Abstract: 

The setting of Vanity Fair is in the early 19th century in Britain, when the upper-middle class was morally bankrupt and predatory. Rebecca Sharp, the heroine in Vanity Fair, who lost her parents when she was a child, succeeds in conquering the whole upper class of the British society by making full use of her intelligence and wisdom and adopting some typical or atypical methods. She experiences ups and downs in vanity fair. This paper aims to probe into Rebecca’s dual personality and the causes that lead to her personality. The first part mainly discusses the positive side in Rebecca's personality, especially her wisdom, independence, strong will and loyalty. The second part mainly describes the negative side in Rebecca's personality, especially her selfishness, vanity, snobbishness and degeneration. The third part analyzes the causes of the duality in her personality from the perspectives of her family and the social background.

Keywords: Vanity Fair; Rebecca; personality; duality

摘要：

小说《名利场》的背景是19世纪初期的英国，当时的中上层社会道德沦丧、弱肉强食。小说女主人公，从小就失去双亲的蓓基•夏泼，充分利用自己的聪明才智，成功运用一些常规与非常规手段征服了整个英国上流社会，在名利场中沉沦起伏。本文旨在探究蓓基所表现出的双重性格，及其性格产生的原因。第一部分主要论述了蓓基性格积极的一面，表现在她的智慧、独立、坚强意志与忠贞；第二部分主要阐述了蓓基性格消极的一面，表现在她的自私、虚荣、势利与堕落；第三部分则从家庭和社会两方面分析了蓓基双重性格产生的原因

关键词: 《名利场》； 蓓基； 性格； 双重性

1. Introduction
Vanity Fair is W. M. Thackeray’s masterpiece, which makes him earn his place in British literary history. Thackeray is acknowledged as the eponymous British novelist with Dickens. As a critical realist writer, Thackeray tries to make his novel objective. He never hides or distorts the facts at will. He neither covers the demerits of the good guys nor neglects the merits of the bad guys. There’s even no hero in his novel, such as Vanity Fair. There are two clues in the plot of the novel: one is about the ups and downs of Rebecca in vanity fair; the other clue is about Amy’s resignation to her fate. Compared with Amelia, Rebecca’s personality is more striking. Rebecca, smart and beautiful, was born in a poor artist family. Her father gives drawing lessons at Miss Pinkerton’s school. After her parents have died, she studies in the school. Though she is discriminated against at school, she takes advantages of school education.