"I am poor and put upon," concedes Becky Sharp during the first episode of Vanity Fair, but it rapidly becomes clear that she intends to change this situation, scrambling up the social ladder by exploiting her guile, good looks and the gullibility of doting males. In the light of her selfish, single-minded resolve to achieve success, Sharp may be viewed as an optimistic dreamer, pragmatic schemer, proto-feminist or a coquettish combination of all three.