Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (Original title: Vanity Fair, or, a Novel without a Hero , 1847 / 1848 serialized in London satirical magazine " Punch published"; German, 1849) is an important work of the English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray , in addition to Charles Dickens and George Eliot is considered to be the most important representative of the literature of the Victorian Age . The social novel offers a multifaceted picture of London society at the beginning of the 19th century, including all social classes, and is characterized by its ironic style and its precise depiction of the characters and their characters.
In 2015, 82 international literary critics and scholars voted the novel one of the most important British novels .
Framework of the plot
Thackeray's novel is set in pre-Victorian and pre-industrial England, the external frame of reference for the plot is formed by the wars of liberation of the European states against France and its ruler Napoleon, as well as the two decades that followed. The victory of the coalition armies over Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 is the central turning point of the epic work.
On criticism of the prevailing Victorian society structures the novel title, which refers to John Bunyan factory pilgrimage to the blessed eternity concerns of the 1678th There the vanity market is a sinful place. The specific point in time of the action becomes evident for the first time when the stockbroker Sedley loses his fortune in the course of Napoleon's return from Elba; this point in time is specifically named in the novel as March 1815. From there, the time of the action, which lasts until 1830 (with the July Revolution in France ), is fixed very precisely.
The spatial reference frame is provided by the capital London with some of its socially disparate districts. Is topographical center of the novel of Russell Square in the district of Bloomsbury , halfway between the dominated market, banks and law firms City , the fashionable West End , the great bourgeois-aristocratic Mayfair , the Hyde Park and Regent's Park area. The south-western suburb of Brompton is less posh ; the tranquil, western suburb of Chiswick also plays a role. Outside London, the (fictional) country estate Queen's Crawley in the county of Hampshire , the port city of Southampton and the prestigious seaside resort of Brighton in Sussex are among the fictional scenes; the universities of Oxford and Cambridge are often referred to in the text. Parts of the plot take place outside of England - in Brussels before, during and after the Battle of Waterloo (1815) and in Paris, in India, on ships, on the Rhine and finally also in Pumpernickel, the fictional capital of a small German principality. Just as fictional are most of the street addresses in the various parts of London with the exception of Russell Square.
Summary of the plot
The story begins at Miss Pinkerton's Young Ladies' Education Center, where Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley have just graduated and are preparing to leave Amelia's Russell Square home. Becky is described as a strong-willed and agile young woman who is determined to assert herself in society and to go her own way, while Amelia is described as a good-natured, lovable, but simple-minded young girl.
In Russell Square, Becky Sharp is introduced to dashing, self-centered Captain George Osborne (to whom Amelia was engaged from a young age), as well as Amelia's brother, Joseph "Joe" Sedley, a clumsy and boastful but wealthy member of the British East India Company who has just returned to the UK. Becky tries to get Joe for a while, hoping to marry him, but fails because of warnings to Captain Osborne Joe, Sedley's shyness and his embarrassment that Becky saw him misbehave while drunk.
Becky Sharp finally says goodbye to the Sedley family and joins the clumsy and depraved Baronet Sir Pitt Crawley, who hires her as governess for his daughters. Her behavior in Sir Pitt's house earns her his favors, and after the untimely death of his second wife, he seeks Becky for her hand only to learn that she is already secretly married to his second eldest son, Rawdon Crawley.
Sir Pitt's older half-sister, the spinster Crawley, is very wealthy having inherited her mother's £ 70,000 fortune. To whom she will one day leave this great prosperity, has always been a burning source of conflict between the various branches of the Crawley family, which shamelessly vie for her favor.
Originally, Captain Rawdon Crawley was Miss Crawley's favorite. And for a while Becky pretends to be Miss Crawley's friend in order to oust her devoted Miss Briggs and to put herself in her place until it is discovered that she is connected to Miss Crawley's nephew. This awkward association arouses Miss Crawley's displeasure that she disinherits her nephew and installs his self-important and pedantic older brother, also called Pitt Crawley, instead. The couple, Becky and Rawdon, then go to great lengths to reconcile themselves with Miss Crawley, and Miss Crawley finally gives in, but only receives her nephew and refuses to change her will.
