A Brief Analysis of Feminism in Vanity Fair_英语论文

摘要

萨克雷是十九世纪英国著名的批判现实主义作家，《名利场》是他所有作品中最经得起考验的一部。故事取材于十九世纪的英国中上层社会。当时国家强盛，中上层人物纷纷热衷于追名逐利，争权夺势。在整部小说中，没有一个英雄人物，所有人只是当时社会现象的一个缩影。萨克雷在小说中塑造了两个重要人物---蓓基与阿美莉亚，蓓基机灵乖巧，家庭贫困，自强独立，为进入上层社会不择手段；阿美莉亚懦弱温柔，生活无趣，对待爱情盲目且愚忠。萨克雷塑造这两个人物是因为目睹当时社会中太多女性遭受压迫与不公却无力反抗，对于当时这种现象，他对女性是非常同情的。本文作者认为萨克雷写这部小说是因为收到了一定程度的女性主义作品的影响，尽管他不是女性主义的支持者，但是他的确希望女性能够坚强勇敢，敢于向不公平的待遇抗衡，争取自己的利益。这也是作者对蓓基的态度模棱两可的原因。本文立足于女性主义重点分析蓓基与阿美莉亚这两个人物，并且将阿美莉亚作为蓓基的陪衬，分析蓓基身上的女性主义特点以及作者对女性的态度。

关键词：萨克雷 《名利场》 蓓基 阿美莉亚 女性主义

Abstract

William Makepeace Thackeray was a realistic and critical writer in the 19th England, and among his works, Vanity Fair was the most valuable one. The whole story originated in the British Middle-upper class in the 19th century. At that period, England was powerful, as a result, people were busy pursuing fortune and fame, and fighting for social status. There was no real hero in the story, because each person was just an epitome of the society. Thackeray shaped two important figures in the novel----Becky and Amelia, Becky was smart and pretty, but came from a poor family, and she tried every useful way to get into the upper-class. On the contrary, Amelia was pure but less strong, and her life was quite dull, besides, her attitude towards love was silly and blind. Because Thackeray had seen so many women in his period were oppressed and treated unfairly but did not resist, he was quite sympathetic for them. To some degree, I think the reason why Thackeray wrote this novel was that he was affected by feminist works, although he did not support it, he did hope that women could be brave and fight against those unfair treatments, and struggle for their own benefits, and that’s why his attitude towards Becky was ambiguous. And in this thesis, I will analyze Becky and Amelia based on feminism, or, more exactly, analyze the feminism in Becky by setting Amelia as the foil of her and Thackeray’s attitude towards women.

Key Words: Thackeray; Vanity Fair; Becky; Amelia; Feminism

Contents

1  Introduction 1

2  The Non-Traditional Becky 3

1.1 Becky’s attitude towards money and social status 3

1.2 Becky’s sense of worth 4

1.3 Becky’s attitude towards marriage 5

3  The Traditional Amelia 7

2.1 Amelia’s attitude towards money and social status 7

2.2 Amelia’s sense of worth 8

2.3 Amelia’s attitude towards marriage 9

4  Analysis of Thackeray’s Feminist Thought 11

3.1 Thackeray's attitude towards Becky 12

3.2 Thackeray's attitude towards Amelia 13

3.3 Thackeray’s Attitude towards Women 14

5  Conclusion 16

Bibliography 18

Acknowledgments 19