Death Over Life in Flaubert's Madame Bovary
Often in literature, a character is found that is quite memorable. Never was this more true than in Flaubert's Madame Bovary. To some, Emma Bovary's action at the end of the novel was drastic and unnecessary; others believed her death to be the end of the natural progression of the story. However, Emma's decision to commit suicide was relatively simple, yet came as a last resort. She had exhausted all the other options she felt were available, and in the end made her plan based on finances, lost love, and the sheer boredom of her life.
One motivation for Emma's suicide was her financial problems. She spent extravagant amounts of her husband, Charles', money on dresses, scarves, and house decorations. More money was expended for Emma's "music lessons," which were actually her alibi for her affair with Leon. Also, she had spent too much money while preparing to run off with Rodolphe, a journey that never occurred. All Emma's debts piled up, then came due at the same time; she tried to put them out of her mind, to no avail. She even went as far as to beg money from Rodolphe, her former lover, who rejects her. After leaving Rodolphe Emma is angry; she has lost her normal ability to reason, but could still make a decision (Roe 42). As she could not forget, she devised, in a moment of "Emma-style logic," the solution to her problems. So, "...in an ecstasy of heroism, that made her almost joyous, she ran down the hill...and reached the chemist's shop" (Flaubert 221-222). Once at the chemist's, she frantically ingests a lethal dose of arsenic. It is tragic that the only release from her problems Emma could see was death.
Emma's failed love af...
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...cide became her only option, and having taken the action she thought necessary, "...she went home, suddenly calmed, and with something of the serenity of one who had performed a duty" (Flaubert 222). However, Emma's death was not serene; it was violent and grotesque. Ironically, she did finally achieve "tragic romance heroine" status: she died young, penniless, and heartbroken.
Works Cited
Buck, Stratton. Gustave Flaubert. University of the South: Twayne. 1966. 68-72.
Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. New York: Dover. 1996.
Green, Frederick C. French Novelists: From the Revolution to Proust. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1964. 233.
Roe, David. Gustave Flaubert. New York: St. Martin's, 1989.
Turnell, Martin. "Madame Bovary." Flaubert: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Raymond Giraud. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1964.
Roy Jenkins, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, provides a brief overlook of Roosevelt’s life. As a foreigner, Jenkins is able to view Franklin’s accomplishments and failures from a rational view point. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also known as FDR, was the thirty-second president of the United States, and the only one to be elected more than twice. Even though he entered the presidency during an economic crisis, Roosevelt made a huge on the United States.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was a man of unusual charm and great optimism, which he was able to communicate to others. He had a broad smile and was a charismatic optimist whose confidence helped sustain the nation through its darkest moments during crisis like the Great Depression and World War II. He became one of the most beloved of U.S. presidents for four terms in office. But beneath his outward friendliness was an inner reserve and an iron will. His admirers emphasized the way in which he met the nation's problems. They praised him for insisting that the federal government must help the underprivileged and that the United States must share in the responsibility for preserving world peace. Franklin Roosevelt made a profound and very important impact upon his times and his policies exerted great influence on the future (Freidel).
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Moulton, Charles Wells. Moulton's Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors through the Beginning of the Twentieth Century: Volume 1. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1966. Print.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is one of the most significant figures in American History. Roosevelt served in office from March 1933 to April 1945, the longest tenure of any other President in United States history. Within these twelve years, Roosevelt was left to handle the burdensome consequences of the time, including The Great Depression and Germany and Japan’s rise to power, which were far beyond his control. Faced with such difficult situations, Roosevelt has combated these challenges in such a way that has left him as a remarkable figure in American history.
Tucker, Martin. Moulton’s Library of Literary Criticism. Volume 4. Frederick Ungar Publishing Company. New York. 1967.
Emma, a novel by Jane Austen, is the story of a young woman, Emma, who is rich, stubborn, conniving, and occupies her time meddling into others' business. There are several recurring themes throughout the novel; the ideas of marriage, social class, women's confinement, and the power of imagination to blind the one from the truth, which all become delineated and reach a climax during the trip to Box Hill. The scene at Box Hill exposes many underlying emotions that have been built up throughout the novel, and sets the stage for the events that conclude it.
Madame Bovary, a novel by Gustave Flaubert, describes life in the provinces. While depicting the provincial manners, customs, codes and norms, the novel puts great emphasis on its protagonist, Emma Bovary who is a representative of a provincial woman. Concerning the fundamental typicality in Emma Bovary’s story, Flaubert points out: “My poor Bovary is no doubt suffering and weeping at this very moment in twenty French villages at once.” (Heath, 54). Yet, Emma Bovary’s story emerges as a result of her difference from the rest of the society she lives in. She is in conflict with her mediocre and tedious surroundings in respect of the responses she makes to the world she lives in. Among the three basic responses made by human beings, Emma’s response is “dreaming of an impossible absolute” while others around her “unquestionably accept things as they are” or “coldly and practically profiteer from whatever circumstances they meet.” (Fairlie, 33). However, Emma’s pursuit of ideals which leads to the imagining of passion, luxury and ecstasy prevents her from seeing the world in a realistic perspective or causes her to confuse reality and imagination with each other.
Emma is the main character in the novel. She is a beautiful, smart, and wealthy 21-year-old woman. Because of her admired qualities, Emma is a little conceited. She is the daughter of Henry Woodhouse. Since her mother died, Emma has taken the role of taking care of her father, who is old and often sick.
Madame Bovary is Gustave Flaubert’s first novel and is considered his masterpiece. It has been studied from various angles by the critics. Some study it as a realistic novel of the nineteenth century rooted in its social milieu. There are other critics who have studied it as a satire of romantic sensibility. It is simply assumed that Emma Bovary, the protagonist, embodied naive dreams and empty cliché that author wishes to ridicule, as excesses and mannerisms of romanticism. She is seen as a romantic idealist trapped in a mundane mercantile world. Innumerable theorists have discovered and analysed extensively a variety of questions raised by its style, themes, and aesthetic innovations. In this research paper an attempt has been made to analyse life of Emma Bovary as a paradigm of Lacanian desire.