Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Vanity Fair, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Greed and Ambition
Vanity
Social Class and Character
Gender
Inheritance and Family Life
Summary
Analysis
The narrator says that the specifics of how Becky and Rawdon got married aren’t that important, adding that the marriage isn’t so unusual and there are countless examples from history of gentlemen marrying servants. Miss Crawley, who still doesn’t know about the marriage, feels tender toward Becky after her rejection of Sir Pitt’s proposal. The idea of confessing everything to Miss Crawley and asking forgiveness never occurs to either of the newlyweds.
The actual moment of Becky and Rawdon’s marriage, which might seem like one of the most important events in the story, in fact never gets depicted, happening “off the page,” so to speak. This fits with Becky’s goals—she is less interested in the institution of marriage itself or being a wife and more interested in social climbing and the status that a new husband will give her. In its failure to depict the actual marriage ceremony, too, the novel presents marriage in general as pragmatic rather than romantic or religious—it becomes a mundane business transaction rather than a monumental life event.
Themes
Two days after Sir Pitt’s marriage proposal, the maid Miss Briggs comes into Becky’s room and finds a note on the pillow. In the letter, which Miss Briggs gives to Sir Pitt, Becky confesses that she’s married and that she has to go home to her husband. She writes she could never marry Sir Pitt because she felt like his daughter. At the end, she confesses that her husband is Rawdon and that she hopes Miss Crawley will accept that. She signs her name “Rebecca Crawley.”
While Becky has a reputation for being confrontational, she nevertheless decides to leave a note for Miss Crawley in order to avoid having to break the news of her marriage to Rawdon in person. By leaving the note, Becky seems to acknowledge that Miss Crawley’s reaction will be negative, and since she has no way to change it, the least she can do is avoid having to witness it in person.
Themes
Mrs. Bute hears about Becky and Rawdon’s marriage, and she goes immediately to support Miss Crawley. Miss Crawley doesn’t leave her room until late in the day, so everyone waits for her to emerge before telling her the news. At last, she comes out, and Mrs. Bute and the servants slowly break the news that Becky has run off—with Rawdon as her husband. Miss Crawley screams and faints.
Just as many characters predicted, Miss Crawley fails to live up to her word, reacting angrily to Becky and Rawdon’s marriage once it becomes real and not just a theoretical possibility. Mrs. Bute, who wants to cause a rift between Rawdon and Miss Crawley, makes sure she gets to be the one who delivers the news, so that she can enjoy seeing Miss Crawley’s reaction in person.
Themes
When Sir Pitt hears from the servants that Becky is married, he says he already knows. But he gets furious when he learns that his son Rawdon is the husband. Meanwhile, Rawdon and Becky have started living in Brompton (part of London), and Rawdon wonders what will happen if Miss Crawley never accepts their marriage. Becky assures him that, no matter what happens, she’ll help him secure a fortune.
Even Sir Pitt, who thought Becky was good enough to be his own wife, gets angry when he finds out Rawdon is Becky’s new husband—jealousy might also play a role in this reaction. Becky’s plan seems to be to disappear in order to give Miss Crawley time to cool down, but this passage suggests that, as usually, Becky didn’t think her actions all the way through before moving forward.
Themes
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