Emma Bovary, An Analysis

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An Analysis of the Loathsome Emma Bovary In Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary the character of Emma Bovary is in a constant internal struggle between what most would consider a normal life and her overly romantic fantasies. Emma is an amoral housewife in the sense that she pursues extra-marital affairs out of boredom without ever taking into consideration the feelings of anyone around her. Throughout her life Emma has developed slowly through a series of increasingly immoral actions from the schoolgirl innocently perusing romantic novels to the suicidal sociopath she was at death. Emma Bovary began her decline into immorality when she began reading romantic novels, an action which seems harmless but implants Emma's discontent with the average and ordinary. During her time at the convent Emma “read Paul and Virginia and [she] had dreamed of the bamboo cabin [and] of the Negro Domingo”(41), Emma's preoccupation with fantasy and romantic literature plants the seeds of dissatisfaction with life for Emma as she dreams to experience the unattainable situations within literature. Although Emma Bovary's first experiences with literature may seem harmless, the foundation for her dissatisfaction with life is lain with her first readings, escalating after her marriage throughout her time in Tostes. After marrying Charles her discontent with their relationship is immediately apparent upon arriving in Tostes. This section of the novel shows more than any other Emma's desire for “true” love. After the wedding, Emma believed that she was in love “but...the happiness which she had expected this love to bring her hadn't come”(40); this statement shows Emma's disconnect with reality. Emma believes that by getting married she will somehow gain the passion as described in her novels and she is genuinely surprised when this doesn't happen. After the couple settle in to their
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