While Becky Sharp is still climbing up the world, Amelia's father, John Sedley, has declared bankruptcy. The Sedleys and Osbornes were once closely linked, but relationships between the two families fell apart when the Sedleys were financially ruined. The wedding between Amelia and George Osborne is then prohibited. George, urged by his friend Dobbin, eventually decides to marry Amelia against his father's will and is as a result disinherited.
As these personal destinies unfold, the Napoleonic Wars begin. George Osborne and William Dobbin, who met Becky and Captain Crawley on vacation in Brighton, which was suddenly interrupted, suddenly received orders to march to Brussels. The newly wed Osborne, who is also being transferred, is already tired of his wife Amelia and feels more and more drawn to Becky, who reciprocates his advances.
At a ball in Brussels (based on the Duchess of Richmond's famous ball on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo ), George gives Becky a message telling her to run away with him. A little later he regrets this again and is reconciled with Amelia, who is deeply hurt by the attentions her husband gave her former friend. The morning after their reconciliation, Osborne is sent to Waterloo with Captain Crawley and Dobbin, leaving Amelia completely distraught. Becky, on the other hand, is almost indifferent to her husband's departure. She tries to cheer Amelia up, but Amelia reacts angrily because she is appalled by Becky's flirtation with George and her lack of concern about Captain Crawley. Becky, in turn, rejects this criticism, which leads to a rift for years between the two women.
Becky isn't particularly concerned about how the war might end either. Should Napoleon win, she plans to become the mistress of one of his marshals. She is now making a profit by renting out her carriage and horses at inflated prices to the fear-driven Joe Sedley, who wants to flee the city where the Belgian population is openly pro-Napoleonic.
Captain Crawley survives, but George Osborne dies on the battlefield. Amelia posthumously gives birth to a son, also named George. She returns to her parents, where she lives in well-mannered poverty. Now that his friend George is dead, Dobbin, who is the godfather of young George, gradually declares his love for the widowed Amelia by giving her and her son little gifts. But this depends too much on George's memory to reciprocate his feelings. Sadly, Dobbin went to India for a few years.
Becky now also has a son who bears his father's name, Rawdon Crawley, but unlike Amelia, who is in love with her son and even spoils him, Becky is a cold and aloof mother. She continued her rise first in post-war Paris and then in London, where she was patronized by the great Marquis of Steyne, who secretly endured her and introduced her to London society. Despite her humble origins, her success is unstoppable, and she is eventually even introduced personally at the court of the Prince Regent.
Becky and Rawdon appear to be financially successful, but their wealth and high standard of living are really just smoke and mirrors. Rawdon is a gamer and makes money as a rip-off. Becky takes money and junk from her many admirers and sells what can be turned into money. In addition, she often borrows money from this and that, and rarely pays her bills. So the couple lives mostly on credit, and while Rawdon seems too limited to aware of the ramifications of his way of life, Becky at least knows that her behavior has ruined two innocent people: her servant, Miss Briggs, whose savings Becky borrowed and squandered, and her landlord, Raggles, who was a former butler with the Crawleys and who invested his savings in the townhouse Becky and Rawdon rented and owed him the rent.
Becky also cheats on various innkeepers, millers, tailors, greengrocers and other business people who give her credit. She and Rawdon always manage to get credit by making the world believe they got money from each other, or they waste time with their creditors by pointing out that Rawdon will inherit Miss Crawley or a scholarship Receives from Sir Pitt.
Eventually Becky is suspected of having an extramarital affair with the Marquis of Steyne, possibly encouraged by Rawdon to prostitute himself for money and sponsorship.
