Virtuousness And Viciousness: A Study At The Roots And Essence Of Humanity's Dualism In Vanity Fair

Humanity's dualism-virtuousness and viciousness, which is often reflected in literary works, is an eternal theme of human beings. William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair recorded the transformation of society in the Victorian age. Although it took the battle of Waterloo as its background, it is a novel of critical realism. This paper will discuss the dualism of humanity - virtuousness and viciousness manifested in Vanity Fair;exploring the essence and its social roots under the cover of the contradictions.This thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter will firstly give a brief introduction, including William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair and the Victorian literary. In the second chapter, the research will review the theories about the humanity's dualism and the manifestations of the dualism from Vanity Fair. Chapter three is about the social roots of humanity's dualism, including the social background that the middle class was rising up; the commodity cultural erosion and influences of religion. Chapter four discusses the essence of humanity's dualism. Psychologically, the substance is the conflict between consciousness and unconsciousness. While ethologically speaking, the substance is appealing for the "complete reality". This thesis concludes, in the fifth chapter, that the human beings feel with great quandaries about themselves since ancient times. The virtuousness and viciousness has been in constant conflict, and this kind of inner conflict is indeed a kind of tragedy along with the civilizations.The study found that in Vanity Fair both virtuousness and viciousness of the main characters and moral dilemma of the author are manifestations of the humanity's dualism. Based on the analysis of the roots and essence of humanity's dualism in Victorian age, it will inspire people to make a conscious effort to resolve the inner conflicts between virtuousness and viciousness in the modern society.