Vanity Fair · Chapter
IX: Family Portraits explained
This chapter provides a detailed portrait of the Crawley family, focusing on Sir Pitt Crawley's low tastes, his second marriage to Rose Dawson, and the resulting social isolation and domestic misery.
What happens
This chapter provides a detailed portrait of the Crawley family, focusing on Sir Pitt Crawley's low tastes, his second marriage to Rose Dawson, and the resulting social isolation and domestic misery. It introduces his son Pitt Crawley's refined but pompous character, and the influence of the wealthy spinster Miss Crawley, whose fortune makes her a revered figure in Vanity Fair.
Themes in this chapter
Vanity and Hypocrisy
The narrator directly addresses 'Vanity Fair' to condemn the pursuit of title and wealth over genuine happiness, as seen in Rose Dawson's miserable marriage and Sir Pitt's sordid character.
Social Class and Ambition
Lady Crawley's fall from a cheerful farm girl to a neglected, apathetic wife illustrates the cost of social climbing, while Pitt Crawley's ambition for public life is mocked as mediocrity.
Marriage as Transaction
Sir Pitt's first marriage was arranged for family advantage, and his second to Rose Dawson is a transaction of beauty for status, leaving her isolated and abused.
Wealth and Poverty
Miss Crawley's fortune commands universal deference, while Sir Pitt's stinginess and debt-dodging reveal the moral poverty behind his rank.
Characters to notice
- Sir Pitt Crawley
A vulgar, miserly baronet who married beneath his station for a pretty face, treats his wife with cruelty, and delights in evading his debts.
- Pitt Crawley
Sir Pitt's eldest son, a prim and proper gentleman who reforms the household's discipline, speaks in trite platitudes, and is a religious enthusiast.
- Miss Crawley
Sir Pitt's wealthy unmarried half-sister, whose fortune makes her an object of great respect and whose inheritance is courted by both the baronet and the rectory family.
- Rawdon Crawley
Sir Pitt's younger son, a soldier whose debts have been paid by Miss Crawley, and who bullied his brother Pitt at Eton.
- Mrs. Bute Crawley
The Rector's wife who refuses to visit Lady Crawley, snubbing her as a tradesman's daughter.
- Lady Jane Crawley
Lord Southdown's third daughter, to whom Pitt Crawley is said to be paying his addresses.
Key passages
“O Vanity Fair—Vanity Fair! This might have been, but for you, a cheery lass—Peter Butt and Rose a happy man and wife, in a snug farm, with a hearty family; and an honest portion of pleasures, cares, hopes and struggles—but a title and a coach and four are toys more precious than happiness in Vanity Fair”
The narrator laments that Rose Dawson could have been happily married to Peter Butt, but the allure of a title and carriage proved more valuable than true happiness in this world of vanity.
Direct commentary on the corrupting influence of social ambition.
“What a dignity it gives an old lady, that balance at the banker's! How tenderly we look at her faults if she is a relative”
A large bank account makes an elderly woman universally beloved and excuses her flaws, especially among relatives who hope to inherit.
Satirical observation on the power of wealth to command respect and affection.
“Vanity Fair—Vanity Fair! Here was a man, who could not spell, and did not care to read—who had the habits and the cunning of a boor: whose aim in life was pettifogging: who never had a taste, or emotion, or enjoyment, but what was sordid and foul; and yet he had rank, and honours, and power, somehow: and was a dignitary of the land, and a pillar of the state.”
Despite being illiterate, boorish, and morally corrupt, Sir Pitt Crawley holds high social rank and political power, illustrating the hypocrisy of the British aristocracy.
Explicit critique of the disconnect between personal worth and social status.
