An Analysis of the Main Characters in The House of Mirth and Vanity Fair from the Perspective of Feminism 

Li Xinyu  Leng Hailian^{（Corresponding Author）}

School of Humanities and Law, Fuzhou Technology and Business University, Fuzhou Fujian China, 350715;

Abstract: After an analysis of Lily Bart in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth and Becky Sharp in William Makepeace’s Vanity Fair, this thesis points out the cause of their tragedies. Though they exist in distinct ages and states, they take diverse manners of love and marriage, and have some spirit of rebellion, as helpless women, however hard they contend, their endings are almost the same: their dreams are finally extinguished. One gives up her life in exchange for her innocence and the other is expelled from the upper class and wanders here and three. When we trace its causes, besides their own personality defects, their tragic fate are essentially caused by the patriarchal society.

Keywords: Lily Bart; Becky Sharp; feminism; male dominated society; tragic fate

References

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[2]ROBERT TERRELL BLEDSOE. Vanity Fair and Singing[J]. Studies in the Novel, 2021(10): 51-63.

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[4]DEBORAH ESCH. New Essays on The House of Mirth[J]. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019(7):73-76.

[5]WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY. Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero[M]. London: Wordsworth Classics, 2011.