1. Discuss the attitude of Flaubert towards the middle-class society he is describing. Use illustrations from the novel to support your view. 2. Explain the use of contrast and irony in Madame Bovary. 3. Compare the characterizations of Homais and Bournisien. What do they each represent? What is Flaubert’s reaction […]
Read more Study Help Essay QuestionsCritical Essays Madame Bovary as Social Commentary
In Madame Bovary, Flaubert depicted an entire segment of society and unmercifully analyzed its people. He created unforgettable characters from whom our own age can learn valuable and essential lessons. Moreover, he took a mundane story and, thanks to his skill as a writer, demonstrated the potentialities of everyday life […]
Read more Critical Essays Madame Bovary as Social CommentaryCritical Essays Narrative Technique of Madame Bovary
Many of the techniques Flaubert used for descriptive purposes are cinematic in their quality, such as the flashing back and forth between the Prefect’s speech and Rodolphe’s flirting at the Agricultural Show. During the wild coach ride taken by Emma and Leon through the suburbs of Rouen, and at other […]
Read more Critical Essays Narrative Technique of Madame BovaryCritical Essays Style in Madame Bovary
Flaubert was a very diligent and precise craftsman. He spent more than five years working on Madame Bovary, in the course of which he wrote biographies of all the characters and drew maps of the towns which were his settings. The original draft of the novel was several times longer […]
Read more Critical Essays Style in Madame BovaryCritical Essays Irony and Contrast in Madame Bovary
Flaubert made use of irony and contrast on many planes, always with the intention of heightening his meaning and directing the reader’s attention to his main themes. Each part of the novel contains pairs of contrasting scenes which clarify the reactions of the participants and the point of the story […]
Read more Critical Essays Irony and Contrast in Madame BovaryCritical Essays Symbolism in Madame Bovary
Flaubert also made extensive use of symbolism in his novel. Symbolic things are those which have an objective and limited function but which can be interpreted also to embody a wider and more profound meaning in regard to the things around them. In such a painstakingly constructed novel as Madame […]
Read more Critical Essays Symbolism in Madame BovaryCritical Essays Realism in Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary is considered one of the finest “realistic” novels, and this is because of its unadorned, unromantic portrayals of everyday life and people. However, it must be understood that in literary realism one gets a view of the real world as seen through the eyes of the author. Throughout […]
Read more Critical Essays Realism in Madame BovaryCritical Essays Theme and Intent of Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary is a study of human stupidity and the “romantic malady,” the despair and unhappiness faced by those who are unwilling or unable to resolve the conflicts between their dreams and idealized aspirations and the real world; in modern terms, one might say it is a study of a […]
Read more Critical Essays Theme and Intent of Madame BovaryGustave Flaubert Biography
Gustave Flaubert was born December 12, 1821, in Rouen, France, and died May 8, 1880. He was the fourth child of a distinguished doctor who was the head of the hospital in that city. Gustave was a sensitive and quiet boy; he read a lot, and since the family lived […]
Read more Gustave Flaubert BiographyCharacter Analysis Homais
The apothecary at Yonville. He is one of the most successful supporting characters in the novel because there is a complete identity between his function as a character and his function as the representative of a type. He stands for the new middle-class spirit and “progressive” outlook that Flaubert detested […]
Read more Character Analysis Homais