Victorians! discussion

I have to admit, in a strange sort of way I found Becky to be one of the most sympathetic characters within the book. I do agree that she herself was greatly responsible for her own fate, and that her own actions and deceit are what brought her to ruin, and I certainly do not agree with much of the choices she made, and acknowledge some of the things she did as being quite wrong and even cruel.

Yet on the other hand the cruelty which she herself suffered at the hands of others, and the way everyone else sneered upon her, and the jealousies of other women, and particularly, towards the end when she kept being kicked after she was already down, made me want to root for her and show them all up.

I found particularly Mr. Wenham's actions to be deplorable and petty. She had already lost her husband, was outcast by her family and severed from her connection to Lord Steyne (and it is true that she does have herself to blame for all of these events) but I don't think there was any need for him to keep showing up and destroying all of her efforts to try to reestablish herself into society again.

Though Becky was quite mercenary and her ambitions were shallow, and I did particularly cringe over the lies she told in regards to her son, she had a strength and boldness that I admired. She wanted to climb to the top, yet on the other hand she did not truly care what anyone else's opinions of her were. She was a survivor who was not content to simply accept her lot in life but determined to have what she felt she deserved, while her priorities may have been misguided she was not willing to accept the fact that because she came from nothing, meant she had to keep her head hung down and live in servitude to others.

1. Trace all of the factors that influence our feelings about Dobbin throughout the novel. Do we experience peaks and valleys with him as we do with Becky, and do we feel that he gets what he deserves at the novel's close? Does Amelia get what she deserves?


I never did care for Dobbin much. He was too self-sacrificing, and too much of a lap dog for George, and I usually am not one to go for martyr types.

He is desperately in love with Emmy, and he knows the kind of person George is, and that George was not faithful to Emmy when they were first together, and he is loosing his desire to marry her, yet he still pushes him into honoring his engagement to her, though he does it in his selfish devotion to Emmy because of how miserable Emmy was, did he really expect George to become an altogether different person? He forfeits his own happiness for the sake of another who is unworthy.

But then he kind of feels like a sort of vulture the way he hovers around them all the time, it is as if he is waiting for something to happen which will give him an opportunity. While I don't think he would consciously wish ill upon George, why else would he always put himself in the presence of the woman he loves, and pine away after her when she is out of reach, instead of trying to move on with his own life, unless he still had some hope that the circumstances would change.

He was also a hypocrite toward the end I felt. He knew that George was a scoundrel and did things to hurt Emmy, yet he still justified being his loyal and devoted friend, in spite of George's flaws he would still do anything for him and always stood by his side, though part of it was for the sake of Emmy.

But when Emmy wants to forgive and befriend Becky again, that is not ok, and that is when he decides to take offence and demand that Emmy cannot be friends with her and tries to put his foot down and throw a tantrum when he does not get his way. So through everything it was because Emmy did with Becky the exact same thing he did with George, that he decided he had a enough and was done pining away after her

This really was "a novel without a hero," wasn't it? LOL