Becky Sharp
Rebecca “Becky” Sharp begins the story as an orphan who is friends with Amelia. The two of them meet at Miss Pinkerton’s school, where Amelia follows the rules but Becky always challenges authority…
read analysis of Becky Sharp
Amelia
Amelia is the daughter of Mr. Sedley and Mrs. Sedley, the sister of Jos, and Becky’s good friend. Unlike Becky, Amelia is meek and follows the rules. Though her obedience sometimes causes…
read analysis of Amelia
George
George Osborne is the son of the wealthy Mr. Osborne and the godson of Mr. Sedley. It’s long been assumed that George and Amelia will marry once George inherits his father’s business. From the…
read analysis of George
Dobbin
William Dobbin is a friend of George’s from school. Although Dobbin is initially unpopular, mostly because he’s poor, he eventually wins over many of the other students when he stands up to a bully…
read analysis of Dobbin
Jos
Jos is the son of Mr. Sedley and Mrs. Sedley and the brother of Amelia. His most notable characteristic is his enormous appetite for food and alcohol, and this leads to his enormous weight…
read analysis of Jos
Get the entire Vanity Fair LitChart as a printable PDF.
Rawdon
Rawdon Crawley is the brother of Pitt Crawley, the son of Sir Pitt, and the nephew of Miss Crawley. Despite his reputation for gambling and getting into duels, he wins the favor…
read analysis of Rawdon
Mr. Osborne
Mr. Osborne is the wealthy father of George, Maria, and Jane. He cares a lot about preserving his inheritance, and when he finds out that George insists on marrying Amelia, even…
read analysis of Mr. Osborne
Miss Crawley
Miss Crawley is an elderly unmarried woman with a large fortune, and this causes many different members of the Crawley family to try to win her over before she dies, including Bute, Mrs. Bute…
read analysis of Miss Crawley
Georgy
Georgy is the son of Amelia and George. He looks a lot like his father, who dies in the Napoleonic Wars before Georgy is born. Amelia devotes most of her time and attention to…
read analysis of Georgy
Sir Pitt
Sir Pitt Crawley is a noble and a member of Parliament who oversees a decaying borough called Queen’s Crawley. He is the father of Pitt Crawley, Rawdon, and Rose and Violet, and…
read analysis of Sir Pitt
Pitt Crawley
Pitt Crawley is the son of Sir Pitt and the brother of Rawdon. He has the favor of their father but struggles to win the favor of Miss Crawley, who holds the real…
read analysis of Pitt Crawley
Mr. Sedley
Mr. Sedley is the husband of Mrs. Sedley and the father of Jos and Amelia. He begins as a successful stockbroker and a friend of Mr. Osborne’s, but the Napoleonic Wars wipe out…
read analysis of Mr. Sedley
Mrs. Bute
Mrs. Bute is the wife of Bute and a notorious busybody who knows all the gossip of Queen’s Crawley due to her connections with the servants. Although Mrs. Bute becomes a nurse to the ailing…
read analysis of Mrs. Bute
Lord Steyne
Lord Steyne is one of the wealthiest and noblest characters in the story, but he is also one of the most corrupt, seemingly planning to have an affair with Becky and letting other nobles use…
read analysis of Lord Steyne
Rawdy
Rawdy is the son of Becky and Rawdon. Although Rawdon is affectionate toward him, Becky ignores him, showing little interest in acting as a mother. He ends up living with Pitt Crawley and Lady…
read analysis of Rawdy
The Narrator
The narrator comments on the action from afar, often as if all the other characters are performing on a stage. He claims to respect the upper classes and British tradition, but in fact, many of…
read analysis of The Narrator
General Tufto
General Tufto is a general whom George Osborne, Rawdon, Becky, and Amelia encounter in Brussels during the war. He’s a lecherous old man and seems to have a preference for younger women…
read analysis of General Tufto
Miss Horrocks
Miss Horrocks is the daughter of Sir Pitt’s butler. She gets upset when Sir Pitt tries to give Lady Jane some of Lady Crawley’s old jewels, giving credence to local rumors that Miss…
read analysis of Miss Horrocks
Lady Steyne
Lady Steyne is Lord Steyne’s wife. A deeply religious woman, she apparently copes with her husband’s immoral behavior (he offers his house as a place where other nobles can have discreet affairs and likely…
read analysis of Lady Steyne
George Gaunt
George Gaunt is Lord Steyne’s son with Lady Steyne. Though he was initially successful and happily married, he apparently had some kind of breakdown, after which he left for “Brazil.” Some people know…
read analysis of George Gaunt
Lady Jane
Lady Jane is the wife of Pitt Crawley and mother of Pitt Binkie and Matilda. Among the noble characters, she is one of the few who shows a genuine sense of charity, taking in…
read analysis of Lady Jane
Sambo
Sambo is the “black” (African or Asian) servant of Mr. Sedley and Mrs. Sedley. Today, “Sambo” is an offensive term, and although this character is not necessarily the main origin of the term, he…
read analysis of Sambo
Minor Characters
Bute
Bute is a reverend who is the brother of Sir Pitt and the husband of Mrs. Bute. He doesn’t get along with Sir Pitt, but he pretends to get along with him whenever Miss Crawley is in town, in order to please her and hopefully win her fortune.
