• Born:India Father:an Indian civil servant
• Education: 6 years old sent to England and left Cambridge without a degree
Vanity Fair
• Vanity Fair is Thackeray's masterpiece. It was published in 1847-48. The sub-title of the book, “A Novel Without a Hero”, suggests the fact that writer ' s intention was not to portray individuals, but the bourgeois and aristocratic (贵族的） society as a whole. The title was taken from Bunyan's “Pilgrim's Progress”.
Character
• Thackeray presented his characters as they are real in life. He recorded the failings of his characters, as well as their merits(功德) and capacities(才能).
Theme
• The title suggests the theme: vanity fair. The treasures of vanity fair, that is money and position, are desirable but transient(短 暂的).
• Thackeray’s idea is that although one may live in vanity fair, one need not be a slave to its values, which eventually turn into emptiness(空虚).
• circumstance:
the story happens in the middle-upper class. At that time, the industry and business are booming and the war between Britain and France breaks out.
• He also described his characters through contrast, like Amelia vs Becky.
• Becky: an orphan trying so hard to climb up into the upper class.
• Amelia: a kindhearted , weakly sentimental(伤感 的) girl who loved her husband very much.
William MakepeaceThackeray
& Vanity Fair
Wilቤተ መጻሕፍቲ ባይዱiam Makepeace Thackeray
• Thackeray was a representative of critical realism in 19th-century England who has the same reputation with Charles Dickens.