摘　要

威廉•萨克雷是英国批判现实主义的代表作家之一，《名利场》一直以来被公认为他的代表作，萨克雷通过对人物的生动刻画，揭示了其小说的主题思想——当时的英国社会是一个不折不扣的名利场。本文以女性主义的角度来解读《名利场》，以波伏娃的女性主义批评理论为依据来探讨女主人公贝基•夏普，包括她所遭遇的困难和挫败以及之后的所作所为。本文分为四部分：第一章是对全文的总体概括，对作者和小说《名利场》的介绍并指出了本文的理论依据——波伏娃的女性主义。第二章先则是文献综述，结合国内外的研究文章来进一步为本文的研究提供帮助。第三章分析了贝基如何挑战父权制并且讲述了贝基在实现自我和挑战男权制的过程中所遇到的困境和挫折，从而认为贝基的形象是对传统女性形象的颠覆，不再是一个弱女子的形象。最后是总结部分，总结了前文，认为夏普的性格特点是值得当代女性学习的，我们应该以正面的态度从其身上学到优良的品质。

关键词：萨克雷；《名利场》；贝基•夏普；女性主义；父权制
 
Abstract

William Thackeray is one of the representatives of the English critical realistic writers. And Vanity Fair has been generally regarded as his masterpiece. Thackeray made vivid character descriptions which illustrated the theme of the novel——the English society was the very place full of vanity fair. This thesis studies Vanity Fair from a feminist critical perspective. Based on Beauvoir’s feminist critical theory, the author is to analyze Becky’s challenge to patriarchy ands illustrates her features and then the difficulties and frustrations she meets. This paper includes five parts. Firstly the thesis gives a general introduction including Thackeray’s life and his masterpiece Vanity Fair, a brief review of Beauvoir’s feminist theory. Secondly, it is the literature review balancing with foreign and domestic studies on Vanity Fair. The third chapter analyzes how Becky subverts women’s traditional image, not a weak woman any longer, and discusses how Becky challenges the patriarchy. Then it shows the difficulties and frustrations that Becky meets in the process of self-fulfillment and against patriarchy. Last chapter is the conclusion part in which the author makes a summary of the whole thesis and makes focus on the idea that Becky Sharp has many good qualities that are admirable and people should view her in a positive way.

Key words: Thackeray; Vanity Fair; Becky Sharp; Feminism; Patriarchy

1 Introduction
1.1 William Thackeray’s Introduction and Vanity Fair
William Makepeace Thackeray (18 July 1811-24 December 1863) was born in Calcutta in 1811. His father, Richmond Thackeray, had been an Indian civil servant. In his early education, an independent spirit was infused to small Thackeray. Thackeray went his own way, leaving college without taking a degree.
His wife Isabella is an Irish girl. She enchanted him with her singing, and was the model for Amelia in Vanity Fair. They had three children, one dying in his childhood. After the birth of the third child, Mrs. Thackeray had some psychological disease and she had to be placed with a family who took care of her. The little girls were sent to Thackeray's mother in Paris.