Analysis of the Human Nature from Becky Sharp’s Life after Reading Vanity Fair.doc

由名利场的女主角夏泼蓓基的人生分析人性analysis of the human nature from becky sharps life after reading vanity faircontents abstract.1 key words.1.introduction .1 . thackeray and vanity fair .2 2.1 the author.2 2.1.1 thackerays life experience2 2.1.2 thackerays opinions on human nature.32.2 the main contents of the novel.4. what is human nature?.53.1 the deep course of human nature.53.2 the dark aspects exist extensively.6. analysis of becky sharps life experience .64.1. analysis of beckys success and failure .64.2 contrasting with amelia sedley .10. recognizing the human nature, living a happy life .12vi.conclusion.13 references .14analysis of the human nature from becky sharpslife after reading vanity fair摘 要： 名利场是19世纪英国著名批判现实主义小说家萨克雷的代表作。“描写真实”和“宣言仁义”是它的两大主题。此篇论文主要从女主角夏泼蓓基的奋斗经历来分析人性，并举例分析当今社会人们的世界观和价值观,以及造成这种认识和观点的深层原因,即人性中的美好与阴暗。最后得出结论：我们应该认清人性的本质并以正确的方式去追求有价值的东西，只有这样，我们的生活才能幸福而有意义。关键词：名利场；人性；阴暗面；光明面 abstract: vanity fair is the masterpiece of william makepeace thackeray, one of the most important novelists of critical realism in the 19th century british literature. “description of what is true” and “advocation of what is benevolence” are the two basic tasks of it. this paper mainly makes a comment on becky sharps life and at the same time, analysis of the human nature. the paper also gives examples about the outlook and opinions on value of the modern people. then analyses the deep cause of it, that is, the bright and dark aspects of the human nature. this comes to the conclusion that we should recognize the human nature and go after the valuable things in a proper way, thus we can live happily and meaningfully. key words: vanity fair, human nature, dark aspects, bright aspects.introductionhuman nature is complicated, abstract, and difficult to describe. as the human beings came into being, the bright and dark aspects of it have taken on everywhere and have influenced the relationship between each other. from the ancient time to the modern time, from the foreign countries to our motherland, there are many scholars, philosophers, etc, have done researches on human nature. naturally, there are many works on it. for example, the well-known philosopher of our ancient china, mengzi, had a famous saying; “human beings were kind when they were born.” in england there was a critical realist, william makepeace thackeray, who was born in 1811, and passed away in 1863, writing an outstanding novel named vanity fair. in this novel, the author successfully created a female character becky sharp. through describing her process of climbing into upper society and contrasting with another female figure amelia sedley, thackeray pieces the hypocrisies of vanity fair, reveals the disgusting, brutal, degrading sordidness behind and below its elegance and glitter. becky sharp is a perfect embodiment of the spirit of vanity fair as her only aspiration in life is to gain wealth and position by any means: through lies, mean actions and unscrupulous speculation. just as a course book of english literature (volume) reviews this novel, “though the world he (thackeray) depicts is predominantly that of the upper-middle class in the early 19th century-with its whirling ballrooms, noisy parties, heavily curtained bedrooms, elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen at card-tables and billiard rooms, flirting or gambling, where money is made or lost, marriages are contracted , the ambitions are thwarted and the stupid favored-his social-climbers and snobs and money-grabbers can be found in any class.” thackerays criticism embraces people of all social strata. and in vanity fair, there are no completely positive characters. as a satirist his description is true. on the other hand, the author does not forget to advocate benevolence. this novel and its noted character becky sharp prove rather effective in indicating the human nature, especially the dark sides of it successfully and clearly.thackeray and vanity fair2.1 the author2.1.1 thackerays life experiencethackeray was born in india. his father was a wealthy english merchant working with the east india company. but later, the business went bankrupt. in 1829, thackeray entered the university of cambridge, where he found his chief interest was in drawing. leaving the university without taking his degree, he attempted to develop his literary and artistic abilities. first as the editor of a short-lived journal and subsequently as an art student in paris. in 1836, he married esabella shawe. it was a happy marriage. but when the second of their three daughters died, his wife became insane. thackeray found consolation in writing. his first literary success came with a series of satirical sketches entitled the snobs of england. these sketches were later collected under the title the books of snobs. this book gives a satirical description of the ruling class in england. in the forties of 19th century, thackeray had already become a good realistic writer. in 1847, he published his masterpiece vanity fair, which makes the peak of his literary career. the rich life experience helped him know both the upper class and the large number of ordinary people, naturally including the human nature deeply. so vanity fair is popular with its readers from its publishment till now, and will continue in the future in the whole world. 