In fact, at the height of her success, Becky's financial relationship with the wealthy and powerful Marquis of Steyne is exposed when Rawdon is arrested for his debts. Rawdon's brother's wife, Lady Jane, pays the ransom for him, and Rawdon surprises Becky and Steyne in a compromising situation. Rawdon then leaves his wife and is sent to Coventry Island as governor by the office of the Marquis of Steyne to be out of the way. But Rawdon challenges the aging marquis to a duel.
Becky, who has now lost both her husband and her credibility, goes out of the country on Steyne's advice. Rawdon and his son are staying with Pitt Crawley and Lady Jane.
As Becky leaves, the shadow of the Marquis of Steyne follows her. Wherever she appears in better society in Europe, there is someone who knows about her machinations with Steyne and who spreads the rumors; Steyne himself drives them out of Rome.
When Amelia's beloved son grows up, his now reconciled grandfather Osborne wants to take him from the household of the impoverished Amelia into his own. Amelia knows that this can offer her son far more to start a better life than she or her family could, and she agrees.
After twelve years now, Joe Sedley and Dobbin are returning to the United Kingdom. Dobbin declares his unchanged love for Amelia again, but although she likes him very much, she tells him that she cannot forget her deceased husband. Dobbin befriends the young George and with his kind and steadfast manner he has a good influence on the spoiled child.
Dobbin also brokered a reconciliation between Amelia and her father-in-law Osborne. The death of Amelia's father precedes this meeting, and a little later old Osborne also dies. It is revealed that he changed his last will and left half of his fortune to young George. Amelia also receives a generous annual grant. He divided the rest between his daughters, Miss Osborne and Mrs. Bullock, who envy Amelia and George the money.
After old Mr. Osborne's death, Amelia, Joe, George and Dobbin make a trip to Germany, where they meet Becky, who is now in need. She meets young George at a card game table. Becky can enchant Joe again, although her character is now completely depraved and she drinks excessively. She has also lost her singing voice and much of her good looks, spending her time almost entirely with card sharks and cheaters.
Following Joe's pleading pleas, Amelia, much to Dobbins' displeasure, agrees to a reconciliation when it becomes clear that Becky's connection with her son has been severed completely. Dobbin argues with Amelia about it until he realizes he is wasting his love on a woman who is too simple-minded to reciprocate. Becky, in turn, shows Amelia, at a moment when her conscience urges her, the message that her Amelia's deceased husband has written with the request to run away with him. This destroys Amelia's ideal of George, and so she declares her love for Dobbin in a separate message.
Becky continues to seduce Joe and gain control of him. Eventually he dies of a mysterious ailment, not without leaving her a considerable sum in his life insurance. She made her fortune with Joe's death.
By a whim of fate, Rawdon dies a few weeks before his older brother, whose son has also passed away. The title of baronet therefore passes to Rawdon's son. Had he only survived his brother for a short time, he would have become Sir Rawdon Crawley and Becky Lady Crawley, a title which she nevertheless uses in her further life.
At the end of the novel, we learn that Dobbin married Amelia, but although he always treats her with great kindness, he never regains the love he once felt for her. Becky also appears again, as arrogant as ever, she sells cheap jewelry in a market, supposedly for various charitable purposes. She can live quite well again because her son, the baronet, supports her financially (despite her past indifference and disinterest in him). However, he refuses any further connection or contact with her.
characters
main characters
- Rebecca Sharp (Becky Sharp) , daughter of an indebted artist from London's entertainment district Soho and a French ballet dancer, pupil of Miss Pinkerton's school for young women; unscrupulous but brilliantly acting members of the bohemian , who fought their way up to higher social classes with fair and unfair means; first governess in the service of the Crawleys on Queen's Crawley, later wife of Colonel Rawdon Crawley and mother of their son, little Rawdy.
- Amelia Sedley , kind-hearted friend of Rebecca and also a pupil of Miss Pinkerton's Asylum; engaged to George Osborne since childhood, whom she later married; Mother of their son, little Georgy; many years after George Osborne's death, she married Major William Dobbin and gave him a daughter.
