Aviva Raskin
Final Draft
~1500 words
(times new roman double spaced extended!)
Comparative essay between Jane Eyre and Vanity Fair
The two novels Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and Vanity Fair by W.M. Thackery are two characteristic Victorian novels. They both show characters that are distinctly the opposites of each other, even though they come from nearly the same background. The two heroines show the same type of fiery mettle and backbone, but do not express their convictions and morals in the same ways. Their actions differ, and that is what makes them the ideal figures of a good Christian and a bad Christian.
The materialistic society described within Vanity Fair centers on Becky Sharp, Amelia Sedley, who are good-natured but naive boarding-school friends, whose destinies are intertwined with different outcomes. Clever and ambitious Becky is born into poverty as the daughter of a artist and actress (commoners of the lowest sort).
She plans to marry Amelia's brother Joseph, but she fails. She is in charge of her own marriage because she is an orphan. She ends up marrying Rowdon Crawley, but he is disinherited (from his family and wealth). And Becky, true to her crafty nature, manages to live in fashion because of the patronage of Lord Steyne. When Rowdon finds out, he leaves to become governor of Coventry Island. Becky is ostracized for her ways, which she believes will take her far in the world as she has no one to promote her but herself. She moves to the continent, and meanwhile Amelia's father is ruined. She is loved by William Dobbin but, she marries George Osborne (who was her sweet-heart and the one who she was brought up to marry) but he dies at Waterloo. Amelia's son is left to the grandfather, who dies and leaves...