摘要

《名利场》被认为是萨克雷最具代表性的作品。在这部作品中，萨克雷致力于揭示各种人性弱点及金钱至上的社会的堕落。这部小说里有大量栩栩如生的阶级人物形象。萨克雷对这些阶级人物的描写迥异，不仅让读者对19世纪英国的社会阶层有总体印象，还为读者认识《名利场》中的上层社会和上层阶级提供了线索。小说中的主人公瑞贝卡野心勃勃，逐名逐利，集当时英国上流社会的虚伪于一身。本文旨在通过研究瑞贝卡的经历来揭示上流社会的堕落。

关键词：《名利场》，萨克雷，上层社会

Abstract

Vanity Fair is acknowledged as Thackeray’s most representative work, in which he devotes himself to exposing various human foibles and the corruption of a money-worshipping society. Throughout the novel, there are numerous lifelike characters of different classes. These distinct characterizations not only enables  readers to have a general idea about the social groups in the 19th century Britain, but also provide us with clues to understand the writer’s upper –class consciousness. The heroine of this novel —Rebecca seeks fame and money with ambition and lives a lie in the upper class of England .This thesis aims to expose the degradation of the upper class through Rebecca’s experience in Vanity Fair.

Key words: Vanity Fair, Thackeray, the upper class
 
1. Introduction
1.1. An introduction to Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray(1811-1863) is an outstanding figure in the 19th century British literature. Thackeray belongs to the mid-Victorian generation whose achievements represent the high point of Victorian culture. He is quite good at using a large variety of idiolects to indicate different characters’ personalities and social background. As Richard Mullen remarks, “Thackeray is important not only as a great novelist but also as a brilliant satirist, humorist and moralist”.
Some of Thackeray’s works are very successful, such as The Paris Sketch Book, The Irish Sketch Book, Pendennis, The Newcomers, and The History of Henry Esmond. Among all his works, what made Thackeray print his name in the list of literary history is Vanity Fair.