A Foil is one who sets out “to prevent the success of; to frustrate…” the goals and plans of another, The design is “to keep (a person) from succeeding in an enterprise, plan.” This is illustrated in the Novel – Vanity Fair - by William Makepeace Thackeray who was born at Calcutta in 1811. On his way to England from India, he saw Napoleon on St. Helena. His attendance at a school run by a Dr. Turner gave him experience later used in his book, Vanity Fair. A visit to Weimar bore fruit in the sketches of life at a small German court which appear in Vanity Fair. In 1848, while he was on the staff of Punch, he wrote Vanity Fair, the work which placed him in the first rank of novelists. It is a Novel of scheming, intrigue, relentless pursuit of a selfish desire, and how the attempt was foiled.
Vanity Fair focuses on “Amelia Sedley, of good family, and Rebecca Sharp, an orphan, who leave Miss Pinkerton's academy on Chiswick Mall to live out their lives in Vanity Fair — the world of social climbing and search for wealth. Amelia does not esteem the values of Vanity Fair; Rebecca cares for nothing else. Rebecca first attempts to enter the sacred domain of Vanity Fair by inducing Joseph Sedley, Amelia's brother, to marry her. George Osborne, however, foils this plan; he intends to marry Amelia and does not want a governess for a sister-in-law. Because of George's marriage, old Osborne disinherits him. Both young couples endeavor to live without sufficient funds. When Rawdon discovers Rebecca in her treachery, he is convinced that money means more to her than he or the son whom she has always hated. Because her parents are starving and she can neither provide for them nor give little Georgy what she thinks he needs, Amelia gives up her son to his grandfather Osborne. William Dobbin comes back from the service, reconciles old Osborne to Amelia, whereat Osborne makes a will leaving Georgy half of his fortune and providing for Amelia. Rebecca, having lost the respectability of a husband, wanders in Europe for a couple of years and finally meets Joseph, Georgy, Amelia, and William on the Continent. Rebecca sets about to finish what she started to do at the first - ensnare Joseph. She does not marry him, but she takes all his money and he dies in terror of her, the implication being that she has, at least, hastened his death. At the end of the book Rebecca has the money necessary to live in Vanity Fair; she appears to be respectable. William has won Amelia…”
The Novel serves in show the interweaving of Foils, Foibles and Fools. In today’s Wall Street Journal Online, Peggy Noonan concludes her column on: “Pull The Plug On Obama-Care” with these words – “It's not especially pleasurable to see history held hostage to ideological vanity, but it's not the first time. And if they keep it up, they'll help solve the president's problem. He'll have a Republican congress soon enough.” The mystique of a Vanity Fair Syndrome. Vanity can blind one to Reality and that which is Right! Vanity can compel one to drive into the obstructions no matter the peril or cost. Two of the several meanings of Vanity are: “excessive pride in one's appearance, qualities, abilities, achievements, character or quality of being vain; conceit;” and “lack of real value; hollowness; worthlessness.”
The Book of Ecclesiastes could be viewed as an Essay on Vanity. Is it any wonder that the wisdom writer would pause and note: Ecclesiastes 2:1, 11 – “I said in my heart, Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure; but surely, this also was vanity. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.” And then Vs.15-17, “So I said in my heart, As it happens to the fool, It also happens to me, And why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, This also is vanity. For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool! Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.” Life is more than the undaunted and vanity-driven pursuits. Godly and Righteous Values must be the reality and not merely a political ploy to achieve a personal goal. Vanity is not our Victory. Consider these things with me!
Vanity Fair focuses on “Amelia Sedley, of good family, and Rebecca Sharp, an orphan, who leave Miss Pinkerton's academy on Chiswick Mall to live out their lives in Vanity Fair — the world of social climbing and search for wealth. Amelia does not esteem the values of Vanity Fair; Rebecca cares for nothing else. Rebecca first attempts to enter the sacred domain of Vanity Fair by inducing Joseph Sedley, Amelia's brother, to marry her. George Osborne, however, foils this plan; he intends to marry Amelia and does not want a governess for a sister-in-law. Because of George's marriage, old Osborne disinherits him. Both young couples endeavor to live without sufficient funds. When Rawdon discovers Rebecca in her treachery, he is convinced that money means more to her than he or the son whom she has always hated. Because her parents are starving and she can neither provide for them nor give little Georgy what she thinks he needs, Amelia gives up her son to his grandfather Osborne. William Dobbin comes back from the service, reconciles old Osborne to Amelia, whereat Osborne makes a will leaving Georgy half of his fortune and providing for Amelia. Rebecca, having lost the respectability of a husband, wanders in Europe for a couple of years and finally meets Joseph, Georgy, Amelia, and William on the Continent. Rebecca sets about to finish what she started to do at the first - ensnare Joseph. She does not marry him, but she takes all his money and he dies in terror of her, the implication being that she has, at least, hastened his death. At the end of the book Rebecca has the money necessary to live in Vanity Fair; she appears to be respectable. William has won Amelia…”
The Novel serves in show the interweaving of Foils, Foibles and Fools. In today’s Wall Street Journal Online, Peggy Noonan concludes her column on: “Pull The Plug On Obama-Care” with these words – “It's not especially pleasurable to see history held hostage to ideological vanity, but it's not the first time. And if they keep it up, they'll help solve the president's problem. He'll have a Republican congress soon enough.” The mystique of a Vanity Fair Syndrome. Vanity can blind one to Reality and that which is Right! Vanity can compel one to drive into the obstructions no matter the peril or cost. Two of the several meanings of Vanity are: “excessive pride in one's appearance, qualities, abilities, achievements, character or quality of being vain; conceit;” and “lack of real value; hollowness; worthlessness.”
The Book of Ecclesiastes could be viewed as an Essay on Vanity. Is it any wonder that the wisdom writer would pause and note: Ecclesiastes 2:1, 11 – “I said in my heart, Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure; but surely, this also was vanity. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.” And then Vs.15-17, “So I said in my heart, As it happens to the fool, It also happens to me, And why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, This also is vanity. For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool! Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.” Life is more than the undaunted and vanity-driven pursuits. Godly and Righteous Values must be the reality and not merely a political ploy to achieve a personal goal. Vanity is not our Victory. Consider these things with me!
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