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
Picking up back where Chapter XXII left off, Dobbin is now in Brighton, having just told George the news about the army going to Belgium. George fears fierce fighting but begs Dobbin not to say anything to Amelia. Amelia herself has a low opinion of Dobbin, believing that he’s awkward and has a lisp, although she likes Dobbin’s loyalty to George. Becky also doesn’t like Dobbin because she knows his “secret”—how much he admires Amelia. Still, she acts politely toward him.
Dobbin, while certainly a flawed character, is nevertheless one of the most moral and loyal in the story. Ironically, even Amelia dislikes Dobbin, despite that fact that Dobbin is the one responsible for many of the things that Amelia likes about George—arguably the couple wouldn’t even be married without Dobbin’s intervention.
Themes
When Dobbin and George are alone, Dobbin gives George a letter from Mr. Osborne (written in Mr. Osborne’s lawyer’s handwriting). The letter says that Mr. Osborne is disinheriting George, that the decision is final, and that Mr. Osborne wants no further communication with George. George gets angry at Dobbin for not handling things better. Dobbin takes partial responsibility. George fears he won’t be able to keep up his current lifestyle, but Dobbin says perhaps if he does well in the war, his father will forgive him. Eventually George gives in and says he can’t stay angry at Dobbin.
George refused to tell his father in person about his marriage, and now Mr. Osborne responds by using a lawyer to communicate with George. George continues to try to avoid responsibility for his actions, blaming Dobbin for not making things better with Mr. Osborne, even though George put Dobbin in a nearly impossible situation. Despite George’s ingratitude to Dobbin, he does ultimately reconcile with his friend at the end, showing that even the often-selfish George has people he cares about.
Themes
Literary Devices
Meanwhile, Becky and Rawdon talk while getting ready for dinner. Becky encourages Rawdon to get as much money as possible out of George before the war, although she feels bad for Amelia that her husband is such a gambler. Amelia feels uneasy about how close Becky and George are getting and about how George seems restless so soon after their marriage.
After Amelia gave so many gifts to Becky, Becky doesn’t repay the favor, instead trying to find ways to steal even more wealth away from Amelia through her gambling-addicted husband, George. While Becky’s schemes were initially more sympathetic, as she struggled to compensate for her modest background, her actions become less sympathetic as she takes advantage of her loyal friend Amelia.
Themes
Literary Devices
When George goes to see Amelia in her room, he tells her about the letter he received from Mr. Osborne’s lawyer (but he doesn’t mention what he heard from Dobbin about going to fight in Belgium). He says he feels bad about the letter mostly because what it means for Amelia. Amelia, however, believes Mr. Osborne can’t stay upset at George for long.
This passage shows how George struggles to communicate with his new wife. She maintains an optimistic attitude, but this is partly because George hasn’t told her that he and the other men will soon be heading off to war.
Themes
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Later, at dinner, Dobbin happens to mention Belgium, and George finally has to explain everything to Amelia. Amelia and Becky both say they intend to make the trip to Belgium too, although Dobbin warns them that it’s too dangerous. Later that evening, Rawdon gets a note from Becky that Mrs. Bute is gone, so he should collect the money George owes him (from gambling). Rawdon does so.
George only tells the full story about the war to Amelia when he’s forced to. In a way, this passage recalls how George only went ahead with his marriage to Amelia in the first place due to Dobbin’s prodding. The fact that both Becky and Amelia are willing to go to a combat zone suggests that everyone is keeping an optimistic attitude and no one is worried about the consequences of a possible defeat.
Themes
Miss Crawley has been in Brighton this whole time, with Mrs. Bute by her side, and she doesn’t get to see Rawdon, Becky, or the others. But when Mr. Bute breaks his collarbone in a horse-riding accident and gets a fever, Mrs. Bute heads back to take care of him. Everyone, particularly Miss Crawley, is much happier.
Miss Crawley’s character shows how having wealth doesn’t necessarily make a person happy. Miss Crawley can’t enjoy what she has because her family is always competing for her affection. Like many characters in the story, she gets what she thinks she wants (attention from her family) only to realize that the reality is different than she imagined.
Themes
Becky sees an opportunity to approach one of Miss Crawley’s friends and tells her about her and Rawdon’s love story. Becky lies, making it seem as if Mrs. Bute purposely tried to orchestrate her and Rawdon’s marriage. The friend buys this story and believes Miss Crawley will change her mind after hearing it.
While Becky believes that she’s lying when she says Mrs. Bute helped orchestrate her marriage, it turns out the truth isn’t far off (since Mrs. Bute wanted the marriage so that Rawdon would lose his inheritance). Becky follows the narrator’s advice from before—saying things behind people’s back with the hope that the gossip eventually reaches the right person.
Themes
Becky instructs Rawdon to write a letter to Miss Rawdon, bidding her farewell before the war in case he doesn’t come back. Becky has to correct his spelling errors, and she makes sure to dictate short sentences so that it sounds like Rawdon wrote the letter himself. They send the letter to Miss Crawley.
In this passage, Becky treats Rawdon like a puppet, putting words in his mouth with the letter. This passage indicates that Becky and Rawdon’s marriage has already become unequal, with Becky taking control and Rawdon becoming more passive.
Themes
Miss Crawley is suspicious of the letter, which doesn’t have misspellings like Rawdon’s letters normally do, but she invites Rawdon to come see her anyway. They go for a walk. Afterward, Miss Crawley invites Rawdon inside, but he declines. When Becky hears this, she gets very angry at Rawdon for not going inside. Rawdon apologizes, and Becky suggests that he go visit Miss Crawley again.
While Becky thinks she’s clever, Miss Crawley can immediately see through this trick, showing how Becky’s vanity sometimes leads her to underestimate the intelligence of people around her. Rawdon himself, while gifted at gambling schemes, can also be oblivious sometimes, not understanding that he should do as much as possible to win over Miss Crawley. This obliviousness is not necessarily a character flaw, since it could suggest he’s less interested in manipulating people than Becky.
Themes
After reflecting on the day’s events, Miss Crawley decides there was something strange about her walk with Rawdon. She figures out that Becky was trying to win her favor while Mrs. Bute was gone and suddenly forbids Becky from entering her home. Miss Crawley sends a letter to Rawdon and Becky, telling them to go see her lawyer in London. They leave Brighton the next day, and Rawdon speculates on how much money Miss Crawley left them—perhaps 200 pounds. But when they arrive, Rawdon learns that Miss Crawley only left him 20 pounds. Although she should be disappointed, Becky laughs, since she feels like Miss Crawley has pulled a prank on her.
Miss Crawley feels that Becky and Rawdon have only done the bare minimum to win her over, and so she gives them only a small gift—a tenth of what they expected. Perhaps Miss Crawley wants to punish them for attempting to manipulate her, or perhaps she just wants to send them a message to try harder the next time. Becky’s own amusement at the gift is perhaps a laugh of recognition—she realizes that Miss Crawley is not so different from her, and that they each have their own ways of trying to influence the people around them—Becky through charm and Miss Crawley through money.
Themes
