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

Abstract

摘要

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