Vanity Fair Characters

A poor orphan of low birth, Becky Sharp is a born hustler and almost sociopathic striver who manages to raise herself to the upper limits of high society and wealth, only to see her achievements cr...

A soft, passive young woman, Amelia Sedley is born into wealth, comfort, and the protective arms of practically anyone who comes into contact with her. Married to an undeserving man who dies in co...

Born to a wealthy, snobby, social-climbing banker, George Osborne lives in the lap of luxury. Because of his good looks and manners, he fancies himself the perfect gentleman. His hasty marriage to...

A large, imposing army dragoon, Rawdon Crawley sows enough wild oats for about ten men, but then he falls in love with and marries Becky Sharp. Marriage, and especially fatherhood, reforms this di...

Ungainly, unattractive, and lisping, Dobbin is surprisingly the novel's only real gentleman. His heroic deeds as a soldier earn him steady promotion through the ranks, while his long and unrequite...

Amelia's older brother is a very vain, very fat, very self-important officer in the East India Company. Although he is at first able to escape being married to Becky, eventually she re-ensnares hi...

Rawdon's older brother Pitt seems at first to be an effeminate and pedantic weakling. However, his powers as a diplomat and master strategist eventually get him most of the material prizes the nov...

A dirty, disheveled, stingy old man, Sir Pitt is a baronet and the owner of Queen's Crawley, where Becky works as a governess. Eventually he comes to want Becky to be his wife but is disappointed...

A kind, gentle, and highly maternal woman, Lady Jane humanizes her husband, Pitt Crawley, appreciates the domesticated Rawdon Crawley, and eventually quasi-adopts Rawdon and Becky's son.We don't se...

A very rich, very high-maintenance, extremely worldly old woman, Miss Crawley holds the purse strings of the Crawley family fortune. Though she seems likely to leave it all to Rawdon, his marriage...

The maternally neglected, paternally indulged son of Becky and Rawdon, Rawdon Jr. eventually ends up being the novel's big winner, at least as far as status and money are concerned. He becomes bar...

The wife of Sir Pitt's brother, Reverend Bute Crawley, Mrs. Bute is a scheming and generally angry woman. She gets very close to the Crawley fortune, but because of her extremely controlling and ag...

An extremely important and very rich member of the nobility, Lord Steyne becomes Becky's debauched and cynical entrée into the highest peaks of English society and government. She is with him for...

An imperious, willful, and self-important little boy, George Osborne's son is adopted for a time by his paternal grandfather. At Mr. Osborne's George Jr. learns to live like a little aristocrat â€...

Mr. Sedley is Amelia's father. He begins the novel as a prosperous merchant and investor but is financially ruined and bankrupted by the second invasion of Napoleon.When he is still rich, Mr. Sedl...

George Osborne's father is a stern, vulgar, self-made business man. He is obsessed with promoting his son into the aristocracy and disowns him after George insists on marrying old family friend Am...

Mrs. O'Dowd is the wife of Major O'Dowd, who leads George and Dobbin's regiment. She is Irish – really, really Irish.Because the novel is super long and because Thackeray didn't get to go back to...

Miss Swartz is a rich, orphaned, Jewish-Jamaican heiress who falls into the clutches of the Osborne family. Her portrayal is pretty hard to stomach. We are meant to find her innate vulgarity – a...