Vanity Fair · Chapter
In Which Miss Crawley’s Relations Are Very Anxious About Her explained
As the army advances in France, Miss Crawley recovers at Brighton, alienated from her relatives.
What happens
As the army advances in France, Miss Crawley recovers at Brighton, alienated from her relatives. Rawdon sends war trophies but she scorns his marriage. Pitt Crawley, engaged to Lady Jane, conspires with the domineering Lady Southdown to convert and secure Miss Crawley's fortune, while Sir Pitt's scandalous behavior and Mrs. Bute's failed schemes further complicate family dynamics.
Themes in this chapter
Family and Betrayal
The Crawley relatives vie for Miss Crawley's favor and fortune, betraying each other through manipulation and hypocrisy.
Vanity and Hypocrisy
Mrs. Bute's pious sermon on military vanity contrasts with her own greed; Lady Southdown's religious fervor masks social ambition.
Wealth and Poverty
Miss Crawley's fortune is the central prize, with relatives scheming to inherit while Rawdon is dismissed as a 'doomed pauper.'
Marriage as Transaction
Pitt's engagement to Lady Jane is a strategic alliance; Miss Crawley laments Rawdon's marriage to a 'dancing-girl' instead of a wealthy heiress.
Characters to notice
- Miss Crawley
Recovering from illness at Brighton, she remains bitter toward Rawdon and Rebecca, frequently rewriting her will and tormenting Miss Briggs.
- Rawdon Crawley
Now a Lieutenant-Colonel and C.B., he sends war relics to his aunt, but she remains unforgiving of his marriage to Becky.
- Pitt Crawley
Engaged to Lady Jane, he seeks to secure Miss Crawley's fortune and soul, aligning with Lady Southdown's religious and medical impositions.
- Lady Southdown
A strong-minded evangelical dowager, she imposes her spiritual and medical remedies on Pitt and plans to convert Miss Crawley.
- Lady Jane Crawley
Pitt's fiancée, she is the gentle favorite of her father Lord Southdown and supports her mother's schemes.
- Miss Briggs
Miss Crawley's companion, she bears the brunt of her employer's sarcasm and is accused of being an accomplice to Becky.
- Sir Pitt Crawley
The old baronet has sunk into dissipation, drinking with tenants and flaunting Miss Horrocks, to the horror of his son.
- Mrs. Bute Crawley
She sends gifts to Miss Crawley but is alarmed by Rawdon's promotion, fearing Rebecca might regain favor.
Key passages
“What a pity that young man has taken such an irretrievable step in the world! ... He would have had my money some day or other; or his children would—for I'm not in a hurry to go, Miss Briggs, although you may be in a hurry to be rid of me; and instead of that, he is a doomed pauper, with a dancing-girl for a wife.”
Miss Crawley laments that Rawdon's marriage to Becky has ruined his prospects of inheriting her wealth, calling him a pauper and Becky a dancing-girl.
Highlights Miss Crawley's disdain for Rawdon's marriage and her control over her will.
“The strong-minded Lady Southdown quite agreed in both proposals of her son-in-law, and was for converting Miss Crawley offhand.”
Lady Southdown eagerly supports Pitt's plan to convert Miss Crawley and secure her fortune.
Illustrates Lady Southdown's domineering nature and the religious manipulation of Miss Crawley.
