SURPRISE.

Read the following text:

‘I say agin, I want you,’ Sir Pitt said, thumping the table. ‘I can’t git on without you. I
didn’t see what it was till you went away. The house all goes wrong. It’s not the same
place. All my accounts has got muddled agin. You MUST come back. Do come back.
Dear Becky, do come.’

‘Come—as what, sir?’ Rebecca gasped out.

‘Come as Lady Crawley, if you like,’ the Baronet said, grasping his crape hat. ‘There!
will that zatusfy you? Come back and be my wife. Your vit vor’t. Birth be hanged.
You’re as good a lady as ever I see. You’ve got more brains in your little vinger than
any baronet’s wife in the county. Will you come? Yes or no?’

‘Oh, Sir Pitt!’ Rebecca said, very much moved.

‘Say yes, Becky,’ Sir Pitt continued. ‘I’m an old man, but a good’n. I’m good for
twenty years. I’ll make you happy, zee if I don’t. You shall do what you like; spend
what you like; and ‘ave it all your own way. I’ll make you a zettlement. I’ll do
everything reglar. Look year!’ and the old man fell down on his knees and leered at her
like a satyr.

Rebecca started back a picture of consternation. In the course of this history we have
never seen her lose her presence of mind; but she did now, and wept some of the
most genuine tears that ever fell from her eyes.

‘Oh, Sir Pitt!’ she said. ‘Oh, sir—I—I’m married

ALREADY.’

Vanity Fair (1847-48) by William Makepeace Thackeray

Before Reading:
Who are the characters?
When does the story take place?
Where does the story take place?
What is the situation and what has happened before?

After Reading (in groups)

Do you think there is love between Sir Pitt and Becky Sharp?
Is there any difference of age between them? what is the evidence in the text?
How many surprises do you find in the text?
Find examples of humour in the text (for instance "I'm good for 20 years"). What's funny
about them?

Summary of the plot:

This novel was published in monthly numbers in 1847-8, and is principally concerned
with the parallel careers of two strongly contrasted characters: Rebecca (Becky) Sharp,
clever, unscrupulous, and courageours, and Amelia Sedley, a pretty, gentle, unintelligent
creature, whose father is a rich man of business. They are brought up together at school.
Becky tries to get further in life by captivating several people. She is engaged as
governess at Sir Pitt Crawley´s, who proposes to her on the death of his wife, bringing to
light that Becky has already secretly married Rawdon Crawley, his son. This revelation
infuriates both Sir Pitt and Miss Crawley, his wealthy sister, so that Rawdon loses his
aunt´s inheritance. Nevertheless, Becky will eventually manage to make her way into the
highest society thanks to her cleverness and lack of scruples, and in spite of poverty and
disadvantages of birth.
Amelia Sedley, on the contrary, lives a life of suffering, poverty and humiliation
due to her father´s ruin, her extreme sentimentality and her blind adoration for her
worthless husband, whom she insists on loving even after his death. It is only after Becky
has revealed to her the latter´s infidelity that she marries Dobbin, her honest and
unselfish worshipper.

Surprise or "Peripeteia": Aristotle's reversal, sudden shift of experience by characters or

audience. Enough information must be fed to the reader to make the revelation
convincing when it comes but not so much that the reader will easily anticipate it
(convincing and unexpected)