Key themes
- Romantic illusion versus reality
- The trap of bourgeois life
- Desire and its inevitable disappointment
About this book
A provincial wife chases the grand passions of her novels into debt and disaster; the great study of romantic illusion.
Published in 1857 and immediately prosecuted for immorality (and acquitted), Madame Bovary established the standard for psychological realism in the novel.
Discussion questions
- Emma Bovary is often described as a victim of the romantic novels she reads — do you think the novel supports this reading, or does it treat her more sympathetically?
- Flaubert famously said 'Madame Bovary, c'est moi' — he is Emma. What do you think he meant, and how does this admission change how you read the novel?
- The novel was prosecuted for obscenity on publication. Re-reading it now, what do you think the authorities were actually threatened by — the content, the tone, or the message?
- Charles Bovary is often read as a simple, dull man — but is Flaubert asking us to reconsider who the truly romantic figure in the novel is?
- The novel is often seen as the first modern novel for its free indirect discourse — the way Flaubert inhabits Emma's thoughts without endorsing them. Can you find moments where you feel the gap between Emma's perception and reality most sharply?
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