55 pages • 1 hour read
Madame Bovary
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Background
Literary Context: Gustave Flaubert and Realism
Through the writing and publication of Madame Bovary in 1857, Flaubert became renowned for incorporating realism into literature. Literary realism is a literary movement that represents reality through the mundane details of everyday life, thus presenting these mundane details as representative of humanity without added dramatization. Literary realism seeks to be objective about characters and often deals with ethics, virtue, and extremely morally gray characters without judgment.
Madame Bovary is an exemplary piece of literary realism. Emma Bovary’s life is relatable because it is mundane. It captures the experience of thousands of women in the 19th century. Emma’s conflicts, both internal and external, are realistic and yet significant precisely because they are common. Everyone endures boredom and, to varying extents, it is a human universal to question the course of life and mull over the roads not taken. Many people fall into traps of unhappy marriages and financial struggles. There is nothing notable about Emma Bovary, and this relatability makes her a tragic heroine whose struggles are worth close analysis. In Madame Bovary, Flaubert incorporates imagery to depict the world around Emma, emphasizing the simple Plus, gain access to 8,650+ more expert-written Study Guides. Including features:
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Related Titles
By Gustave Flaubert
