An Analysis of the Tragedy in Vanity Fair from Becky and Amelia 英语毕业论文.docVIP

An Analysis of the Tragedy in Vanity Fair from Becky and Amelia I. Thackeray and His Masterpiece Vanity Fair 1.1Thackeray:“The Legitimate High Priest of Truth Thackeray was born in Calcutta of India, the son of Richmond Thackeray, a collector in the East Indian Company’s service. Thackeray had a luxurious childhood, but his father died when he was three, and he was sent home to England in 1817 to rejoin his mother, who married again in 1820. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, but without taking a degree. Later he studied painting and began his career in journalism for a weekly paper, and he inherited money had been lost. So he tried to make a meager living from journalism, in 1836,he married Isbella Shawe, who suffered a mental breakdown in 1847; his first major Vanity Fair appeared which made him a famous writer of his time . Thackeray belonged to the mid-Victorian generation. In that period, the society underwent enormous changes, a multitude of social problems existed under the booming appearances, He had profound insight into the various phenomena of the society. Besides, he disliked people who were unduly impressed by birth and rank and his skillful ridicule of snobs and hypocrites. In his works, his realistic temperament enabled him to see and satirize inconsistencies in life. He knew that rogues sometimes did well while the innocent suffered and virtuous people could be dull and bad guys could be lively. Thackeray again and again pointed out that the folly, social climbing, hypocrisy, cruelty, avarice, loveless ness, and selfishness exhibited by individual characters had their origin and counterpart in society as a whole. To show the connection between the individual’s values and behavior and society’s he often generalized from a particular situation or individual’s action to the behavior and value of societies. He wrote of the world and its people as he saw them. He wrote as an observer rather than a participant in life. He always kept his char