The secret plan of Vanity Fair inside informations the life and coming of age of the chief character Rebecca Sharp. whose lucks fluctuate between the extremes of poorness and wealth. She begins the narrative a miss and is transformed into a adult female who realizes that the abrasiveness of the universe into which she was born is one that will most probably be sustained throughout. The trouble of altering one’s station for the better is highlighted in her ain life. and the hopefulness of her childhood is replaced by the worlds of life.

The experiences of her friend Amelia Sedley accentuate the subject of lost childhood artlessness in that she comes to cognize the rough worlds of peasantry though she was born to a more elevated life style. Even in love. both adult females learn that life can be pig-headedly ungenerous—though each learns in different ways. Different techniques are used to convey out this subject in the movie version of the novel by William Makepeace Thackeray. Rebecca Sharp is shown to be a strong character who is able to endure the many jobs and downswings of her life.

She is at first seen as a kid who peddles pictures done by her male parent. yet who is unusually sharp in her ability to get the monetary values she wants for her wares. Her humor allows her to go up to a higher station—a school. where she learns and subsequently becomes a governess. Though her chances seem to better. she is confronted by the fact that her first place as governess. though reportedly with a baronial household. turns out to look every bit base as though she had come to work for provincials.

Time and clip once more. though her chances improve. she is disappointed by unfavorable bends of events. These state of affairss underpin the subject of artlessness lost. as her childhood hopes of promoting her station are continually thwarted. Amelia Sedley is besides one whose experiences contribute to the subject of lost artlessness. She is blinded by an infatuation for George Osborne that is every bit foolish as it is hard to chase away. She naively considers his interior beauty to be comparable to his outer one. and is devastated once more and once more by his casual attitude toward her.

Though he capitulates and marries her. she finally loses her station and does lose George as he dies in the war. She subsequently loses their son—a series of losingss that take with them her artlessness and hardens her in the existent universe. Loss of virginity may besides be looked at as a manner in which both these adult females lose their artlessness. Yet though it is clear that Amelia has married George. the movie casts a shadow over the matrimony of Rebecca Sharp to Rawdon Crawley. Certain techniques used by the manager of the film—such as light and dark—serve to stress the effects of this.

Rawdon often corners Rebecca in dark topographic points and touches her inappropriately. In the passenger car when Miss Matilda Crawley falls asleep. in the shadow of her slumber Rawdon touches Rebecca’s manus. He subsequently touches her thorax and cleavage while it is dark—though he is non married to her—and she allows it. Darkness appears to show in the losingss that childhood must incur in order for adulthood to come to the bow. The ultimate loss of childly artlessness for adult females is arguably in the birth of their ain kids. as one must from that point on genuinely be an grownup.

Rebecca and Amelia give birth to boies. whose being cause their female parents much heartache. They both realize that though their kids are a portion of them. they may non be able to retain their fondness or even ownership of them. The thought of holding beautiful kids with “rosy cheeks” to go “ambassadors” of their ain beliefs is taken from them and they forfeit wholly the romantic impression of unbreakable filial ties. The construction of the secret plan appears to take the signifier of multiple flood tides.

Rebecca’s Ascension from indigence to scholarship represents one flood tide. Her lifting to go an indispensable governess was another. as was that of her being taken into the society of Miss Matilda Crawley. Her autumn from society follows as she marries Rawdon Crawley. but she shortly rises to fame as she is much spoken of when they move to Brussels. Inevitably. she descends once more as Rawdon’s chancing creates debts and they live an destitute life until her acclivity into wealth she obtains from Lord Styne.

She so descends to poverty one time more when her hubby. in another climactic minute. finds her in the weaponries of Lord Styne. In this movie. civilization is besides extremely seeable in many of its signifiers. Though Rebecca may non be considered rich. she might be called civilized. as she has been exposed to an instruction in the all right humanistic disciplines and excels in pulling. music. and languages. The social line that divides several of the households might besides be seen to split along cultural lines.

Work force and adult females of high society are more likely to detect societal graces. to be good educated and good travelled. It might besides be seen that the civilization sing work at the clip was that the truly rich did non make any. and that those who did work ( frequently as merchandisers in trade ) and managed to achieve equality in wealth with the higher Lords were still considered of a lower estate. The lowest category whose members did humble labor for little pittances were the least educated. the least socially graceful. and considered the least civilized of all.

One of the major cinematic elements is the usage of shadow—the contrast of dark and bright. Much of the movie takes topographic point in the dark. and this points toward the filmmaker’s desire to portray much of the action as vile and ugly. The dark amour propre of most characters. who would put society above true fondness and trueness. is highlighted by the shadows that cover them in about every scene. Malicious backbiting and backstabbing is shrouded in darkness as the manager and the unobserved storyteller frown upon the purposes and actions of many of the vain characters.

Vanity Fair combines several elements. subjects. and techniques to convey the loss of artlessness that many of the characters experience. The thoughts of the darkness of ( bad ) experiences covering the visible radiation of artlessness shows this. as do the many flood tides and booby traps of the households represented in the movie. The cinematic elements combine smartly to show through the lives of Amelia Sedley and Rebecca Sharp that life fells bad lucks in several dark corners.

Mentions

Thackeray. W. M. Vanity Fair. New York: London. 2003.