In a letter to his close friend Jane Octavia Brookfield while the book was being written, Thackeray confided that "You know you are only a piece of Amelia, my mother is another half, my poor little wife "y est pour beaucoup"". Within the work, her character is compared and connected to Iphigenia, although two of the references extend the allusion to all daughters in all drawing rooms as potential Iphigenias waiting to be sacrificed by their families. Her sacrifice of her child to her wealthy relatives is compared to the biblical Hannah.