Vanity Fair, Chapter 39: riassunto

Cosa succede

1. Bute receives far less inheritance than expected, and Mrs. Bute cuts household expenses while maintaining an appearance of prosperity.
2. Pitt and Lady Jane visit the neglected Hall, where Sir Pitt refuses them accommodation and evades questions about cutting timber.
3. Miss Horrocks controls the household, imitates fashionable manners, and hopes to become Sir Pitt’s wife.
4. After mocking her singing and drinking heavily with Horrocks, Sir Pitt becomes seriously ill, and a messenger fetches the doctor.
5. Mrs. Bute arrives with Bute and James, finds Miss Horrocks trying keys, and accuses her of stealing.
6. Sir Pitt remains unable to speak, while Mrs. Bute assumes control and the Horrockses surrender the keys and leave.

Cosa notare

The narrator’s irony exposes the cruelty behind Mrs. Bute’s claims to virtue. Her treatment of Betsy makes respectable conduct look like a means of revenge.

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