Why is George Osborne’s death at the Battle of Waterloo important in Vanity Fair?

In William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, George Osborne’s death at the Battle of Waterloo serves as a critical turning point that exposes the moral ambiguity and shifting fortunes of the novel's characters.

At the time of his death, George is portrayed as unfaithful and prepared to desert his wife, Amelia Sedley, for the ambitious and scheming Becky Sharp. His sudden demise prevents this betrayal from being fully realized, effectively freezing his character in a state of unfulfilled potential and preserving Amelia’s idealized, albeit misplaced, devotion to his memory.

This event is essential to the novel's "antiheroic" nature, as it removes a flawed figure from the narrative, allowing the story to progress toward the eventual triumph of virtue through Amelia’s later marriage to Captain William Dobbin. Ultimately, George’s death underscores the novel’s tragic irony and its exploration of human vanity, as the characters’ lives are abruptly altered by the unpredictable circumstances of war and personal ambition.12