Hedda Gabler, by Henrik Ibsen and Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert

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Often times many authors depict their characters’ inner lives as well as their actions within their literary works. Other instances authors exemplify their probing of social problems, and the limitations society holds on its residents. In the two literary works, Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler and Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, they share a common portrayal: the main heroine faces the complications of societal restraints. The novella by Ibsen and Flaubert’s novel emphasize upon women that struggle with what can and cannot be done in their society. The protagonists Hedda Gabler in Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler and Emma Bovary of Flaubert’s Madame Bovary are estranged individuals thwarted by society. Many of Ibsen’s plays highlight a character’s need for freedom and their struggle with isolation within their society as portrayed in Hedda Gabler. Society causes Hedda to think and act the way she does; Hedda is perceived as a charming, intelligent, stunning young woman, but underneath her guise she is a vile, manipulating human being. Her intention of being married is because she believes that it is better to get married at 25, which she considers old, than become old and lonely. She makes it evident that she gets married because she feels that she was becoming too old: “I really had danced myself out, Judge. My time was up” (251). When she states that her “time was up” it implies that she gets married because she had to and time was something she did not have. An additional societal restraint during this time was that woman such as Hedda were expected to be married because they were elegant and metaphorically, put on a pedestal. Many upper class men leaned towards marrying woman like her because society made it that way. In turn Hedda ends up marr... ... middle of paper ... ...arles’ marriage offer without her consent. Because society allowed parents to interfere with marital affairs, Emma was a victim of her own society. They were both unhappy with their marriages to say the least but Emma definitely wins when it comes to who suffered the most. She had no say in her marriage and she had a mind filled with romantic literature. In the end that is what leads her to her demise because she had believed in silly fantasies. In Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler and Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, the two women are faced with problems that arise from their society. Society rules who they are as a person and who they want to be. Although some may argue that society is the final factor on why they chose to behave how they do, others think it is the protagonists’ nature to commit such sins. However, both Hedda and Emma are alienated individuals thwarted by society.

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