-
The story opens at Miss Pinkerton's Academy
for Young Ladies,
where the principal
protagonists
Becky Sharp and
Amelia Sedley have
just completed their
studies and are preparing to depart for Amelia's
house in
Russell
Square
.
Becky is portrayed
as a strong-willed and
cunning young
woman determined to make her way in society, and
Amelia Sedley as a good-natured,
loveable, though simple-minded
young
girl.
At Russell Square, Miss Sharp is
introduced to the
dashing and
self-obsessed Captain George Osborne
(to whom Amelia has been
betrothed from a very young age) and to
Amelia's brother Joseph Sedley,
a
clumsy and vainglorious but rich civil-servant
fresh from the
East India
Company
. Becky entices
Sedley, hoping to marry him, but she fails
because of warnings from Captain
Osborne, Sedley's own native shyness,
and his embarrassment over some foolish
drunken behavior of his that
Becky had
witnessed at Vauxhall.
With this, Becky
Sharp says farewell to Sedley's family and enters
the
service of the crude and profligate
baronet
Sir Pitt Crawley,
who has
engaged her as a
governess
to his daughters.
Her behaviour at Sir Pitt's
house gains
his favour, and after the premature death of his
second wife,
he proposes to her.
However, he finds that she is already secretly
married
to his second son, Rawdon
Crawley.
Sir Pitt's elder half sister,
the
spinster
Miss Crawley,
is very rich, having
inherited her
mother's fortune of ?
70,000.
How she will bequeath her
great wealth
is a source of constant conflict
between the branches of the
Crawley family who vie shamelessly for
her affections; initially her
favorite
is Sir Pitt's younger son, Captain Rawdon Crawley.
For some
time, Becky acts as Miss
Crawley's companion, supplanting the loyal
Miss Briggs in an attempt to establish
herself in favor before breaking the
news of her elopement with Miss
Crawley's nephew. However, the
misalliance so enrages Miss Crawley
that she disinherits her nephew in
favour of his pompous and pedantic
elder brother, who also bears the
name
Pitt Crawley. The married couple constantly
attempt to reconcile
with Miss Crawley,
and she relents a little. However, she will only
see
her nephew and refuses to change
her will.
While Becky Sharp is rising
in the world, Amelia's father, John Sedley, is
bankrupted. The Sedleys and Osbornes
were once close allies, but the
relationship between the two families
disintegrates after the Sedleys are
financially ruined, and the marriage of
Amelia and George is forbidden.
George
ultimately decides to marry Amelia against his
father's will,
primarily due to the
pressure of his friend Dobbin, and George is
consequently disinherited. While these
personal events take place, the
Napoleonic Wars
have been
ramping up. George Osborne and William
Dobbin are suddenly deployed to
Brussels
, but not before an
encounter
with Becky and Captain
Crawley at Brighton. The holiday is interrupted
by orders to march to Brussels.
Already, the newly wedded Osborne is
growing tired of Amelia, and he becomes
increasingly attracted to Becky
who
encourages 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 note
inviting her
to run away with him. He
regrets this shortly afterwards and reconciles
with Amelia, who has been deeply hurt
by his attentions towards her
former
friend. The morning after, he is sent to Waterloo
with Captain
Crawley and Dobbin,
leaving Amelia distraught. Becky, on the other
hand, is
virtually
indifferent to her husband's departure.
She tries to
console Amelia, but Amelia
responds angrily, disgusted by Becky's
flirtatious behavior with George and
her lack of concern about Captain
Crawley. Becky resents this snub and a
rift develops between the two
women
that lasts for years. Becky is not very concerned
for the outcome
of the war, either.
Should
Napoleon
win, she
plans to become the mistress
of one his
marshals, and meanwhile she makes a profit selling
her
carriage and horses at inflated
prices to panicking Britons seeking to flee
the city, where the Belgian population
is openly pro-Napoleonic.
Captain
Crawley survives, but George dies in the battle.
Amelia bears
him a
posthumous
son, who is also
named George. She returns to live in
genteel poverty with her parents.
Meanwhile, since the death of George,
Dobbin, who is young George's
godfather, gradually begins to express his
love for the widowed Amelia by small
kindnesses toward her and her son.
Most
notable is the recovery of her old piano, which
Dobbin picks up at
an auction following
the Sedleys' ruin. Amelia mistakenly assumes this
was done by her late husband. She is
too much in love with George's
memory
to return Dobbin's affections.
Saddened, he goes to India for
many years. Dobbin's infatuation with
Amelia is a theme which unifies
the
novel and one which many have compared to
Thackeray's unrequited
love for a
friend's wife
。
Meanwhile, Becky also has a son, also
named after his father, but unlike
Amelia, who dotes on and even spoils
her child, Becky is a cold, distant
mother. She continues her ascent first
in post-war Paris and then in
London
where she is patronised by the great Marquess of
Steyne, who
covertly subsidises her and
introduces her to
London
society. Her success
is unstoppable
despite her humble origins, and she is eventually
presented
at court to the
Prince Regent
himself.
Becky and Rawdon appear to be
financially successful, but their wealth
and high standard of living are mostly
smoke and mirrors. Rawdon
gambles
heavily and earns money as a billiards shark. The
book also
suggests he cheats at cards.
Becky accepts trinkets and money from her