Romanticism vs. Realism in Madame Bovary

Throughout Gustave Flaubert’s novel, Madame Bovary, the story frequently overlaps realism and romanticism. Both are shown through Flaubert’s attention to the details of the ordinary, dull life found in a small town and the dialogue that Emma shares with her targets of affection. This paper will analyze several of the characters and how they relate to romanticism and realism, and Flaubert’s attitude towards the bourgeois.

Emma Bovary is the biggest disgrace to romanticism in the book. This is portrayed in chapter eight, when she is at the ball. Although she is gorgeous, she has nearly no grace and inelegantly falls on the Vicomte. While she cherishes the moment, she embarrasses the Vicomte so he takes her back to her seat to find a more fitting partner. While Emma fantasizes about that moment, the Vicomte is already dancing the same dance with a new lady, one who knows what to do and can keep up with him, improving his image. Other examples are scattered throughout the novel, including Emma’s overdone tragic suicide with arsenic and the subsequent overdone tragic deathbed sequence.

Emma has high expectations for love due to reading many romantic novels. These novels excite her and fuel her desire to marry the man of her dreams. However, her dreams of having the perfect romance are shattered almost immediately after marrying Charles. Their love was not like the ones she read about in books. Charles, the realist, did not satisfy Emma, the romantic.

Charles was a simple man, he was a hard worker, but wasn’t very intelligent. Another fact rang truer with him than with any other character: he loved Emma. His love for her, though often shunned by Emma for not being the Romantic overly passionate love she wanted, burned br...

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...as. Finally, Charles would be at the most realistic end of the spectrum, with absolutely no delusions about his life, himself, or what he wanted in the future.

All of these characters portray different views of romanticism and realism, and combine them in ways that result in a very interesting literary work. Flaubert’s attacks on romanticism spew out through Leon and Emma, their passionate ideals ringing hollow and empty while the realistic views of Homais and Rodolphe are more successful. Flaubert’s own opinion of the bourgeois, based on this novel, could not have been a positive one. His ability to capture an accurate view of middle class life and present it both realistically and in an entertaining way provides an excellent look into his own views. Although he valued objectivity more than anything else in his works, his viewpoints come through very clearly.