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
Historically, the Crawleys have been a very noble family in Britain, with several of them having held positions in Parliament, although the area they come from—Queen’s Crawley—has lately been in decline. Sir Pitt Crawley is the current head of the family, and he is the one who has hired Becky as a governess. Sir Pitt is a baronet (the lowest hereditary title in Britain), and Becky has never seen anyone with such a high rank before. When she arrives at Sir Pitt’s mansion on Great Gaunt Street, however, she finds that everything looks gloomy.
While this passage begins by praising the Crawleys and their illustrious history, it quickly becomes clear that the family and their borough, Queen’s Crawley, are not all that impressive. The details about the setting suggest a place that is dilapidated and past its prime. All of this combines to form a critique of a hereditary class system, suggesting that many supposedly high-status people are just clinging to a past that no longer exists. Additionally, while Sir Pitt has an impressive title compared to Becky, it’s not that impressive overall, with a baronet still technically being a commoner despite being allowed to use the “Sir” honorific.
Themes
A bald man with a red face and a strong Hampshire accent greets Becky at the door. As she enters Sir Pitt’s house for the first time, Becky finds it gloomy, as if the family living there is out of town. She asks the bald man where Sir Pitt is, and he replies that in fact he is Sir Pitt. He introduces her to Mrs. Tinker, the charwoman. Mrs. Tinker hands over some tobacco that she went out to fetch along with the leftover money, and Sir Pitt accuses her of not giving back all his farthings (a small denomination of money). Reluctantly, Mrs. Tinker hands over a couple additional farthings.
Sir Pitt is so unimpressive to look at that Becky initially mistakes him for a servant. He also answers his own door himself—as later chapters reveal, this is very unusual for a supposedly wealthy character, who would usually have servants to attend to the door and who might have a system where guests have to leave visiting cards, further adding to the formality. Additionally, Sir Pitt greets Mrs. Tinker in a familiar way and introduces Becky, showing that unlike most nobles, Sir Pitt doesn’t maintain a clear divide between himself and his servants.
Themes
Sir Pitt tells Becky about how he does various types of legal work and so needs someone who can write well. Later, Sir Pitt shows Becky to her room, where she’ll sleep with Mrs. Tinker in the bed that the first Lady Crawley died in. Becky fears her room might have ghosts in it, but she figures there’s more than enough space for them. That night, she asks Mrs. Tinker for more information about the house, but Mrs. Tinker seems reluctant to speak to her and falls fast asleep.
It soon becomes clear that Sir Pitt asks Becky to write for him because he doesn’t know how to write himself, showing that he also lacks the education usually associated with a gentleman. Becky likely ended up with such an unimpressive employer because Miss Pinkerton never liked her and so found her the lowest-status governess job available. Still, because of her own modest background, Becky can still see some of the positives of Sir Pitt’s house, like how it has more space than any room she’s had before.
Themes
Literary Devices
At four o’clock in the morning, Mrs. Tinker wakes Becky up, and they hail a coach to go into the city with Sir Pitt. When they get to their destination, Sir Pitt refuses to tip his driver.
While many gentlemen spend their money freely, Sir Pitt is very tight with his money. While his refusal to tip could be out of greed or selfishness, this passage also implies that there could be an element of necessity to his actions—he might need to save every coin he has, given how far his family’s reputation has fallen.
Themes
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