Madame Bovary

In 1857, the year of publication, Flaubert's Madame Bovary was banned on grounds of overt sexuality. There was even a trial. Presiding over the trial, Imperial Advocate Ernest Pinard accuses the...

Flaubert uses Emma's desperate search for an almost unreal kind of romance as a conduit to infuse a language which is equally dissonant with reality. This occurs in chapter 12 during one of Emma's...

There are many factors that cause the tragedy of Emma Bovary in the novel "Madame Bovary." Not the least of these is her desire for wealth, romance, and social status that are beyond her...

In Madame Bovary, Flaubert depicts women as very human and complex characters, and his true-to-life approach to characterizing women reflects his reputation as one of French literature's most...

Free indirect discourse refers to the way the narrator recounts the discourse of a story. Direct discourse typically uses punctuation (such as quotation marks) to clearly mark that the words of the...

In Madame Bovary, the overall effect of devoting so much of the ending to Homais is to enhance the novel's Realism. Flaubert's commitment to Realism in Madame Bovary is seen throughout the novel....

In chapter 29, Emma Bovary's affair with Leon is at full throttle. They have chosen a hotel room where they spend time together every Thursday, all at Emma's expense. As part of her fantasy, Emma...

Emma's relationship with her child is challenging. Emma's romanticized view of her life does not extend to her child, whom she treats as a burden that is inhibiting her opportunity for real love...

If there is anything true and permanent in the novel, it would have to be Charles' devotion to Emma. While Flaubert constructs a vision of reality where individuals are self interested, moving...

Flaubert uses the third person narrative as a way to enhance his style of realism that he made so uniquely his own. In Madame Bovary, this realist style drives the novel. This realistic style...

Both of these novels follow their female protagonist closely, each woman on a lifelong search for independence, self-expression, and love. As they navigate relationships with men and changes in...

The disappointment experienced by the characters is mainly the lack of money versus the fantasized version they have of what happiness and contentment should be. Madame Bovary had come from a...

The primary significance of windows in Madame Bovary is to symbolize escapism. This is shown in many ways. In chapter 7, her life is described as follows: . . . for her, life was as cold as an...

How about the ending? I think that the ending is one of the most ironic endings put on paper. The encroaching and dangerous tide of rational thought as seeking to stamp out individual expressions...

Most of what is going to be found in terms of activism in the novel would have be extrapolations of it. Part of this is because Flaubert was committed to a Realist style that prevented him from...

The previous post did a nice job in articulating Emma's condition. I would merely add that much of the disillusionment in Emma's life comes from being crushed by the weight of her own dreams....

Emma's desire to spend so lavishly come from a fundamental discontent with the reality in which she finds herself. Flaubert constructs Emma in the most Realist of ways, one in which she is...

The Bovaries are a couple with conflicting personal issues that do not enable them see life for what it really is. They, within themselves, are prone to fantasize about their realities. Then, as a...

Emma Bovary is the first name of Madame Bovary. Emma, Flaubert's heroine, is a product of Romanticism taken to an unhealthy degree. She is a character who is animated by the spirit of her dreams,...

Gustave Flaubert uses analepsis in several places in Madame Bovary. Flashbacks are introduced both from the perspective of the narrator, and as characters’ memories. From the novel’s beginning, the...

Like everything else in Flaubert, there is complexity in this particular question. Human beings are depicted in a variety of manners in the novel. I do think that one particular present theme...

Emma's motivations lie at the most compelling elements of her characterization. Flaubert desired to construct a work of absolute realism. In the process, he is able to bring out a character that...

I think that there is much within this question to analyze. Certainly applying the concept of ennui is a part of it. Where I think I would have to place some emphasis is on the assertion that...

It would be quite helpful if you were able to specify the specific piece of literature that was being referenced. I would suggest that given the nature of the question, Flaubert's "Madame Bovary"...

Emma Bovary is presented as a voracious reader of romantic literature. These are not always romance novels as in the modern sense (though Emma is enchanted by stories of lovers), but books about...

I agree with the general sentiment of the statement. I think that there is much in the statement that is true. The basic idea of being incapable of escaping her misery is a valid point, something...

I think that one conventional value that has been challenged through Flaubert's work is the idea that there can be totality or a sense of transcendent simplicity in consciousness. Emma proves...

Flaubert is known as having said "Madame Bovary. C'est Moi!", OR I am Mdme Bovary. In addition to what the previous post said, Flaubert used Bovary as a way to express his own political and...

Emma is bored and dissatisfied with her life. She finds her husband uninspiring, doesn't take to motherhood, and feels buried alive in a provincial French village. She has a comfortable, ordinary...

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...

The real terror present in the novel might not be with Emma's dreams, Charles's languishing, or how people use one another as means to an end as opposed to an end in their own right. The real...

In Chapter 2, we find that Justin is the person who dropped the book:And seizing Justin by the collar of his blouse, he shook a book out of his pocket. The lad stooped, but Homais was the quicker,...

One of the most dominant themes in Madame Bovary is the appropriation of the world in accordance to one's own subjectivity. Flaubert shows how modern consciousness is defined through one's own...

Well, the novel concerns the effect of romance--the dime novel of the day--on Madame Bovary. She dreams and she dreams of the fulfillment that her marriage does not offer; she buys into the dream...

In Madame Bovary, Emme uses romantic novels to feed her need for romance, fantasy, and the spark that is missing from her life. She literally idealizes herself as a character that deserves her own...

The main similarity between Michael Henchard and Emma Bovary is their inability to change their tragic flaws. They are also impetuous, driven entirely by emotion, and lacking in common sense. In...

The discussion between Homais and Bournisien over the morality of the theatre represents Flaubert's attempt to display the battle over traditional and modern notions of the good. The pharmacist,...

Since Emma was without an abundance of choices because of her father's modest income and thus married to a man who was uninteresting and passionless and whose conversation was "flat as the sidewalk...

To compose such a letter, you need to pay close attention to the letter-writing conventions of the period. Chartier's book (listed below) is one of the best concerning the letter-writing manuals of...