• Гідрологія і Гідрометрія
• Господарське право
• Економіка будівництва
• Економіка природокористування
• Економічна теорія
• Земельне право
• Історія України
• Кримінально виконавче право
• Медична радіологія
• Методи аналізу
• Міжнародне приватне право
• Міжнародний маркетинг
• Основи екології
• Предмет Політологія
• Соціальне страхування
• Технічні засоби організації дорожнього руху
• Товарознавство продовольчих товарів

VANITY FAIR

By William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863)

W.M. Thackeray, one of the greatest English prose writers, provided the best portrait of the ruling classes of his country in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Vanity Fair (1846-1848) is his masterpiece. It is a broad panorama of contemporary life written with power and brilliance. The novel is heavy with satire. Thackeray attacks the most common vices of the upper classes – money worship, reverence for ranks and titles, hypocrisy, cruelty and corruption. The plot develops around the fate of two women, Rebecca Sharp and Amelia Sedley. The central figure in the novel is Becky Sharp, the daughter of poor artists. She is determined to make her way into high society at any cost.

In the selection given below we see her cruel, selfish, unscrupulous, eternally scheming and plotting, devoid even of maternal feelings.

In the second part of the extract the reader finds references to the lower classes. And the lower classes in Thackeray’s novels are the servants. In their own way they criticize, they are always there, observing and noticing things, pronouncing judgements on their masters. The vast army of the working people finds no place in Thackeray’s novels.

Chapter XLIV

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