Abstract and Key Words

Abstract: This paper aims to give a relatively fair and just evaluation and recognition to Becky Sharp in Thackeray’s masterpiece Vanity Fair, and further reveal the brutality, cold-bloodedness and oppression of English society, especially its upper-middle class, of the nineteenth century. This paper analyzes the positive characteristics of Becky Sharp ----- her bravery and resistance, activeness and smartness, indomitable courage and self-possession, and then probes into the main causes of her characteristics. This paper holds that despite some bad images, Becky Sharp is still a positive figure in Vanity Fair; indeed, she is a survivor and a success of the male-dominated society which focuses on money and social status.

Key words: Becky Sharp; Vanity Fair; positive figure

摘要：本文旨在给与萨克雷的代表作即《名利场》中的蓓基-夏泼一个相对公平、公正的评价与认识，同时，进一步揭示19世纪的整个英国社会尤其是中上层阶级的冷酷、无情、残暴的本质。文章展示了她的正面性格特征，如勇敢且反抗的、活跃且聪明的、坚强不屈且沉着冷静的等等，并探究其性格的主要成因。文章认为，蓓基-夏泼虽然有一些负面形象，但仍然应被视为《名利场》中的正面人物，认为她是那个金钱至上且具有阶层意识的男权社会中的幸存者和成功者。

关键词：蓓基-夏泼；《名利场》；正面人物

1. Introduction
Vanity Fair，William Makespeace Thackeray’s masterpiece, was published in 1847-1848, and of all the English fictions, this novel is the most prominent in the world literature. As a matter of fact, the topic that Becky Sharp in this novel should be regarded as a positive or negative image has been heatedly discussed in recent years. Different people hold different opinions.
 Some people believe she is a negative image. She is a typical social climber, snob, egoist and parasite and in order to step into upper class, she does almost nothing good. Becky Sharp is so hypocritical, unscrupulous, selfish and sly that she becomes one of the typical representatives of snobs of English society at that time.
    Others’ opinions are quite the opposite. They think that Becky Sharp has vitality and is fascinating to the reader and one goes through Vanity Fair by following her progress. She is an unmistakable individual, and she has a typically symbolic quality. She is a woman of spirit rebelling against the humiliations forced on her by certain social conventions. Rebecca has never grumbled about her unfair fate and has never passively accepted the misfortune that happened to her. From beginning to end, she unremittingly struggles hard with her fate.