Delightful Satire!!. Review on Vanity Fair - William Thackeray

William Makepeace Thackeray, the writer of this novel was born in Calcutta and is considered to be one of the best satirist in English Literature. In this novel he has torn open the effable mask of the high English society during the Napoleonic Wars.

Vanity Fair, as the writer calls the high society, only regards one’s lineage and one’s purse. The reader is thrust into the Vanity Fair right from the first chapter wherein Miss Amelia Sedley and Miss Rebecca Sharp are seen leaving the Miss Pinkerton’s Academy for Young Ladies. The difference in social status between the two young women caused different au revoir for them. This humorous opening chapter sets the tone of the novel.

Generally speaking, the novel revolves around the lives, fortunes & misfortunes of the two aforementioned girls. How they fared in the society. How cruel the Vanity Fair proved to them and how did they cope with it. There are a number of characters in the novel and the characterization is done beautifully by Thackeray, though he doesn’t delve deep into the minds of his characters like George Elliot or Thomas Hardy and is primarily concerned with the flow of events. The most notable character being William Dobbin, who is not much gifted in the worldly sense but has a simple, pure and loving nature. He loves Amelia with an ardent yet silent love and quietly watches her getting married to his best friend. He keeps mum when he gets to know of the infidelity of his friend. After his death he helps out Amelia and her son. Only after eighteen long years is he able to win her. Sentimental…isn’t it?

The length of this novel might be a put off for some but I assure them that once they start reading it they just won’t notice it. It surely is a must read.