The Bourgeois in Madame Bovary, Flaubert's Criticism

Flaubert's personal impact on the development of the refreshing can be seen in the event that Emma's romantic dreams of a better life "had its place in his own history" (Russell 9). However, as Levi notes, Emma Bovary represents not scarcely Flaubert's desires nevertheless also those of humanity as a whole. In different words, "there is something of the dreamer looking for escape from the real field in all of us" (Levi 236). Thus, Flaubert's criticism of the middle pattern extends beyond the characters in Madame Bovary and encompasses all levels of human society. In this way, the novel clearly illustrates Flaubert's view that all life is "a conservative phenomenon" (Russell 7).

Flaubert felt that middle class society was not only superficial and cautious but also monotonous and boring. This persuasion is expressed in the novel through images which suggest "limits, restriction, condensation and immobility" (Brombert 22). Furthermore, the major characters in the novel ar shown to be in a constant state of "numbness or even dormancy" (Brombert 24). However, Flaubert was even more critical of the self-serving desires of the middle class. With the exception of Charles Bovary, who is merely stupid and dull, the characters in the sacred scripture ultimately care only about what they hope to point out of other people. Emma, in particular, is a victim of the materialistic desires of her social world. Her romantic notions regarding love and money are the direct

Ginsburg, Michal Peled. "Narrative Strategies in Madame Bovary." Modern sarcastic Interpretations: Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Harold Bloom, ed. New York: Chelsea House, 1988, 131152.

Brombert, Victor. "The Tragedy of Dreams." Modern Critical Interpretations: Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Harold Bloom, ed. New York: Chelsea House, 1988, 526.

Because she sees herself as an object of male desire, Emma's self-destruction is triggered by Rodolphe's refusal to help oneself her in time of need. As Levi notes, Emma does not commit suicide because of her financial problems or feelings of social disgrace, but rather "because her cynical first lover rejects her for the second time" (237).

In fact, she closely commits suicide upon his first rejection of her. When she receives Rodolphe's impersonal letter telling her that he is running away without her, she finds herself standing on the ledge of the window in the attic, "hysterical with rage" (Flaubert 217). She is on the brink of win over herself to jump when Charles calls out to her and thus stops her. Rodolphe's second rejection proves to be the final straw for Emma. She finds herself in a fit of choleric anger, walking the streets in a daze and hallucinating images of Rodolphe's slip in the sky. It is in this fit of despair that she makes her way to the chemist's shop and eats a handful of arsenic.

All of the major characters in Madame Bovary represent in one way or another the different values of the middle class, of which Flaubert was highly critical. They are dull and monotonous, and, most of all, selfish. Emma, the central character, is the most tragic propose in the novel. She believes what society has taught her regarding love and romance, as well as material aspirations. Because her notions do not match the reality, she is severely frustrate throughout the progression of the novel, and eventually commits suicide. Through these brilliantly constructed characters, Flaubert wa
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