Abstract William Makepeace Thackeray is an outstanding critical and realistic writer in the 19th century。 In Vanity Fair, his masterpiece, the irony art becomes a significant characteristic and the author presents a vivid panorama of English society of the 19th century with bitter tone and has superb artistic accomplishment。 As one of the most frequent and important rhetoric means of narration in the novel, irony contributes a lot to compose the intrinsic value of the work, and is explored in Vanity Fair supremely well by Thackeray, This paper focuses mainly on the application of irony in this novel, and will analyzes it in four aspects: the title, the characterization, the plot arrangement, and the narration。 Moreover, this paper will analyze the ironic effect and reveal the true object of irony and the intention of the author, which will not only assist readers to acquire a more profound understanding of the characters and the theme in this work, but also offer readers the perspective of thinking about social reality at that time。92515

Key words: Vanity Fair; irony; application; ironic effect; ironic object。

摘要威廉·梅克皮斯·萨克雷是十九世纪杰出的批判现实主义作家。在他的代表作《名利场》中，无处不在的反讽修辞成为一个显著特色。作者通过辛辣反讽技巧，给读者展示了一个十九英国社会的缩影，其艺术成就不可估量。反讽作为小说叙事一种最常见、最重要的一种修辞手段，是构成小说内在价值的重要因素，本文主要分析作者对反讽手法在文中的运用，主要从四方面入手：标题，人物塑造，情节发展，叙述方式。并探究其反讽效果，挖掘反讽的对象及背后的真正意图，这将深化读者对作品的理解，进而引起读者对当时社会现实的思考。

毕业论文关键词：《名利场》；反讽；运用；反讽效果；反讽对象

Contents

1。 Introduction 1

2。 Literature Review 2

3。 Applications of Irony in Vanity Fair 3

3。1 Definition of irony 3

3。2 Irony on title 3

3。3 Irony on characterization 4

3。4 Irony on plot arrangement 7

3。5 Irony on narration 8

4。 Conclusion 11

Works Cited 13

1。 Introduction 

Since the Industrial Revolution in the second half of the 18th century, the English society had gone through the radical change in the social structure。 The struggle for power ended in the victory of the bourgeoisie over the aristocracy。 A powerful working class arose in spite of the tough conflict between labor and capital, the feudal class and the bourgeois class。 The 19th century was a time when great realistic writers were coming forth in a large number, and they tended to reveal the horrible contortion of human nature inflicted by power and money。 We can find that they not only described the situation of the bourgeoisie and other ruling classes in their works, but also showed sympathy for the general public。 Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy and Bronte sisters are all great English realists。

William Makepeace Thackeray, the representative of critical realism in the 19th century。 When he was young, his father died, and his mother reorganized a new family, Thackeray was almost homeless in childhood, so he felt deeply the fickleness of the word very early。 The experience of inconstancy of human relationships in his childhood gave him an incredible impression, which was used in Vanity Fair。 His Vanity Fair published in 1848, made the peak of his literary career。 Thackeray himself and his work are appreciated by many reviewers and novelists。 The Richard Mullen remarked “Thackeray is important not only as a great novelist but also as a brilliant satirist, humorist and moralist” (Mullen 189)。 Thackeray’s subversive comic attack at the hypocrisy and “dismal roguery” of an avaricious world still resonates 150 years latter with implications for our own times。 (Edward 40)