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CHAPTER TWO: ANALYSIS OF THEME THROUGH PORTRAYAL OF THE FEMALE MAJOR CHARACTER IN DANIEL DEFOE’S MOLL FLANDERS ... 5
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF THEME THROUGH PORTRAYAL OF THE FEMALE MAJOR CHARACTER IN WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY’S
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ABSTRACT
Pada akhir abad ke 18 dan awal abad ke 19, wanita dibentuk oleh masyarakat untuk memiliki pola pikir yang materialistis. Hal ini yang memungkinkan Daniel Defoe dalam karyanya Moll Flanders dan William Makepeace Thackeray dalam Vanity Fair membahas tentang kondisi perempuan dari kelas bawah yang berusaha untuk meningkatkan status sosialnya di mata masyarakat.
Moll Flanders dan Rebecca Sharp, tokoh dalam masing-masing novel, memiliki ambisi yang sama kuatnya untuk menjadi wanita yang terhormat. Ambisi tersebut membuat mereka menghalalkan segala cara untuk mendapatkan harta yang melimpah.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
In the 18th century and the 19th century England, women are taught by the society to be materialistic. They automatically wish to own characteristics of genteel women such as being polite, having a proper manner, having many skills in music, being able to write and speak French, dancing, and then last but not least, being rich (Rowe). For women of high-class society, it will be easier for them to be genteel women. All they have to do is training their skills so then they can turn themselves into genteel women.
2 Maranatha Christian University her bad characteristics ends up alone and surrounded by her debts which she cannot pay.
Moll Flanders was written by a famous 18th century English writer, Daniel Defoe, who dedicated his life to English literature in contributing his excellent works. The interesting thing that can be found in this novel is the way Defoe tells the story to the readers. He writes about a bad woman, named Moll Flanders, who is a whore, a liar, and a thief. However, interestingly, at the end of the story Moll Flanders can still acquire the readers’ sympathy on her (“Daniel Defoe”).
Vanity Fair was well written by William Makepeace Thackeray, a best selling writer in satirizing the society of the 19th century England. He began as a satirist and a parodist with some stories that actually have the same theme, which is about someone sneaking for a higher position in the society (social climber). Rebecca Sharp in Vanity Fair becomes very famous as Thackeray himself becomes well-known as a great satirist (“William Makepeace Thackeray”).
3 Maranatha Christian University theme of a story, we must ask what its central purpose is: what view of life it supports or what insight into life it reveals” (102).
Based on the facts, I find that the two female major characters serve as a good and a bad model of women through their characteristics. Character itself means, “A verbal representation of a human being as presented to us by authors
through the depiction of actions, conversations, descriptions, reactions, inner thoughts and reflections, and also through the authors’ own interpretive commentary” (Roberts 66). Here, Moll Flanders is a dynamic character, who
“recognizes, change with, or adjust to circumstances.” (70). On the other hand,
Becky Sharp is a static character, which means she “do[es] not grow” and “remain[s] the same because of lack of knowledge or insight” (70).
Statement of the Problem
The problems I am going to discuss are: 1. What are the themes of the novels?
2. How do the portrayals of characters help reveal the themes?
Purpose of the Study
Based on the problems stated above, the purposes of the study are: 1. To show what the themes of the novels are.
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Method of Research
In writing the thesis, I used the method of library research. I began the study by reading the primary texts which are Moll Flanders and Vanity Fair. I then read several reference books and articles in the Internet that are relevant to the topic to support my analysis for additional information. The information and the knowledge that I have gathered were then used to analyse the text. Finally, I drew a conclusion from the research I have made.
Organization of the Thesis
I divided the thesis into four chapters, followed by the Bibliography and the Appendices. In Chapter One, I present the Introduction consisting of the Background of the Study, the Statement of the Problem, the Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research, and the Organization of the Thesis. In Chapter Two, I analyse the theme through portrayal of the female character in Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders. In Chapter Three, I analyze the theme through portrayal of the female character in William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair. Chapter Four is
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
Having discussed Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders and William Makepeace
Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, I come to a conclusion that the two novels have some
similarities and differences, both in the portrayal of the characters and the theme. The first similarity that can be found in their novels is both Defoe and Thackeray create female major characters that come from a low class family. They are Moll Flanders and Rebecca Sharp. From the beginning of both novels, the characters’ social status is presented clearly. It is also obvious that the stories are about “social climbing” in the late 18th
and early 19th century England. Moll and Rebecca, who is called Becky, are born in poor families and that is the fact that they have to get along with.
31 Maranatha Christian University gentlemen. As Moll and Becky do not have parents who will arrange proper marriages for them, they have to depend only on themselves.
