FW 6.5 Becky Sharp's Stratagems and another Fascinating Womanhood Imposter

 Hello, Beautiful Homemakers!

 

In today's video we continue discussing scenes from William Makepeace Thackeray's story Vanity Fair.  The subsections of Chapter 12 of the 1922 original Fascinating Womanhood pamphlet #6 is called "More of Becky Sharp's Stratagems," "How She Applied the Principles," and "Joseph is Enthralled."  

I read you 4 vignettes from Vanity Fair and also cover a few points Mary Rizza brings out in her article Sharp at Heart: Why We Should Resist the Appeal of Becky Sharp.  Becky is adept at using FW principles; however, she is manipulative and insincere, and does not possess the worthy character that a true Fascinating Woman nurtures and develops with her acquaintances, and in her relationships.

Becky is also adept in portraying "Beauty in Distress."  The most important sentence is "Could anything be better calculated to emphasize her tenderness, her feminine frailty, her helplessness in a cruel world, and her need for a man to take care of her?" (Please keep in mind that it was very important for a woman in the mid-1800's to be under the care and protection of a man.)

She is able to enthrall Joseph:  "She appeals to his craving for appreciation by appreciating the man who now expresses himself.  She is delighted with his tales...".  

"But the most artful of all her tricks is the manner in which she makes Joseph feel like a man and hero." 

And that is the end of Chapter 12!

I then discuss the Fascinating Womanhood Imposter - the Proverbs 5 woman - in the 2009 movie He's Just Not That Into You, and the woman who is most similar to a Fascinating Woman.

Thank you for listening and for subscribing to my YouTube channel!  The end of my reading this book is in sight!  Then I plan on delving into a homemaking book from the 1960s.

May God bless you!

Janine