The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-01-28
THE PASSING SHOW.

In the newspaper criticisms Of Tuesday
last. Rebecca. titularly known as Becky
Sharp" was twice mentioned as being
that sort Of a WOMAN"
Now. in so far as its literal meaning is
concerned. the phrase might be applied 10
any female person. from a severe gn to
street-sweep. but the words that sort OF
a woman have come TO refer to a particu-
lar kind-the very Kind of which Tnack-
erays heroine was not. There Is TO
possibility that Becky will rise from under
the tombstone OF her bindings to rsfute the
|. calumny but the fact that 1t is a calumny
remains Though, TO all intents and pur
poses Just a triiie worse and more danger
Gus than either Camille or Sappho, this
companion of Lady Jane belonged TO an
altogether different class-that of the APP
parently respectable Then, as at present.
outward show was everything, ard. except
for an envy-bred but quite uuspoken sus-
picion. Becky's reputation was of the white
and spotless variety. She Was the wife Ct
Col. Rawdon Crawley. a gambler. but
courageous veteran of Waterloo. and. while
in certain quarters her moral lOoseness
was sufficiently guessed at to give her an
enormous masculine following surmise did
not take the form of assurance. Indeed
until the night OF the affair With Lo.d
Steyne. that sort of a woman" never
seriously misbehaved. The author of her
being William Makepeace Thackeray, even
asked regarding her conduct on that even
ing: What had happened? Was she
guilty OF not2" To which Lsngdo. Mitch
ell has replied. "No-eNeept IN intent"
Thus. distinctly. the plotting. ambitious.
conscienceless. seductive Becky was not
near the position from which she eoild
have been taken TO become the subject o.
|. sentence like the one quoted.
As matter of verify. the wickedness
of Mrs Fiske's creation all was in intent.
She planned great deai-did little. This
| is not an extenuating circumstance. though
the law recognizes a difference between
murder and the mere attempt to kill. But
there may be question as TO whether or
not extenuating circumstances did exist,
albeit no writer who has treated Of the
theme ever succeeded in discovering them.
/ In the mind OF the erudite reviewer. Becky
Sharp so far seems to have been willfully
wretched character: the incarnation of
complete and aggressive viciOusness; one
of those moral lepers in whom no in
stinct OF good is born. The redeeming
traits urged for her have been wit and
buoyancy and occasional but temporary
tenderness. She has been preseEtr1 as
being tolerable chiefly in her ability to
diseomft such pompous fools as was Lady
| Bareacres. Absolute deprayity is seen so
, seldom. however that it might be termed
! phase. of insanity. II were more reason
able. therefore. upon consideration, TO
deem Bicky Sharp the victim Of a success
sion OF triumphs. Observe:
In the play the spectator first was in
troduced to the Thackeray heroine afore-
4 said at the house of Lady Jane Crawley
! There she had gained her foothold, partial
| ly by evident lack of principle but chiefly
! as a result OF her ability in serving the
/ wealthy spinster Though. a matter of
| instinct. she had made herself agreeable
! 10 Pitt Crawley, Joseph Sedley, and others.
there had been behind her exhibited fasci-
nations nothing much deeper than the or
! binary feminine love of conquest Ordi-
narily feminine, too. was her acceptance
Of Rawdon Crawley, the most distinguished
| sutton who offered And with her mar
riage to that social blackleg, came the
| vista Of a new life; the ambition to be
prominent in the field which to her con-
| scious-not vain-nature seemed most at
| tractive and for which she was undeniably
| fitted. Perhaps, the discovery that. by
waiting until Sir Pitt was widowed. she
might have shot nearer her mark, increased
! her determination to reach that mark de-
| spite all obstacles and whether by fair
means or foul. Meanwhile, IL was neces-
| sary for the pair TO exist, and so there were
debts. Becky tooh dishonorable way Of
settling them. having no better Not until
confronted with the alternative of paying
| or having all her dreams shattered and
! dissipated, however, did Mrs. RawdOn
| Crawley think of selling herself. The
| thought came with shudder: its fulfill
ment was begun shudderingly. Caught,
| Becky Sharp may have realized initially
the complete horror OF what she had been
about TO do. Naturally. the primal con-
sidetation was the injury worked upon her.
self, but there is nothing TO show that on
the downward road TO Pumpernickel the
ruined adventures did not regret the lost
affection of Col. Rawdon Crawley, her
| husband.
In this paragraph there Is no effort to
argue that Becky Sharp was not what
The Times criticism OF Tuesday called
her-"chest, liar, thief, imposter, pre-