The Charm And Modern Dilemma Of Androgyny

William Thackeray shaped Rebecca who was different from traditional Victorian women in his Vanity Fair. For a long time, she stands out because of her energetic unique charm, however, she is subjected to most literary critics qualitative for "adventuress" because she doesn’t meet the ideal of female to male social requirements. And I think, on one hand, the author Thackeray’s criticism on Rebecca is out of patriarchal social gender order maintenance and class order, to perform a novel realist’s moral discipline and responsibility; On the other hand, he also showed the love and appreciation for Rebecca because of her gender charm and human vitality. And compared with "feminine" family angel Amelia, the "androgyny" charm sparkled from Rebecca, to some extent, is the ideal personality the western feminist pursues.The subject of this article is mainly divided into three parts. The first part discusses that "femininity" is the men’s collective imagination stereotype in patriarchy culture in essence. The second part is the analysis of the "family angel" Amelia’s ideal female image and her personality weakness. The third part analyzes the cause formation and gender charm of Rebecca’s "androgyny". The "androgyny" comes out from her is the ideal personality traits that feminists pursue, meanwhile, is the ideal of both sexes’ personality to comprehensive and free development.In fact, both men and women are the victims of gender stereotypes. The so-called "androgyny" may be the ultimate goal of perfect personality. But in the current environment, it is still just a kind of ideal. Whether the researches and literature works of "androgyny" is too idealistic and conceptualization or not, it’s something worth thinking.