Thackeray loves social activities, yearning for comfortable life of the upper class。 On the one hand, he has a good relationship with the top people, on the other hand, these figures are often the object of satire in his works。

    Vanity Fair, a critical realism novels, using vivid description of characters and plot, exposed and satirized the greed, evil, corruption of the capitalist society’s dark side, expressed sympathy to the low-class mass, exposed the inconstancy of human relationships in capitalist society and evil of human nature, praised the pure and sincere human nature。

    In Vanity Fair, there are two young women Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley。 Their life was the main line of this story, showing the view of British upper class life in the early 19th century。 One clue is telling about a kind, clumsy woman Amelia Sedley who was living in an rich family; another clue is about a clever, selfish, orphan girl Becky Sharp。 In 1813, they took the same carriage leaving Pinkerton female Academy。 In 1815, with the opposition of her families, they were married to two British military officers who would participate in the battle of Waterloo。 Later, the historic battle started。 Amelia’s husband was killed in the battle while Becky’s husband survived。 The next decade, Becky’s life became easy and well-off, rising up to the upper class and having a chance to meet the king。 But due to the bankruptcy of the her father, Amelia was under the great misfortune。 By the year 1827, their fate was reversed, Becky’s life fell into destruction, and Amelia turned to a happy and prosperous life。

II。 A Brief Introduction to Satire 

    Satire is an efficient scheme used to reveal the darkness of the society and human nature, which is euphemistic but forceful。 It makes content and description vivid and profound in meaning。

2。1 Definition of Satire

    Satire is a technique utilized by writers to reveal and criticize ignorance and corruption of an inpidual, a society or even the entire world, meaning to improve humanity by criticizing its crime and shortcomings。 In the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, the definition of satire is: “a way of criticizing something such as a group of people or a system, in which you deliberately make them seem funny so that people will see their faults。” (2030) Huang Ren cites this point of view, in his English Rhetoric & Writing, the interpretation of satire is “can be used to refer to irony, sarcasm, and its characteristic is used to satirize the social phenomenon or the number of people”。 (30) 

    Satire is an emphasis on the purpose and object of irony。 It refers to the humor of people, ideas or institutions to satirize the dark side of the society or people。 According to Aristotle, satire in the literary field means a literary work, which exposes and ridicules human vices or folly。 It can be written with witty humor or with anger and bitterness。 

In history, satire is slathered in Aesop’s Fables to satirize the ignorance and the ugly phenomenon in society。 In this ancient Greek fable, human beings is likened to animals in order to reach a satirical target。 Therefore, satire uses fictional characters frequently, which stand for real people, to disclose and condemn weakness of human nature。文献综述

2。2 Function of Satire

    Satire is applied to expose the vices and crimes。 Satire is often used in the article in order to achieve humor effect and give a better expression of our profound thought and passionate emotion。 In literary works and daily life, using satire appropriately, the language can be more profound and full of appeal。 What is the satire? Using comic or satirical portrayals to achieve negative and bad effect。 It is a kind of special feeling of the expression form in fault, ugly and evil。 The use of satire is to expose the irony of the contradictions。 Satirical art has a variety of forms, such as contrast, exaggeration, irony and so on。 The lower level is a witty laugh, the higher one is satire。 Satire usually has a specific target, which may be a person, an idea or attitude, a system or a social activity。 《名利场》中的讽刺艺术(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_98751.html