Everyone in Miss Crawley's household is putting on an act. Rebecca schemes how she and Rawdon can win forgiveness from Sir Pitt and Miss Crawley.
There is humor in Miss Crawley's hurrying up to see Sir Pitt on his knees; she is bewildered at Rebecca's refusal and tears. Thackeray says Rebecca "wept there so naturally that the old lady, surprised into sympathy, embraced her with an almost maternal kindness . . . I am sure our friend Becky's disappointment deserves and will command every sympathy."
The irony of Vanity Fair is that the people pretend to feel emotions until their pocketbooks, passions, or family names are touched; then they revert to savagery. The worship of money shows in Mrs. Bute Crawley's taking charge of the household ostensibly to protect Miss Crawley, actually to get her money.
The worship of name and position shows in the horror the Crawleys feel because Rawdon has married a governess. Becky's friends say her mother was of a fine French family; her enemies say she was an opera girl. However, if a person has money, like Sir Pitt, he may marry whomever he likes, and the family will conceal its disapproval.
Many incidents of this stage of the story will figure later in the plot: the purchase of Jos' picture by Becky; Dobbin's purchase of the piano for Amelia; the Osborne reaction to Sedley's failure; Rawdon's willingness to live on nothing.
William Dobbin, "the uproused British lion," brings about the reconciliation of George and Amelia and sets the stage for further developments. George, having neglected to find out what has happened to Amelia, feels shame for having forgotten her. Selfish as he is, he can feel embarrassment over his own cruelty. However, as the reader will see, he does not stop being selfish.
