Abstract
The story of Becky Sharp is at the heart of the literary case study presented in this book. Becky’s exploits are no mere fictional examples illustrating Smith’s theory; rather, the complex and rich narrative of VF deepens our understanding of some parts of TMS while helping us question others. The profile of Becky offered here contains a first sketch of her character and anchors the conversation about the many vices, virtues, and moral sentiments in the chapters to follow. It also introduces the societal system within which Becky operates and her relationship to this system. Becky is well aware of the existence of social inequalities and she resents people for what she perceives as their unfair superiority over her. But she is not outraged by the existence of inequality as such; on the contrary, she welcomes it – just as long as she sees opportunities to be upwardly mobile. Her concerns and interests are egocentric through and through: Becky cares for herself and all her calculations are geared toward her own success. She does not empathize or feel solidarity with those who share her plight, be they fellow governesses, fellow wives, or fellow mothers. People are means, not ends in themselves (Nuyen does not discuss Becky Sharp but focuses on Jos Sedley as a “paradigm” of vanity and a snob. He refers to Kant’s notion of snobbery to explain that the vain person values everything (including other people) as means to an end. Even when the vain person desires something that is inherently valuable (like a virtuous character trait), he or she values it not for its inherent worth but its instrumental nature (Nuyen, Vanity, The Southern Journal of Philosophy 37: 613–627, 1999)). Becky is undaunted in the face of uncertainty and takes risks when she expects high rewards; she has an eye for opportunity and reinvents herself whenever circumstances call for an innovative approach. She is, as the narrator of VF suggests, is a skilled and effective manager, using all tools at her disposal to realize her goals. Implicit in Becky’s story is a sharp critique of the gender ideology that marks Thackeray’s time (For a thorough analysis of Thackeray and early Victorian feminism, see Micael M. Clarke, Thackeray and Women Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1995). Elements of this ideology are introduced here and explored in later chapters.
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Notes
- 1.
Nuyen does not discuss Becky Sharp but focuses on Jos Sedley as a “paradigm” of vanity and a snob. He refers to Kant’s notion of snobbery to explain that the vain person values everything (including other people) as means to an end. Even when the vain person desires something that is inherently valuable (like a virtuous character trait), he or she values it not for its inherent worth but its instrumental nature (Nuyen 1999).
- 2.
For a thorough analysis of Thackeray and early Victorian feminism, see Micael M. Clarke, Thackeray and Women (Dekalb: Northern Illinois Univ. Press. 1995).
- 3.
Chapter 8 discusses Becky Sharp’s desire for “respectability” which, though more complex than Maria Osborne’s, also has wealth as one of its primary objectives.
- 4.
VF’s narrator is ruthless in his mockery of faded beauties: “A stout countess of sixty, décolletée, painted, wrinkled with rouge up to her drooping eyelids, and diamonds twinkling in her wig, is a wholesome and edifying, but not a pleasant sight.” Stout countesses of sixty should not be asked to make their appearance by bright daylight but “drawing-rooms should be announced for November, or the first foggy day, or the elderly sultanas of our Vanity Fair should drive up in closed litters, descend in a covered way, and make their curtsey to the Sovereign under the protection of lamplight” (VF 601).
- 5.
As Richard C. Stevenson points out, “Thackeray joins our necessarily harsh moral judgment with an artistic judgment” (2). He explains: “The text provides us with a “double” yet coherent way of viewing Becky: on the one hand we are given a firm basis on which to judge her severely, and on the other we are encouraged to see the limitations of that judgment and to feel a guarded admiration for the way in which she comports herself in Vanity Fair” (4). In line with Stevenson’s comments, the following chapters aim to highlight the limitations of our moral judgments on Becky and to investigate why our admiration for her makes us uncomfortable.
- 6.
Mr. Bute Crawley’s remark is born out by his wife’s management of their rich relative Miss Crawley. When the latter is ill, Mrs. Bute moves in with her and “manages” her almost to death with her rules and medications.
References
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Clarke, Micael M. 1995. Thackeray and women. Dekalb: Northern Illinois UP.
Milne, Kirsty. 2015. At vanity fair: From Bunyan to Thackeray. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Nuyen, A.T. 1999. Vanity. The Southern Journal of Philosophy 37: 613–627.
Smith, Adam. 1982a. The theory of moral sentiments. In Vol. I of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, ed. D.D. Raphael and A.L. Macfie. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.
———. 1982b. Lectures on Jurisprudence. In Vol. 5 of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, ed. R.L. Meek, D.D. Raphael, and P.G. Stein. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.
Stevenson, Richard C. 2006. The problem of judging Becky sharp: Scene and narrative commentary in Vanity Fair. In Nineteenth-Century literature criticism, vol. 169.
Thackeray, William Makepeace. 1983. In Vanity fair: A novel without a hero, ed. John Sutherland. New York: Oxford UP.
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Slegers, R. (2018). A Profile of Becky Sharp. In: Adam Smith’s Moral Sentiments in Vanity Fair. Issues in Business Ethics, vol 49. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98731-6_2
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