Lady Jane Southdown
Lady Jane Southdown is the mother of Lady Jane. She likes to control her household closely. After Lady Jane’s marriage to Pitt Crawley, Lady Jane Southdown soon finds excuses to take over the house of the aging Miss Crawley.
Mrs. Sedley
Mrs. Sedley is the wife of Mr. Sedley and the mother of Jos and Amelia. She defers to her husband and is often sickly—her death causes a major decline in Mr. Sedley’s own health.
Miss Briggs
Miss Briggs is a maid who eventually gets rehired as a “companion” to help protect Becky from the advances of men while her husband, Rawdon, is away. Despite being Becky’s servant, she ends up lending Becky a large sum of money.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte is a real historical figure famous for his skill in warfare. He is a constant but distant presence in the early part of the novel, leading the military campaign against Britain that leads to George’s death.
Miss Pinkerton
Miss Pinkerton runs a school for girls and is the sister of Jemima. She admires the obedient student Amelia but makes little effort to hide her distaste for the rebellious Becky.
Cuff
Cuff is a bully at the school Dobbin and George go to as children. Dobbin beats Cuff in a fight, protecting George. This raises Dobbin’s status at school and solidifies Dobbin and George’s friendship.
Captain Macmurdo
Captain Macmurdo is an old military friend of Rawdon’s who helps Rawdon by giving him a place to stay after he walks in on Becky alone with Lord Steyne.
Lord Tapeworm
Lord Tapeworm is a noble whom Amelia, Jos, and Dobbin meet while vacationing abroad in Pumpernickel.
Peggy O’Dowd
Peggy O’Dowd is the boisterous wife of Major O’Dowd. She tries many times to convince Dobbin to marry her sister-in-law, Glorvina.
Maria
Maria is the daughter of Mr. Osborne who gets married and immediately starts to distance herself from her old family, seeing them as beneath her.
Mr. Veal
Mr. Veal is Georgy’s teacher who doesn’t believe in corporal punishment and who likes to use the biggest words he knows in order to prove his intelligence.
Lady Crawley
Lady Crawley is the daughter of an ironmonger and Sir Pitt’s second wife. She doesn’t have much influence in her house and dies not long after Becky starts working for the family as a governess.
Glorvina
Glorvina is the sister of Major O’Dowd who claims to want to marry Dobbin; however, she says this to many men and seems to only care about Dobbin so much because he is one of the few to reject her.
Jane Osborne
Jane Osborne is the unmarried daughter of Mr. Osborne who ends up stuck at home having to take care of him after her sister, Maria, marries and moves out of the house.
Major O’Dowd
Major O’Dowd is the husband of Peggy, brother of Glorvina, and a leader in George and Dobbin’s regiment.
Spooney and Stubble
Spooney and Stubble are George’s friends from his regiment. George saves Stubble’s life in battle after Stubble gets speared in the leg.
Rose and Violet
Rose and Violet are the daughters of Sir Pitt; Becky teaches them while working as a governess.
Jemima
Jemima is the sister of Miss Pinkerton who takes pity on Becky and gives her a dictionary, only to watch Becky defiantly throw that dictionary out the window of a carriage.
Mrs. Tinker
Mrs. Tinker is a servant of Sir Pitt who greets Becky when she first arrives as a governess for the family.
Miss Swartz
Miss Swartz is a wealthy, mixed-race young woman whom Mr. Osborne wants George to marry after Amelia’s father, Mr. Sedley, goes bankrupt.
Pitt Binkie
Pitt Binkie is the sickly son of Pitt Crawley and Lady Jane; he dies young, leaving Rawdy as the heir to their fortune.
Matilda
Matilda is the daughter of Pitt Crawley and Lady Jane. At the end of the book, both Rawdy and Georgy want to marry her someday.
Wenham
Wenham is a messenger from Lord Steyne who helps Steyne communicate with Rawdon after Rawdon catches Steyne alone with Becky.
Dr. Swishtail
Dr. Swishtail runs the school for boys that Dobbin, George, and Cuff attend.
Polly
Polly is the daughter of the landlords the Sedley family rents from after they have to move out of their old house.
Isidor
Isidor is Jos’s valet in Belgium.
