The
very term, "Picaresque" has been originated from the Spanish word
‘Picaro’, which means a "rogue", or "knave". A Picaresque novel is a
story undertaking the adventures or misadventures of a Picaro or who wanders
from one country to another, from one setting to another, from the town to the country, from one inn to another and in
this way the novelist gets an opportunity of introducing a variety of
characters and incidents, of painting society as a whole realistically. The
picture may be satiric but the aim of the novelist is to delight and entertain,
and not to reform or improve.
Vanity Fair: Picaresque Character
Thackeray's Vanity Fair has
a strong, well marked element of the picaresque. It has a number of characteristics of the picaresque novel. First, its
central figure, Becky Sharp, is a rogue and a villain. As David Cecil puts it,
"she is not a lamb but a wolf, artful, bold, and unscrupulous". She
is an orphan with no parents, or other friends and relatives to look after her.
Early in life, she is left unprovided and uncared for to shift for herself. She
is an adventuress who uses her wits to make her way in life, and the novel is a
study of her adventures and her vicissitudes as she passes through various
scenes, meets with various incidents, and comes in contact with a great variety
of characters.
The canvas is over-crowded with character and
incident. The incidents and adventures which befall Becky or in which she is
involved are thrilling, sensational, and melodramatic, characters from all
strata of society have been introduced, and in this way a comprehensive and
realistic picture of contemporary Victorian society has been presented.
However, it should be noted first, that the plot of
the novel is not loose and incoherent as is the case with a picaresque novel.
There might be a little superfluity and confusion here and there, but on the
whole the novel has a coherent, unified structure. Secondly, it should also be
noted that unlike the writer of a
picaresque novel, Thackeray is not entirely concerned with moral issues. His
intentions are moral. He is a moral satirist, and his aim in the novel is to
expose and ridicule the false values and idols of Vanity Fair.
Vanity Fair: Picaresque Setting
Further, the novel has a vastness and variety of
setting which characterizes a picaresque romance, and which is almost epical in
its range and sweep. The novelist has provided an international backdrop to the
adventures of his central figure. The action moves from London to the
countryside, from the house of the Sedleys’ to Queen’s Crawley in Hampshire,
and from Hampshire to Brighton. From Brighton the scene shifts to Paris, then
to Brussels, and a number of other towns of Europe including Pumpernickel. In
the background, there is India Boggeywala and Madras. The roar of cannons is
heard, Napoleon and Duke of Wellington stand behind and the whole panorama of the Napoleonic wars passes before
the mind’s eye. The amplitude of the setting gives the characters all the room they
want to move about.
Vanity Fair: Picaresque Adventurers
Emphasizing the close
affinity of the novel with a picaresque romance, E.M.W. Tilyard writes.
"Vanity Fair, even if much nobler, is the logical heir of Barry London, which it succeeded in
time". Becky and Rawdon are both adventurers and for a while they join in
preying on society. In every other way they differ. And this
diversity-in-likeness gives the novel its own richness as well as its master
motive.
The picaresque story is a
genuine literary kind because it is based on a permanent tendency of human
nature; the tendency to sympathize with anti-social behaviour while knowing
that it cannot go on forever." The careers of Rawdon and Becky furnish a
superb example of this. We want Becky to win her gambles, until Rawdon develops
a human affection and the beginning of a moral sense. Then we waver, and Rawdon
becomes the successful agent of a transfer of feelings; then we sympathize with
him rather than with Becky.
There is also a good deal of
support for the adventures of Becky and Rawdon. There are other adventures
besides these two. Old Osborne is the successful adventurer in business; the
self-made man. Jos Sedley, timid as he is, adventures to money in India. Young
Osborne is the adventurer among the aristocrats who fill in the commissions in
the British Most of the character are or have been on the make and unite to
give the novel its special character. The disinterestedness of Amelia and
Dobbin is a smaller affair and serves as a foil rather than forms the main
substance.
We may sum up in the words of Tilyard, “There can be no question of Vanity Fair's being an epic: it remains the superlative picaresque romance."
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