Madame Bovary And No Exit Essay

In Flaubert’s ‘Madame Bovary’, and Sartre’s ‘No Exit’ lust is a major theme. It is expressed by theprotagonist Emma Bovary, in ‘Madame Bovary’, and is conveyed through all three characters, Inez, Estelle and Garcin, in ‘No Exit’. Emma’s life is observed intricately through an omniscient narrator who engages in realistic descriptions of her life. She is a tragic and unfulfilled dreamer. She aspires to have an aristocratic life, although she is clearly from the bourgeois class. She continuously seeks ways to initiate the romantic fantasies and illusions that she has gained from romantic novels, into her everyday life, one of the major factors that have led to her ruin. Eighty seven years later, also in France, Sartre was an existentialist author

Garcin could be viewed by the audiences as is a womanizing misogynist. His words imply that he uses women merely for their sexuality and dominates his wife in any possible way. He hates that his wife wants him so much and abuses her leading to her suicide. He and Emma share the idea that they did not appreciate their partners’ love, leading to them either regretting this in Emma’s case, when Charles’ true love is finally revealed ‘And he looked at her with tenderness in his eyes that she had never seen before’ (Flaubert Pg215) or hell, in Garcin’s case. Similarly, their partners both pass away; Garcin pushes his wife to suicide, and Charles Emma’s husband dying in grief over her death and betrayal. Therefore, directly or indirectly, they are both causes of the death of their partners. Emma becomes bored and uninterested in Charles ‘His eagerness had turned into a routine; he embraced her at the same time every day. It was a habit like any other…’ (Flaubert Pg 41), causing her

She uses her power of manipulation and seduction to get her way, forgetting about the crucial consequences. This backfires immensely leading to her downfall, both in life and in hell. She was in love with her cousin’s wife, seduces her, and manipulates her to the point that they kill him to be together. Emma also utilizes manipulation when she deceives Leon, seeking his passion and love. When Emma starts to need help to repay her debts, she attempts to seduce León into stealing money from his employer to cover her debts. He finally becomes afraid and quickly escapes from her life. Inez lusts for Estelle. She attempts to seduce her. However it becomes clear to her that Estelle desires Garcin, building pure hatred for Garcin from within. We discover later in the play that she is not only interested in her sexuality but also in controlling her and having power over her, as she believes that control in sex is power ‘You’ve been sheltering in my heart for ages…I’ll keep looking at you… and you’ll live in my gaze like a mote in a sunbeam’ (Flaubert Pg 34). In contrast Emma purely desires passion and sexuality. Estelle shows the same vulnerability as Emma, whilst Garcin is do not acknowledge their partners’ love for them, whereas Inez does. The major difference is however, that she believed Florence loved her, where in fact she was living in sorrow, eventually leading to her suicide and her killing of Inez.