In reaching their ambition, both Moll and Becky also have similar characteristics such as over ambitious and materialistic. These characteristics are in accordance with their desire to reach their huge ambition. They choose to maintain some bad characteristics to gain more wealth in order to complete all of the characteristics of a genteel woman. Besides maintaining bad characteristics, another similarity is that they also arrange some wicked plans that later make them become wicked people.
Defoe and Thackeray describe that Moll’s and Becky’s bad characteristics
finally lead them to bad situations in their life. Both of them happen to receive some consequences from the society. Being arrested and jailed are the consequences for Moll while in Becky’s case, her friends, husband, and son leave
her one by one because of her bad characteristics.
One big difference lies on the reaction of both characters to the chances offered to them. They actually have similar opportunity to choose whether to change their bad characteristics or not. Interestingly, Moll and Becky who are on the same track in the beginning, finally choose two different paths which later lead to another difference, which is the different ending. Moll chooses to repent and change her bad traits while Becky chooses to maintain her bad characteristics and feeds her hunger of higher position and wealth. Their decisions later become the leading point to the theme of both novels.
32 Maranatha Christian University finally has the opportunity to make a better living. She does not reach her dream to be a genteel woman but she lives happily with her former husband. She makes a better living because she grabs the chance in front of her and makes the right decision. Becky, who decides to maintain her bad characteristics, has to deal with a life without an opportunity to make a better living. She has a bad reputation because she clings on her bad traits so that there is no one who wants to be close to her. She ends up miserably and lives from charity. These two contrast endings obviously give a hint to the theme of the novels. I can conclude that the tight bond between the portrayal of Moll and Becky, including the differences in their decisions, obviously helps reveal the themes which are: “One who is willing to change one’s negative traits will have an opportunity to make a better living”, in
Moll Flanders, and “One who is unwilling to change one’s negative traits will have no opportunity to make a better living”, in Vanity Fair.
It is obvious that the themes of the two novels are similar as they deal with one’s willingness to change one’s negative traits so as to have an
opportunity to make a better living. In Moll Flanders, Moll is willing to change her negative traits so that she has the opportunity to make a better living. On the contrary, Becky in Vanity Fair chooses to keep her bad traits so that she ends up living miserably.
33 Maranatha Christian University does not want to change something bad in his or her life will close the opportunity to make a better living. There is no time border for these themes.
Seeing the dynamic and the static characters in both novels, I personally like Moll Flanders as a dynamic character more than Rebecca Sharp. She makes the right decision about her life, so I think she deserves a better living because she really stays in her repentance. However, Rebecca Sharp also gives me a lesson about life. Her being a static character is an example of a person who does not want to change the bad traits. Finally, she has to accept the fact that she has no one to count on and there is no one who trusts her anymore. Both of them create two different role models of what a woman should do to survive in the society. One does not have to be rich to gain more friends and happiness in life. One’s good traits will be the key to make good relation with others and also with
God.
When analyzing both novels, I notice that Thackeray describes the situation and also the rules in the society in his era more clearly than Defoe. It is likely that Vanity Fair, which is one of the early Victorian novels of manner, sets a more specific matter. It is of course due to the fact that the novel is a satire towards the society; therefore more information about society can be found in Vanity Fair, especially concerning women, than in Moll Flanders. Different from Thackeray, Defoe as “a devout Presbyterian” (Zaleski) includes religious aspect
in portraying Moll. The religious aspect plays an important role in the changing of Moll’s characteristics, the core of the whole novel. Moll’s repentance finally
34 Maranatha Christian University Thackeray’s different emphasis help me see the portrayal of Moll Flanders and
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
References:
Hornby, A. S. Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2005.
Celerio, Marta Correas, A. Cortina Arguelles, Almudena E. G. Uzquiza. “Love
and Marriage in the 18th Century Literature”. El Ricon Del Vago. 1998. 28 Apr. 2010
<http://html.ricondelvago.com/love-and-marriage-in-the-18th-century-literature.html>
“Daniel Defoe”. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2010. 19 Mar. 2010
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Defoe>
Rowe, Linda. “Women and Education in Eighteenth-Century Virginia”. Colonial
Williamsburg. 2009. 20 Apr. 2010
<http://research.history.org/Historical_Research/Research_Themes/ThemeFa mily/WomenEducation.cfm>
“William Makepeace Thackeray”. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2010. 19
Mar. 2010
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Zaleski, Philip. “Daniel Defoe: A Paradoxical Genius”. Catholic Education
Resource Center. 1999. 22 Jun. 2011.
<http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/arts/al0047.html>
Primary texts:
