Home > Madame Bovary Summary & Study Guide > Madame Bovary Group > Discussion Board

Does Madam Bovary reflct the destructive power of love ? Could we in some extent compare it to Anna Karenina on the same theme in question?  Justify with textual reference to the novels

The "New Women" as a feminist ideal emerged in the final decades of the 19th century in North America and Europe with the added tag of educated, independent, politically active,decisive in her emerging  concept of marriage and family.

Their aim was to liberate themselves from male domination, manage their own lives and divert from aything that restricted them from their pursuit of happiness and self-realization.

In their pursuit they defied conentions and social norms; formulated a new morality and a new code of behaviour. 

This brought in its own vagaries of redefining love fraught with conflicts and drama.Advocates of these ideals included novelists like Flaubert and Tolstoy whose novels Madam Bovary and Anna Karenina, respectively, created a flutter of the times.

To my mind, these two novels and their protagonists depicted the tragic conept of the destuctive powers of love that left a lasting impression in my mind but not without some nagging doubts, the reason for wich the questions is asked.

Iwould like to share my idea with others and solicit their help in developing this theme towards an essay. 

If Madame Bovary had been written by a woman, I think I would agree that Emma Bovary represents the "new woman." However, it was not written by a woman, and Emma does not end up the strong female role model for all young women. All of the choices she makes cause turmoil. Her suicide is not a shining example of the new woman.

I haven't read Anna Karenina, so I can't comment on it.