How does Vanity Fair examine ambition and selfishness?

In his novel Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray examines ambition and selfishness by presenting a "panorama of human frailties" that reflects the human condition. Subtitled "A Novel Without a Hero," the work is deliberately antiheroic, with Thackeray explicitly stating his objective to indicate that people are largely "foolish and selfish" and "eager after vanities".12

The novel explores these themes primarily through the contrast between two women: the passive Amelia Sedley and the ambitious, amoral Becky Sharp. Becky, an unprincipled adventuress, serves as the central figure around whom others revolve, illustrating the lengths to which individuals will go to climb the social ladder.12

Thackeray avoids a simple moral binary, instead portraying his characters with dispassionate sympathy to highlight the "ambivalence of human motives". Through this lens, the novel serves as a lasting, ironic evaluation of human experience, ultimately questioning the possibility of true happiness or satisfaction in a world driven by such relentless, self-serving ambition.2