 Sharp was, according to Hughes, "a measure of how debased society had come".Sharp's machinations can only work within the world of "Vanity Fair" — and Victorian society more broadly — because vanity and artificiality make it susceptible to her.Another plot device favoured by Victorian writers was that of children playing adult roles in society, and vice versa, and Sharp's comment that she had not been a girl since she was eight years' old has led to her being identified as one such "child-woman".