The Fall of Romanticism in ‘Madame Bovary

Discusses the shattering of romantic illusions in this novel by Gustave Flaubert.

The shattering of romantic illusions forms the central theme of the novel, Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. The paper examines how Emma Bovary, the protagonist, is unable to reconcile her passionate romanticism with mundane reality and enters into adulterous relationships to fulfill her unrealistic desires. The paper shows how her tragic end is an outcome of her withdrawal from reality, and her suicide can be considered escapist. This underlines the shattering of romantic illusions.
Emma’s next relationship, with L’on, shows how her romanticism causes isolationthe construction of barriers between one human being and another essay writer help. The isolation occurs because Emma judges men against her predetermined criteria of romanticism. When Emma is evaluating L’on, she remembers the little things: she remembered his other gestures from other days, phrases he had used, the sound of his voice, (and) everything about him (Flaubert, 1982). She believes that gestures and phrases alone can tell ‘everything about him (Flaubert, 1982).”