A Comparative Study Of The Heroines' Moral Choices In Vanity Fair And The Painted Veil From The Perspective Of Ethical Criticism

W.M.Thackeray's masterpiece Vanity Fair and W.S.Maugham's novel The Painted Veil both have carried with them serious moral orientation in the heroines'love and marital choices,which makes it possible for us to conduct a comparative study.From the perspective of literary ethical criticism,this thesis aims to compare love and marital choices between Rebecca Sharp,the heroine of Vanity Fair,and Kitty Garstin,the heroine of The Painted Veil,who respectively live in the Victorian era and the 1920s in a fictional world,and to perceive the marginalized British women figures'futile struggles to change their destiny by means of marriage and the indescribable difficulties in ameliorating their condition and even earning their independence in the patriarchal society.This thesis is composed of three parts.The introduction part briefly introduces two writers,two works,critical responses to the two works,comparability of two heroines'story,theoretical framework and structure arrangement of this thesis.The body part is divided into four chapters.Chapter one focuses on the premise and basis for Rebecca's and Kitty's marriage choices to disclose a startling fact that even in the early 20^th century,women enjoy the enhanced marital status,material dependence on men rather than mutual emotional attachment still dominates women figures'choice of the marriage partners,factors much similar to those valued by Victorian women.Chapter two analyzes the process of moral decadence of Rebecca and Kitty shown in their liaison with other men outside their wedlock,to explore similar reasons behind their demoralization and different marital ethics embodied in their reactions after their husbands discover their liaison.Chapter three investigates the moral context presented in their punishment in which the two heroines are trapped to display the social forces imposed on the individuals'moral choices,and reveals the efforts they make to reform themselves after the scandal--the upper class provides no way out for the fallen woman Rebecca,while Kitty bids farewell to the immoral life in the past.Chapter four examines different ethical orientation underlying the two heroines'love and marital choices,to discern from the texts the cold and disappointing attitude toward the Victorian moral environment and the vision of a new and hopeful one in the modern age.The conclusion part points out that the comparison of the two heroines'love and marital choices proves that the unequal treatment of men and women leads to the objectification of women and their possible moral decline in marriage;that women can still make efforts to gain new moral life even if society gives slim chance to fallen women;and that it is a long way to go to gain women's independence and liberation since 1920s.