3。1 Fortune-careless Amelia 6

3。2 An unswerving wife and responsible mother 7

4。 Rebecca — the adventuress in Victorian era 9

4。1 Money-grubbing Rebecca 9

4。2 A husband hunter and irresponsible mother 10

5。 Conclusion 12

Reference 13

1。 Introduction

William Makepeace Thackeray, one of the representatives of British critical realism, occupies a very important role in British literature。 Vanity Fair, with a sub-title “A Novel Without Hero” is his masterpiece。

The novel mainly describes the different life experience of two female characters, Amelia Sedley and Rebecca Sharp。 Amelia, born in a rich family, is a kind, sweet and innocent girl。 In her teens, she was sent to a private school where she met Rececca and became friends。 After graduation, she returned home and was arranged to marry George Osborne, who came from a family of equal status。 Unfortunately, her father went bankrupt, which ruined her marriage with George Osborne。 She loved George Osborne so deeply that she couldn’t accept the love from Captain Dobbin。 Finally George Osborne married Amelia without the support of his family, but he died in a war。 So Amelia had to live with her son in very poor conditions。 Through many years, Amelia was helped and loved by Captain Dobbin, and when her son was sent to the Old Osborn’s family, she married to Captain Dobbin。

Rebacca, a daughter of a poor painter, is a smart, brave but cunning girl。 Her mother died when she was only a child。 Her poor family conditions made her life very tough, when she studied in the Miss Pinkerton’s Academic for Young Ladies, Miss Pinkerton treated her unfairly and looked down upon her。 Because of her suffering, she longed to live in the upper class。 After her graduation, she tried every means to marry Rawdon Crawley and planed to have a better life。 However, their marriage made Miss Crawley so angry that Rawdon Crawley was cut off without a penny and he even couldn’t find a job to earn a lot of money。 So the living condition of Rebecca and Rawdon Crawley was very tough。 But nothing could stop Rebecca from upper class, she kept tucking into the upper class society, causing her husband Rawdon Crawley and her son left her。 Finally she lived alone and was isolated by the upper class society。

Amelia and Rebecca are two different characters in this novel, having different characters and attitudes towards family and money。 Rebecca tries all means to “hunt a good husband” to help herself tuck into the upper class, that means her marriage is just a means for her to achieve “upper class dream”。 She is such a cunning and selfish women, but her beauty, bravery and cleverness makes her “live” in the upper class easily。 However, Amelia is totally different。 She doesn’t care about wealth or fame, what she chases for is love, so she gives up everything to marry George Osborne。 At the same time, she is also selfish, she has always treated Captain Dobbin as a friend who is kind, and generous to her。 However, she takes his love for granted and hurts Captain Dobbin for years。 Though these two female characters have different attitudes towards family and money, they are both the products of that society, so neither of them is the hero of this novel。

This paper is intended to interpret the comparison between Amelia and Rebecca from the perspective of feminism, by making a contrastive and critical analysis of the two female characters, Rebecca and Amelia, on their  different  attitudes  towards  family  and  money。 And  the  paper  will  analyze  their  difference  from the