일그러진 근대성의 이미지: 『허영의 시장』의 베키 샤프에 대하여

Abstract

Seung-Hei ChunThis essay on Vanity Fair(1848) focuses on the character of Becky Sharp to explore the argument that Becky Sharp is an embodiment of modernity. Informing this essay is Georg Simmel's idea of modernity that is drawn from his philosophical reflections upon the whole character of the modern period which is grounded in the money economy. My analysis of Becky Sharp shows that Becky performs in action the principles upon which the modern world of developed money economy works. Her distinctive features are a dynamism which is connected with her instability, her acute consciousness of the presentness, her objectivity intertwined with her intellectuality, and the blurred boundary between art and life. These features correspond to those Simmel takes as the locations of modernity. Such diverse masks Becky puts on as a linguist, an artist, an adventuress, a gambler, a stranger, an actress, a prostitute are what Simmel takes as representations of modernity. Becky also features what Simmel characterizes as a modern personality. She rebels against the restraint from outside aspiring for freedom and claiming her individuality as an autonomous human being. And yet the image of modernity Becky carries is warped. This reflects the gap between a society of mature money economy and the world of 'Vanity Fair,' the earlier nineteenth century of England. But it also reflects Thackeray's anxiety over the advent of a society of the money economy.