History Literature / VanityFair

''Vanity Fair'' has been filmed and televised several times, beginning with a silent film released in 1911. The most famous of these adaptations is ''Film/BeckySharp'' (1935), the first ever feature film to use the three-strip Technicolor process. Creator/MiraNair's 2004 film version, starring Creator/ReeseWitherspoon, turned Becky into the real heroine.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* DirtyCoward: Jos initially grows a BadassMoustache to try to attract women, but shaves it off and hides when he hears that Napoleon is slaughtering the British troops. It's because of this detail that, as with other characters, his pitiable features are balanced by some really unsympathetic traits/actions.

* ReassignedToAntarctica: The Marquess of Steyne arranges to have Captain Crawley made governor of remote Coventry Island after Crawley catches his wife Becky in a compromising position with the Marquis.

** George Sr's father, Mr Osborne, however, beats them both by leaps and bounds. He is a ridiculously arrogant and bullying man, selfishly refusing his son a match he himself arranged when they were both toddlers, and flies into such a rage at their marriage he disowns George compeletely and continues hating his sweet wife even after she is widowed. His treatment to his elder daughter Jane, is much worse, telling her she will never marry since he wants her around to be his servant.

** The Marquis of Steyne (pronounced "stain") is both filthy ''and'' an utter pig.

* MrsHypothetical: The narrator mocks the obsession of women who want to be My Lady Crawley and marry Sir Pitt. The house itself and his position in society are really enviable and he mentions how wonderfully are women risen to nobility respected by their old acquaintances, but Sir Pitt himself is a rather disgusting and crude man. But a nobleman nonetheless. Becky Sharp is one of them; though she happens to marry his younger son instead. At the end of the book, Becky calls herself Lady Crawley, though she never was — she is supposed to be 'just' Mrs Crawley.

* ReassignedToAntarctica: The Marquis of Steyne arranges to have Captain Crawley made governor of remote Coventry Island after Crawley catches his wife Becky in a compromising position with the Marquis.

*** George Sr's father, Mr Osborne, however, beats them both by leaps and bounds. He is a ridiculously arrogant and bullying man, selfishly refusing his son a match he himself arranged when they were both toddlers, and flies into such a rage at their marriage he disowns George compeletely and continues hating his sweet wife even after she is widowed. His treatment to his elder daughter Jane, is much worse, telling her she will never marry since he wants her around to be his servant.

* InWhichATropeIsDescribed: ''E.g.'', "In Which Miss Crawley's Relations Are Very Concerned About Her."

* AllThereInTheManual: Or, rather, in the illustrations. Most famously, while it is hinted in the text that [[spoiler: Becky may have murdered Jos]], it is much more strongly suggested in an illustration.

* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: Massively averted. Becky ignores her child, Amelia spoils her son because of his rotten father, and ultimately [[spoiler: Amelia realizes that Dobbin's affections are mostly tied up in their daughter.]]

* BeingGoodSucks: Dobbin spends the entire novel doing good things, virtually all of them going unrecognized and unrewarded; in fact, Amelia ascribes some of them to her JerkAss beloved, George. To make matters worse, Dobbin gets his "reward," [[spoiler: marrying Amelia]], only after he has ceased to value it.

* BrokenPedestal: It is only very near the ending [[spoiler:when Becky gives Amelia physical proof that George was planning to run away with her, that Amelia comes to realise that her beloved husband wasn't the perfect angel she had spent years thinking of him as.]] Similarly, [[spoiler:Dobbin realises that Amelia is nothing special after he marries her, having spent decades pining over her.]]

* DownerEnding: Amelia has [[spoiler: finally married Dobbin]], but [[spoiler: he does not love her nearly as much as his daughter]]; Jos Sedley [[spoiler: is dead, quite possibly at Becky's hands]]; and Becky [[spoiler: is playing the part of a virtuous widow, once again working her way into society.]]

** Mira Nair's film subverts the DownerEnding by having Becky [[spoiler: head off to India with Jos.]]
** Also, there is some debate on whether the ending is completely unhappy [[spoiler: or whether it can be read as more like Amelia and Dobbin have their eyes open, and so are relatively happily married, but far from SickeninglySweethearts. The text is in the direction of straight DownerEnding, but it leaves a bit of room for something happier]].

* GirlOfMyDreams: Amelia for Dobbin, [[spoiler: although he eventually comes to his senses.]]

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: George, to a degree. He claims to regret some of his treatment of Amelia [[spoiler: right before dying at Waterloo, but it seems unlikely that he really would have changed for the better had he survived]].

* JerkAss: George Osborne, Amelia's husband. He caps his jerkishness by [[spoiler: asking Becky to elope with him weeks after marrying Amelia.]]

** Amelia herself is on the receiving end of one when [[spoiler: Dobbin calls her out for her blinkered and foolish devotion to George despite his obvious unworthiness and her selfish and thoughtless attitude towards Dobbin himself, and bluntly informs her that she is not worth the devotion he has given to her over the years.]]

* UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: Heavily implied by the ending. [[spoiler: Dobbin spends most of the novel infatuated with Amelia, who barely notices him and remains soppily devoted to George, despite his unworthiness. By the end of the novel, Amelia has had her eyes opened to George's flaws and has accepted Dobbin's hand in marriage -- but much to her chagrin, it's suggested that by this point he's long since fallen out of love with her.]]

''Vanity Fair'' has been filmed and televised several times, beginning with a silent film released in 1911. The most famous of these adaptations is ''Becky Sharp'' (1935), which inaugurated the Technicolor era. Creator/MiraNair's 2004 film version, starring Creator/ReeseWitherspoon, turned Becky into the real heroine.

* Literature/ThePilgrimsProgress: A much darker version, in which none of the characters manage to get themselves beyond Vanity Fair.
** Lady Jane has a similar moment when she throws Becky out of her house after Becky tries to manipulate Lady Jane's husband, Sir Pitt, into helping her.

* FemmeFatale: An unusual example in that Becky, small and sandy-haired, isn't particularly beautiful or sexy. It is her wit, vivaciousness and intelligence that virtually every man in her vicinity find irresistible.