation shows signs of being better than their parents' generation -- George the younger is set on the right path by Dobbin, so doesn't end up a jerkass like his father, and Rawdon the younger is willing to take care of his mother (but not see her), showing himself to be less reprehensible than either of the two previous baronets, the Messrs. Pitt.

* [[Gold Digger]]: Becky.

* [[Grande Dame]]: Thackeray displays a number of haughty, humorless old ladies in the novel -- for instance, Miss Pinkerton, Lady Bareacres, and Lady Southdown.

* [[Jerkass]]: George Osborne, Amelia's husband. He caps his jerkishness by {{spoiler|asking Becky to elope with him weeks after marrying Amelia.}}

** George's son George isn't what you'd call a nice young chap, either.

* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]

* [[Meaningful Name]]:

* [[Parental Abandonment]]: Becky and her son, Rawdon.

* [[Parental Marriage Veto]]: Both Becky and Amelia run into this problem; in Amelia's case, George Osborne's father makes up for it in his will.

* [[Professional Gambler]]: Becky's husband Rawdon Crawley makes what little money he has this way.

* [[Secret Relationship]]: Becky and Rawdon Crawley.