Vanity Fair depicts the hedonistic lives of the upper classes of wealthy England in the 1800s. Against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, the protagonist Becky Sharp wages a war of her own. She comes from a poor background, but she has grown up in close proximity to the rich and powerful. She has seen the luxuries and indulgences that the elite are afforded by their wealth, and she is determined to elevate herself into their class position. Becky never considers herself to be a part of this social elite; she is consistently aware of her outsider status. Nevertheless, she ascends into British high society through sheer force of will. She marries herself into a wealthy family, lies to her creditors, and charms wealthy men with the rugged determination of a soldier on the front lines. Becky identifies a fundamental unfairness in her world and dedicates her life to breaking into this social elite. She refuses to be a member of the meek and pliant underclass, so she does whatever she must to become as wealthy and as powerful as her former classmates.

Amelia Sedley functions as a thematic counterpoint to Becky with regard to class war.