In Madame Bovary, a classic of the 19th century, the main character, Emma, grew up reading novels, which made her have an extremely idealized vision of love. Dreamy and romantic, Emma sought in life the love and happiness that seemed so beautiful in books.
After marrying doctor Charles Bovary, she became a frustrated woman, mainly because she had audacious dreams of having a life of luxury and wealth that did not match her reality.
In an attempt to fill the void she felt, Emma had affairs and contracted many debts and always lacked something else, she was constantly unhappy and dissatisfied, neither the lovers nor the high expenses filled the void of her existence.
Interested? Here are 5 good reasons to give a chance to Flaubert’s Madame Bovary.
- Forbidden for young ladies
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Puritan critics of that time did not forgive the crude treatment that the author gave to the subject of adultery and the book was treated as indecent and corrupting reading. Flaubert was even prosecuted by the government for “publications of obscene writings”, at the end of the process, he was acquitted.
- Criticisms of the social structure
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Flaubert’s character, Emma, is a sad heroine who is fully aware of the injustices to which she is subjected by gender inequality. She expresses the weight of the social role of women of the time in memorable speeches like this:
“(…) this idea of having a male child was like an expected revenge for all her impotence in the past. A man, at least, is free; he may travel over passions and over countries, overcome obstacles, taste of the most far-away pleasures. But a woman is always hampered. At once inert and flexible, she has against her the weakness of the flesh and legal dependence. Her will, like the veil of her bonnet, held by a string, flutters in every wind; there is always some desire that draws her, some conventionality that restrains.”
- Bovarism
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The protagonist’s name gave rise to the term “bovarism” which today can be found in English dictionaries. The term, in psychology, refers to individuals who, like Emma, tend to escape reality by adopting an idealized personality.
- “Emma Bovary c’est moi” (Emma Bovary is me)
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Flaubert criticizes the bourgeois class of which he belongs. His criticism is mainly aimed at the materialist bourgeoisie of the time.
Emma is a dissatisfied woman, even though she lacks nothing, she drowns her family in debt. Flaubert said the phrase “Emma Bovary is me” because just like the character he found himself a slave to consumerism.
- Accurate writing
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The novel is one of the greatest works of realistic aesthetics in French literature. This is because Flaubert’s style consists of “the perfection of prose and the most absolute mastery of the art of narration”. No wonder the book was written over five years.
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The article above was edited by Laura Ferrazzano.
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