A 19th Century Schemer Remade For The Present
Time|December 17,2018 - Double Issue

CLASSICS MAY BE CLASSIC FOR A reason, but that doesn’t mean they age perfectly.

Judy Berman​​​​​​​
A 19th Century Schemer Remade For The Present

In the 21st century, it seems impossible that marriage could satisfy the intellectual appetites of a whipsmart Jane Austen heroine, or that The Merchant of Venice could have been intended as a positive representation of Jews. Even thornier are stories whose entire moral architecture contradicts current values—like Vanity Fair.

Set during the Napoleonic Wars, William Makepeace Thackeray’s 1848 epic is as funny, romantic and profound as ever. The challenge in adapting it for a contemporary audience, as Amazon has done in a seven-part co-production with Britain’s ITV that comes to Prime on Dec. 21, is in framing its protagonist, Becky Sharp. A lovely and brilliant but thoroughly broke young woman of low social status, she is forced to find work as a governess. But instead of accepting her fate, she hunts for a rich husband.

This story is from the December 17,2018 - Double Issue edition of Time.

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This story is from the December 17,2018 - Double Issue edition of Time.

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