Madame Bovary Research Paper

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Throughout history and literature women have been second to men. In many of the books we have looked at in the duration of high school years even the most powerful and influential women are often seen under men. The women’s actions and thoughts are often looked down on by others despite the men having often performed worse actions than the they have. This drives across the idea of imbalance among the sexes and pushes the idea of women being inferior to men into the reader’s mind whether or not it is picked up. This theme comes up throughout each book either being more relevant throughout the entire storyline or simply in a brief moment. Each way it comes across it shows this idea of imbalance. Primarily through a feminist lense in Madame Bovary, …show more content…

Beginning with Emma and her passion for love, she can not seem to control her emotions which ultimately pushes her to make bad decisions. Through her books Emma is lead to believe love “ought to come at once, with great thunderclaps and flashes of lightning” and she is unable to handle life without this amazing passion (can’t find page!! HELP if you know). In her relationship with Charles she is made to seem weak by not being able to survive without passion. This lack of emotion leads her down a path of her “desire for money, and melancholy grip of passion” through relationships with Léon and Rodolphe and excessive spending (102). In this Emma is made to be weak and unable to handle her emotions in a rational way. It pushes the reader to see the weakness she holds in her relationship and show how she feels she can not simply leave Charles at that time because of her restrictions as a women. Emma essentially feels powerless in her relationship with Charles and is left in this position with her emotions ripped away. This pushes the reader to see women under men by not having freedom in their …show more content…

Throughout the story Marie is pushing for Meursault to show emotions for her as she does for him. “She [asks him] if [he] loved her” and when he says he “didn’t think so” it makes her seem more emotionally craving than him (35). In this she brings up emotions in their relationship that Meursault has not even began to think about. With him not willing to understand her feelings and not being able love her back creates the idea that he is emotionally in control of the relationship. Further in the story Marie again looks to Meursault to see if he “wanted to marry her” and “if [he] loved her” again (42). When Meursault explains that they “could get married” if “she wanted” she wonders why they would marry if he did not care (42). This again drives the reader to place Meursault in dominance over the relationship through his lack of emotional connection. It makes the reader believe that Meursault does not need statement for what their relationship and is stronger in the regard of taking their relationship for what it is. In this the book makes Meursault to seem dominant in their relationship and stronger emotionally compared to Marie. This brings again the idea of man holding the strength emotionally compared to women which shows similarly in The Unbearable Lightness of

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