VANITY FAIR: BECKY BROUGHT TO BOOK AGAIN

A perennial topic in criticism of Vanity Fair is the problem of Thackeray's attitude toward Becky Sharp. Does he like her? Does he dis? like her? Or are his feelings inconsistent or ambivalent?1 The radically dif? ferent answers given to these questions have divided critics since the novel's first appearance. Yet the issue has rarely been approached rigorously and comprehensively. Most interpretations of Becky are sketchy and impressionistic; they consist of generalized assertions fre? quently based on highly selective evidence or none at all, and they rarely attempt to refute specific interpretations which are different. Indeed, though no one can read much of the criticism without becoming aware of these differing interpretations, individual critics usually fail to mention even their existence, sometimes writing as if they were the first to address themselves to the questions. Thus, to a large extent, the critical debate has remained implicit only; the precise issues on which the critics disagree and the precise differences among their premises and conclusions have not been sufficiently brought into the open. A notable exception to this pattern was John E. Tilford's important essay of 1959, "The Degradation of Becky Sharp,"2 which took the position that Thackeray's attitude toward Becky is overwhelmingly hostile and ably defended this view against the more flattering interpretations of her character offered by cer? tain standard commentaries and especially by Russell A. Fraser. But it