AnalysisontheTragedyFigureofGustaveFlaubert

申辰瑜

【Abstract】Emma is considered to be the most successful character created by Flaubert，though arouse fierce criticize at the time of her first debut. Finally，the novel receives the due respect and attention and Emma，becomes the center of the discussion of numerous readers and critics. In this paper，I would like to provide my analysis of Madam Bovary，focusing on the tragic traits of this character and attempt to find the answers.

【Key Words】Personality； tragedy； romance； French Revolution； liberation

Novel by Flaubert，published in installments in the Revue de Paris in 1856，and as a book in 1857. Madame Bovary is Flaubert's most famous and important work beginning on his return from the Middle East in 1851. What‘s wrong with romance，a woman with romantic mind？ Is it only an imaginary thing appears now and then in artistic works rather than reality？ Wouldnt there be possibility for people to balance romance and reality in life？ Is reality always the winner in the battle of the two？

Its human nature to love romance，especially for those young girls who are still in their adolescence. Emma was just one of these girls. When she was in convent school，she indulged herself in romantic fictions and fantastic love stories，regarding that kind of life depicted in books as her purist. She was dying to join the upper class，and she imagined to live a life like them one day. Masked balls，violent pleasures，and all the wildness she did not know before，these are only a part of life，and apparently the shallowest part，definitely not the whole picture. However，it was beyond Emma to realize even when she had already become Madame Bovary. She had more than three chances to stop the wrong-doings and got back on track，but she just ignored them and plunged into the deep mire of sin. Despite all this，is that absolutely right to call her a sheer wicked woman？ This is a question.Many people may make simple judgments after reading this book. And it seems that quiet some may consider Madame Bovary as a self-centered，shameless and dramatic middle class French woman，for she always had unrealistic illusions，cheated on her husband，dallied by her so-called lovers and committed suicide in the end. However，I think things are not just like that. If this novel is only written to show how depraved Madame Bovary was and how tragic her whole life could be，then it wouldnt be a great work at all. Like all the other great works，the characters are always round characters rather than the flat ones. We can not jump to the conclusion towards Bovary so rashly； this character really deserves much more consideration and discussion. Here，what Im confused with is whats wrong with romantic ideas，what fault does romantic poems have，and why cannot a girl go after an unordinary life？ Well，from this book we can see clearly that Bovary did many unreasonable or even crazy things to pursue her “dream”，and in the end she had to take her own life.So，we might say nay to the former questions. Then how to explain Leon？ Her ex-lover，he was also a person with romantic mind. But he finally made it and lived an extravagant life in upper class as he had hoped. Why Bovary turned out to be such a tragedy？

In order to answer this，a quick glance at the background of that time is required. This story took place in the early 1800s in French. It was a time after French Revolution，all heroes had disappeared from the stage of history，all splendid legend had become the water under the bridge； bourgeois vulgarity had took the place of romanticism，only boredom and wickedness lasted.It was a time that villains dominated the society，kindness or innocence would result in your weakness and failure in real life，for hypocrisy，unscrupulousness and deceit became the rules of the world. So，its not that hard to explain the characters destinies now. And I have to say something when it comes to women. For a long period of time，women were living under mens desire. They couldnt get formal and correct education to form independent minds and judgments，so they always had to depend on others. That was the same situation for Emma I guess the tragic things happened to those ladies were not occasional，but social. It seems that we still have a long way to go to accomplish the real liberation of women. Cause today we still have thousands of “Bovaries” keep repeating the history in different forms……

References：

[1]Flaubert，Gustave.Madame Bovary.Trans，Robert Williams.Bejing.2007.

[2]陳立乾.浅析包法利夫人人生悲剧的自身因素[J].赤峰学院院报（哲学社会科学版），2010，15（10）.