- Joseph Sedley (Joe Sedley) , older brother of Amelia; perpetual bachelor, civil servant and tax collector in the service of the Crown and the East India Company in India; Leaning towards epicurean delights and fashionable clothing.
- Mr. Sedley (old Sedley) , humorous father of Joseph and Amelia; Initially a successful stock market speculator, later bankrupt, who ekes out his old age in emotional and material misery.
- George Osborne , fiancé and first husband of Amelia Sedley, officer with the rank of captain ; falls in the battle of Waterloo ; handsome and reckless.
- Mr. Osborne (old Osborne) , beefy father to George and his sisters, also a punter; in part he owes his wealth to old Sedley, whom he mercilessly mocks after his fall.
- William Dobbin , loyal school friend and protector of George Osborne; Officer initially with the rank of captain, later with the rank of major; Godfather of little Georgy and second husband Amelia Sedley.
- Sir Pitt Crawley (old Crawley) , English country nobleman, owner of Queen's Crawley castle and estate and the family's London townhouse; litigious curmudgeon; after the death of his second wife, he unsuccessfully applies for Becky Sharp's hand.
- Miss Crawley , rich half-sister of Sir Pitt Crawley; pleasure-seeking and anti-clerical old maids commuting back and forth between London, Brighton and Queen's Crawley; at the time of the French Revolution she was the patroness of French exiles; all Crawleys rival bitterly for the benefit of their person in the old lady's will.
- Rawdon Crawley , younger son of Sir Pitt Crawley and, as Miss Crawley's favorite, initially the main candidate for her inheritance; Player and sword and officer with the rank of colonel; after his marriage to Rebecca Sharp he is disinherited; many years later he separated from his wife and ended his life as governor on Coventry Island.
- Mrs. Bute Crawley , sly wife of the Reverend Bute Crawley, younger brother of Sir Pitt Crawley, who is a country clergyman in the parish belonging to Queen's Crawley; their son James Crawley, a student at Oxford, succeeds his father as pastor after he too fails to win the race for Miss Crawley's legacy.
- Pitt Crawley , pious elder son of Sir Pitt Crawley; after his marriage to Lady Jane Sheepshanks, Miss Crawley's inheritance falls to him for lack of alternatives; after the death of his father, the title of nobility and property also pass to him; Member of Parliament and Justice of the Peace.
Important minor characters
- Miss Pinkerton , lady of majestic demeanor who resolutely pays homage to social prejudice; Head of Miss Pinkerton's London Educational Institute for young women.
- Lord Steyne , rich cynic and representative of the English aristocracy; Spouse of a Catholic noblewoman of Scottish origin, holder of countless European orders.
- Lady Southdown , mother of Lady Jane Crawley and mother-in-law of the younger Pitt Crawley; As the patroness of Puritan preachers, she provides society with conversion tracts.
- Miss Briggs , longtime maid and confidante of Miss Crawley; after their death in the service of Rebekka Sharp and Rawdon Crawley.
- The Osborne sisters (Maria and Jane) , the two sisters of George Osborne.
- The Dobbin sisters (Jane and Ann) , William Dobbin's two younger sisters.
Edits
- The novel was filmed in 1998 under the title Vanity Fair as a television multi-part.
- In 2004, the feature film Vanity Fair - Vanity Fair by Mira Nair .
- The composer Claus Martin used the material as a template for his musical Vanity Fair (2009)
expenditure
- WM Thackeray; Mira Koffka (transl.): Vanity fair. With an explan Essay by Fritz Wölcken. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1957
- Fair of vanity or A novel without a hero , Dt. by Theresa Mutzenbecher. Munich: dtv, 2011, ISBN 978-3-423-13999-1
Web links
- Vanity Fair - Original English text from Project Gutenberg
- Zeno.org - German translation
Individual evidence
- ^ The Guardian: The best British novel of all times - have international critics found it? , accessed on January 2, 2016