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Purpose and Significance of the Study

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) , a great critical realistic writer, is well-known to people in the 19th century in England. He is famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society. The story was setted in the 19th century. In the Victorian era, female were given very limited rights. Their status were often seen as an illustration of the distinctly discrepancy between the United Kingdom's national power and wealth. Women were seen, by the middle classes at least, as belonging to the domestic sphere, and this stereotype required them to be obedient to male. Womens rights were extremely limited in the male-dominant society, losing ownership of their wages, all of their physical property, excluding land property, and all other cash they generated once married. Vanity Fair is a novel without a hero. The book's title comes from John Bunyan's allegorical story The Pilgrim's Progress, first published in 1678 and still widely read at the time of Thackeray. Thackeray portrays the panorama of the bourgeois and aristocratic society during the Victorian ear. Amelia Sedley and Rebecca Sharp are the main characters in this novel. Amelia, kind and virtuous, was the daughter of a rich merchant while Sharp was an orphan. The two had became friends at Miss Pinkertons school for young ladies, where Amelia had been a student and Sharp a ward since the death of her father. Sharp is attractive, versatility, pretentious and tries everything to access to the upper-class. At Amelias home, she sets her cap at Amelia's rich brother, Jos Sedley. She almost succeeds in getting Jos to propose, but the man leaves her after a dinner. Having failed in her attempt on marrying Jos, Sharp goes to Queen's Crawley as a governess to Sir Pitt Crawley's daughters, where she successfully makes Captain Rawdon Crawley, Sir Pitt's younger son, falls in love with her. Besides, she wins his rich aunts favor. However, she secretly marries Rawdon, which angers Miss Crawley. Miss Crawley disinherit Rawdon. Having found that Sharp has an affair with Lord Styne, Rawdon leaves for India and dies of fever. Sharp is despised by English society. In the end of the story, Sharp get enough money to live in vanity fair from Jos Sedley. Captain Dobbin gives Amelia a hand when her father get bankrupt,and strives to pervade George Osborne to marry Amelia though Dobbin himself loves her deeply. Later, George died in the battlefield. Old Mr. Osborne leaves a fortune to Amelia and her son. Sharp tells Amelia something about her dead husband. Finally, Amelia agrees to marry Dobbin. Bebacca Sharp has always been a controversial figure in Vanity Fair. This paper will continue to explore Sharps character, outlook on life and try to give an analysis on her family background, social and historical factors that affect her personality. She bears both the rich artistic quality and obvious characteristics of the time. She is a sparking beauty with intelligence, strong will, and independence.