Previous
Chapter 14
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
When Sir Pitt hears that Becky is married, he thinks at first that she might be lying and making fun of him. He tries to figure out the identity of her husband, asking if he ran away. Meanwhile, some eavesdropping servants, including the maid Miss Briggs, go to Miss Crawley to tell her about Sir Pitt’s proposal. Miss Crawley comes down to witness the sight and is confused when she realizes that Becky has refused the offer.
This passage parodies 19th-century ideas about what makes a good husband. All the servants think that Becky is crazy not to marry Sir Pitt, ignoring his many flaws (including his heavy drinking, his lack of education, the large age difference, and the fact that he doesn’t even have much money for a noble). The servants’ willingness to overlook these flaws demonstrates how for some people, status was the most important part of a marriage. It also points to women’s limited opportunities to improve their status outside of marriage in the 19th century.
Themes
Sir Pitt seems to take the rejection in good humor, which confuses Miss Crawley. Becky says she’s very honored by the proposal, even though she can’t accept it. Miss Crawley goes off to her servants and tells them to try to find the gentleman Becky is in love with (although she does not know yet that Becky is already married because Becky has still kept this a secret from everyone except Sir Pitt). Miss Crawley then goes to Becky, who tells her that she couldn’t have accepted Sir Pitt’s proposal due to their differences in age and status. Also, Lady Crawley’s funeral hasn’t even taken place yet.
Despite his flaws, Sir Pitt’s easygoing nature makes him a more sympathetic character than he might be otherwise. While Vanity Fair can be a cynical novel that satirizes just about every character, on the other hand, even the worst characters often have a couple redeeming qualities. In this passage, Becky withholds the full truth from Miss Crawley, not wanting to tell her that she’s married yet. While the circumstances of Becky’s marriage are still a secret, this passage hints at the identity of her husband by revealing that Becky is afraid the news will anger Miss Crawley.
Themes
Miss Crawley says that surely Becky must be in love with someone else. Becky admits that she is and claims that everything will be revealed in time. Eventually, Becky is alone, and she thinks back on her unusual day and how it all turned out. The narrator muses on whether Becky regrets missing out on the chance to marry Sir Pitt. She decides not to think about the subject too much, instead focusing on the future.
It’s clear from the novel’s opening chapter, in which Becky throws her dictionary out the window, that she can act impulsively. She is always moving forward, so she seldom moves back to reconsider or regret her past actions. This is another way in which she differs from Amelia, who is always thinking about the past, continuing, for example, to maintain her deep devotion to George, even though he hasn’t shown the same devotion to her.
Themes
Becky begins wondering what Miss Crawley will think about her recent marriage, and it soon becomes clear that Becky has married Rawdon. She knows Miss Crawley likes to express opinions about how birth status doesn’t matter, but she also knows that she’s very protective of Rawdon. Becky pretends to write a letter to an old school friend, but she’s really writing to Rawdon to warn him of everything that just happened.
Becky understands what Mrs. Bute also sensed: that Miss Crawley is a hypocrite, and that despite what Miss Crawley said about social class not mattering, she’s likely to feel very different if her beloved Rawdon marries someone of a lower status. In her rush to secure a husband as soon as possible, Becky didn’t consider how marrying Rawdon might complicate him securing his inheritance from Miss Crawley.
Themes
Get the entire Vanity Fair LitChart as a printable PDF.