2.1.2 thackerays opinions on human naturethackeray was one of the greatest writers in victorian period. he and another famous writer charles dickens were the most important representatives of the new literary trend-critical realism, at that time. the english critical realists of the 19th century not only gave a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the ruling classes, but also showed profound sympathy for the common people. in their best works, the greed and hypocrisy of the upper classes are contrasted with the honesty and good heartedness of the obscure “simple people” of the lower classes. hence the humor and satire abound in the english realistic novels of the 19th century. as british literature reviews, “critical realism reveals the corrupting influence of the rule of cash upon human nature.” however, there are a lot of differences between thackeray and dickens. dickenss criticism of the society is seldom directed at the inhuman social institutions and corrupted government which brings great misery and suffering to the poor working class, which is shown in his works. what thackeray criticizes is the social moral that makes up the society, not the political structure and organizations that run the society. to him, the society is diseased because it is morally corrupted, because most people are money-oriented. to obtain money and comfort and luxury it brings, they take every means to fight and to cheat each other. becky sharp is the typical figure of this kind. then another one john osborne is also the same. he is one of the parvenus at that time. thackeray describes him to show the mental outlook and nature of the members of the bourgeoisie in those days-their obsession with wealth. osborne admires the aristocrats on which thackeray comments satirically, “his blood bevelled with honest british exultation, as he saw the name of osborne ennobled in the person, and thought that he might be the progenitor of a glorious line of baronets.” on the other hand, if the bourgeoisie could not help him to realize his purpose to climb into the upper classes and if he were looked down upon by the noble man he would show off the power of his money and say the “nobility” is nothing. they depended on each other and yet for existence despised each other. such is what thackeray reveals in his work vanity fair.thackeray not only described the kinds of evil phenomena in the novel, he but also pointed out the root of them. he observed that it was the selfishness, which covered the whole society that corrupted the human nature. in his opinion, each person in vanity fair is foolish and selfish. they are only after honors and benefits. thackeray once said, “maybe our love is mixed up with many other private components.” for example, the old osborne loves his son, but he loves himself the most. in order to achieve his purpose, he dose not admit georges marriage to amelia, as her fathers business is bankrupt. amelia is faithful to her dead husband and is only willing to be a friend of dobbin. yet, in the authors eyes, she just wants to occupy his love, but does not want to give love returned. however, at the same time, thackeray persuaded his readers to forget ourselves and love others more. because either honors or benefits will be nothing in the future. politically, thackeray was a radical, advocating social reform and democracy. but what he found wrong with the social life was not the social institutions or the political system of the society. from his personal experience and sharp observation of the society he came to conclude that the existing society was corrupted and that it could never be any healthier if people valued wealth, comfort and prestige more kindness, diligence, humor and love. he took it as his duty to expose the vices of his age, especially the popular in the upper-middle class. and he regarded snobbery and money-grabbing with all possible means as the chief vices in his society. the out-and-out social climbers and snobs and egoists in his writings are the most profoundly studied characters in english history.2.2 the main contents of the novelvanity fair, william makepeace thackerays masterpiece, was published in 1847-1848 in monthly installments. the subtitle of the book, a novel without a hero, suggests the face that the writers intention is not to portray the individual, but rather the bourgeois and aristocratic society. as a whole, vanity fair takes its title from an episode in john bunyans the pilgrims progress, in which the pilgrims christian and faithful come upon a center of worldly trade, set up by apollyon and beelzebub, where property and honor are bartered all the year round. when bunyans pilgrims are asked, “what will ye buy?” they answer, “we buy the truth.” but thackerays characters, like the inhabitants of the original vanity fair, are not interested in truth. they sacrifice themselves for unworthy objects, deceiving themselves that these are worth the effort. in the novel, thackeray describes vanity fair by saying that, “it is a very vain, wicked foolish place, full of all sorts of humbugs and falsenesses and pretensions.” with scathing irony he exposes the vices of this society: hypocrisy, money-worship, and moral degradation. there are so many characters, settings and incidents in vanity fair that it is often called “panoramic novel”. the design depends on contrasting pairs of characters, particularly amelia sedley and becky sharp. through describing the pair of characters social relationships and activities, the author gives us a vivid picture of all types of people in the first half of the 19th century, and reveals especially the dark sides of human nature typically.what is human nature?3.1 the deep course of human naturehuman nature is an abstract notion. and it is the special nature that distinguishes people from animals. narrowly speaking, it refers to the feelings and emotions of our human beings. of course, as “every coin has two sides”, it has both good and bad aspects. as far as i am concerned, human nature owns a distinct feature, that is, it is influenced badly by the environment. in different situations, the behavior of people will be different, especially when facing the extreme circumstances, such as murdering, robbing, large quantities of treasure, and