Female Images in the Eyes of Thackeray
萨克雷眼中的女性形象
Abstract
William Makepeace Thackeray is an outstanding critical writer in England in the 19th century who enjoys equal popularity with Charles Dickens. And Vanity Fair has been generally regarded as his masterpiece. It reflects the fates of two contrasting but inter-linked lives, through two women characters—Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley. In the novel Thackeray examines the position and role of women in a money-oriented and status-conscious male world and attacks a corrupted, hypocritical society which advocates the Victorian virtues of marriage and family.
This thesis emphasizes the analysis of two heroines, through which to read this book anew. The author firstly analyzes the background of Thackeray and introdeces his life and work, and the social background of that time, especially the woman’s position to understand the writing background. Secondly, the author analyzes the wrting aim of Vanity Fair i.e. widely exposes and sharply criticizes the wheeling and dealing, and greed for fame and wealth of people in the Britain of 19th century under capitalism through its theme and perspective. Thirdly, the author reviews this novel and makes brief analysis in terms of its artistic achievement. In the end, the author penetrates deeply these two heroines by comparison of their different backgrounds, characters, views of love, and results.
Keywords: fates, position, role
中文摘要
威廉·梅克皮斯·萨克雷是19世纪英国的一位伟大的批判现实主义作家，,与当时的大文豪查尔斯·狄根斯齐名。小说《名利场》一直被公认为他的代表作。作品通过刻画两位女性人物蓓基·夏普和爱米丽亚·塞得利,反映出两种截然不同而又相互关联的命运。透过这两个女人的悲欢离合,萨克雷关注的是金钱至上,具有阶层意识的男权社会中女人的地位和角色,抨击了提倡维多利亚婚姻家庭观的腐朽、伪善的社会。
本文着重于通过分析两位女性人物蓓基和爱米丽亚来重新解读《名利场》。作者首先对萨克雷的背景进行分析，介绍他的生平和作品，及其当时所处的社会背景，尤其对当时的女性地位进行着重分析，以了解《名利场》的写作背景。其次，作者从其主题和角度出发，分析了《名利场》的写作宗旨，即广泛地揭露和尖锐地批判了十九世纪的英国在资本主义统治下人们尔虞我诈，追名逐利的社会生活画卷。作者继而对《名利场》进行了文学评论，简要地分析了《名利场》的艺术成就。最后，作者通过对比小说中两位女性人物蓓基和爱米丽亚的不同出生背景，性格，爱情观，及结局，深入剖析了这两个萨克雷笔下的女人。
关键词：命运，地位，角色
Contents
Abstract 1
中文摘要 1
Introduction 2
I The background of William Makepeace Thackeray 2
1.1 Thackeray’s life and works 2
1.2 Social background 4
1.2.1 Chartist Movement and Chartist literature 4
1.2.2 Woman’s position in society 5
1.3 Writing style 6
II Introduction to Vanity Fair 7
2.1 The theme and perspective of Vanity Fair 7
2.2 Literature review on Vanity Fair 8
III Analysis of Becky and Amelia in Vanity Fair 8
3.1 The different backgrounds of Becky and Amelia 8
3.2 Differences in character between Amelia and Becky 9
3.3 Views of love between Amelia and Becky 10
3.4 Different Results 11
Conclusion 11
Bibliography 11
