From Shaping the Characters of Becky to Analysis Thackeray`s Criticism on the British Society in Vanity Fair

 ABSTRACT

     Vanity Fair is a novel which full of ironic implication, which has made Thackeray`s unshakable position in the history of British literature. People regard him as a master of fiction and he is equally famous as Charles Dickens. Vanity Fair by depicting the heroine Becky`s personality traits to represent Thackeray`s criticism on British society at that time, Becky is vanity, versatility, timeserving, selfishness and hypocrisy. She always avoids responsibility, those are the typical basic features of the English polite social dignitaries. The heroine Becky shows everyone her own beauty, especially to the dignitaries, winking and flirting dignitaries and keeping improper relationship with dignitaries to improve her own positions, get the money, get gold and silver jewelry, and luxurious. How to gain wealth as an ordinary woman? Of course not by their own hands, but by the man. Becky's life appeared a lot of men, Rawdon is her husband, she does not love her husband, however, just because she thought Rawdon is the heir to the fortune and so married him. In this paper, by studying author Thackeray`s character portrayal of the heroine Becky to expose and criticize at that time a lot of woman like Becky in order to enter the  upper society by hook or by crook in British society.

Key words: the shaping of image; the British society; critical; Vanity Fair

Contents

Part one. Introduction 4

1.1A brief introduction of Thackeray 4

1.2An introduction of Vanity Fair 4

Part two. The character analysis of Vanity Fair 5

2.1 Cold 5

2.2 Hypocritical 6

2.3 Vanity 6

2.4 Versatility 6

2.5 Timeserving 7

2.6 Selfishness 7

2.7 Conclusion of Becky`s characteristic 8

Part Three. The positive character of Becky 8

3.1 The bold man 8

3.2 Dare to resist 9

3.3 Wit and smart 9

Part Four. The film and comment 9

4.1 The film of Vanity Fair and the director 9

4.2 The role of Becky 10

4.3 The making process of this film 11

Part Five.The wrong outlook on life 11

5.1A bitter family condition leads to abnormal attitudes to life 12

5.2The marriage as a "ladder" 13

Part Six. Conclusion 14

Bibliography 15