Madame Bovary

Content Warning: This section discusses suicide, racism, and domestic violence.

Emma Bovary is the titular character of the novel. She is the main protagonist of the novel, whose character development represents the ways in which women in the 19th century had little to no autonomy and struggled to adapt to the expectations of the time. Her personal desires, ambitions, and overactive imagination bring about her own downfall and the destruction of her family. Emma is raised an average girl of some means, neither poor nor wealthy. She spends her formative years studying in a convent, surrounded by other girls and women. Her experiences in the convent jumpstart her active fantasy life because her first exposure to the magic of storytelling is within the stories of the saints. Emma moves from the convent to her father’s house, sequestered yet again from the world she wishes to be a part of. Because Emma is a woman who is not allowed to engage with the world around her, she goes on her own adventures through the novels she reads. Further, since Emma is inexperienced with the real world, these novels give Emma a false narrative about what the real world is like.