so on. and it is much more complicated as an old tale told us: the ancestors of rome were the twins who were ever persecuted by their uncle who wanted to usurp the throne. and the two brothers were thrown into a river. however, fortunately, a female wolf rescued them and brought them up. later, they became grown-ups and recaptured the throne, killing their uncle. but the female wolf was dead. then, in order to memorize her kindness, they built a new city for her. but another question emerged; whose name would be the name of the new city? the two brothers quarreled with each other severely about this question. at last, the old one killed his brother and used the former letters “rome” of his name to name the city. of course, he was the only ruler of the city. so the rome people took the female wolf as the symbol of the city. the cruel instinct and the maternal instincts were the first gifts that the nature gave our human beings. just as the famous philosopher hegel said: “someone believed that it was the kindness that created history, and he spoke out a great truth; however, someone said that it was the evilness that created history, and he spoke out a greater truth.” life not only means living, which is the situation of animals, but is not the human beings. so people create new things and at the same time, they try their best to climb higher, in order to live a better and happier life, which is normal and is the innate nature of the human beings. nevertheless, during the process of struggling, the bright or the dark aspect of the human nature will stick out obviously or not obviously.3.2 the dark aspects exist extensivelywilliam thackeray, an expert of creating images, was good at displaying the personalities of his characters in different situations. through typical figures and real state of affairs, he depicted a vivid picture of the 19th century. becky sharp, the center figure of vanity fair, is determined to worm her way into the upper society at all costs. she is clever, selfish, bohemian and (initially) poor. we can see clearly that becky is an opposite in this novel. however, on the other aspect, she should get the readers sympathy at the beginning because the people around her look her down upon. she is a daughter of a poor artist and a french dancer. yet, nearly everyone in pinkerton school likes amelia who is a daughter of an english rich merchant. thackeray always contrasted the two heroines in writing, which impressed us deeply in their changing fates according to their own different personalities. the author aimed to tell us that in the certain situations, people would choose something advantaged for them, which was human nature, even though it would destroy others happiness and benefits.each person strives to live well than before, than others, which will naturally lead to competition, sometimes very serious and crazy. so people need to learn to control their emotions and selfishness in the bottom of the heart. otherwise, the world will be no order. for example, in order to win her own land or invade other countries, one country will cause a war with others. another relatively small incident: one graduate even spread rumors of his classmates because he wanted to get a job earnestly, just regardless of the four years friendship. such phenomena, even much worse than these stated above, have happened now and then. from the ancient time to the modern time, exist both in the foreign countries and in our motherland. if people do not control the dark aspects of the human nature properly, they will lead to what we cannot imagine. we should believe the bright aspects would weight the dark aspects. we should not always consider ourselves first when facing the occasions, advantaged or disadvantaged. as professor and editor zhang boxiang reviewed, “he (thackeray) was naturally a man of a gracious and lovable personality. although the early separation from his mother, exclusion from his class as a ruined young man and an unfortunate marriage cultivated in him a restless and bitter temperament, he always had a kind heart and deep respect for all that was pure and good in life.”.analysis of becky sharps life experience4.1. analysis of beckys success and failureas the center figure in the novel, becky sharp gets different comments from the readers. someone says that she is a woman bourgeoisie adventurer. the story of vanity fair happened about between 1812 and 1832. at that time, britain had become the strongest industry country in the world. it enlarged its colonies and so pushed the capitalism to develop very quickly. many parvenus came into being along with this. however, their methods were not appropriate. they invaded the colonies and looted their wealth, which made everyone want to be rich one night. naturally, a large number of them only focused on the money, benefits, and did not care about other even valued things, such as love, friendship, and ones kinsfolk, etc. that was a world of men. but becky appeared. she was poor, and much worse, was an orphan. if she dreamed to have much money, a rich husband, and have a position in the upper society, she must depend on herself. she could only rely on herself. undoubtly, we should admit that becky was clever and brave. when the day to say goodbye to pinkerton school coming, “the embracing was over; they parted-that is, miss sedley parted from her friends. miss sharp had demurely entered the carriage some minutes before. nobody cried for leaving her.” i think most readers felt a little angry and sympathized becky while reading this part. becky worked very hard and her french was wonderful. however, her classmates did not like her. and miss pinkerton looked down upon her. however, to miss sedley, it was different. “but she (amelia) had such kindly, smiling, tender, gentle, generous heart of her own, as