 Sharp has been called a "love to hate her and hate to love her" character, and this was radically different from previous representations of young women in literature.Thackeray has been described as "radical" in making his heroine(s) not only female, but also one of them conventionally wicked in character yet sympathetic to the audience.Sharp's way of intruding her life into that of others has led to comparisons by one scholar to other Victorian literary characters.