Death Over Life in Flaubert's Madame Bovary
Often in literature, a character is found that is quite memorable. Never was this more true than in Flaubert's Madame Bovary. To some, Emma Bovary's action at the end of the novel was drastic and unnecessary; others believed her death to be the end of the natural progression of the story. However, Emma's decision to commit suicide was relatively simple, yet came as a last resort. She had exhausted all the other options she felt were available, and in the end made her plan based on finances, lost love, and the sheer boredom of her life.
One motivation for Emma's suicide was her financial problems. She spent extravagant amounts of her husband, Charles', money on dresses, scarves, and house decorations. More money was expended for Emma's "music lessons," which were actually her alibi for her affair with Leon. Also, she had spent too much money while preparing to run off with Rodolphe, a journey that never occurred. All Emma's debts piled up, then came due at the same time; she tried to put them out of her mind, to no avail. She even went as far as to beg money from Rodolphe, her former lover, who rejects her. After leaving Rodolphe Emma is angry; she has lost her normal ability to reason, but could still make a decision (Roe 42). As she could not forget, she devised, in a moment of "Emma-style logic," the solution to her problems. So, "...in an ecstasy of heroism, that made her almost joyous, she ran down the hill...and reached the chemist's shop" (Flaubert 221-222). Once at the chemist's, she frantically ingests a lethal dose of arsenic. It is tragic that the only release from her problems Emma could see was death.
Emma's failed love af...
... middle of paper ...
...cide became her only option, and having taken the action she thought necessary, "...she went home, suddenly calmed, and with something of the serenity of one who had performed a duty" (Flaubert 222). However, Emma's death was not serene; it was violent and grotesque. Ironically, she did finally achieve "tragic romance heroine" status: she died young, penniless, and heartbroken.
Works Cited
Buck, Stratton. Gustave Flaubert. University of the South: Twayne. 1966. 68-72.
Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. New York: Dover. 1996.
Green, Frederick C. French Novelists: From the Revolution to Proust. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1964. 233.
Roe, David. Gustave Flaubert. New York: St. Martin's, 1989.
Turnell, Martin. "Madame Bovary." Flaubert: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Raymond Giraud. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1964.
The Maltese Falcon is a novel written by Dashiell Hammett in 1929. It was originally published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, in 1930. Readers and critics see this book as one of the best detective novels ever written, but they also see it as a great piece of literature. With 217 pages, it is an easy read but is a stimulating story.
Franklin D. Roosevelt attended Harvard University and then Columbia Law School, but did not graduate from law school. Roosevelt was the only president to be elected for four consecutive terms. He led the American government through the Great Depression and World War II until his death on April 12, 1945. He has been categorized as one of the greatest presidents in the history of the United States. Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidential election in 1932 against Herbert Hoover. By 1936 Roosevelt’s political party, the Democrats, held the majority in the Congress in the House and the Senate.
When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt assumed the Presidency on March 4, 1933, he gained leadership of a deeply isolationist country struggling to survive a depression and yearning for change. When Roosevelt died twelve years and one month later, he had lifted the United States to world power status, provided recovery from economic depression, incorporated rhetoric as a means to reach the masses, and expanded the powers of the Presidency. In short, FDR had created the Modern Presidency. Through his New Deal Programs, his ability to increase the United States’ worldwide influence, his Fireside Chats, and his expansion of Presidential powers, Roosevelt became the first Modern President and established the precedent all future presidents were to follow.
Roy Jenkins, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, provides a brief overlook of Roosevelt’s life. As a foreigner, Jenkins is able to view Franklin’s accomplishments and failures from a rational view point. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also known as FDR, was the thirty-second president of the United States, and the only one to be elected more than twice. Even though he entered the presidency during an economic crisis, Roosevelt made a huge on the United States.
Franklin D. Roosevelt became the thirty-second president of the U.S. in 1933. He was one of the most skillful political leaders and it showed as he led the people out of the Great Depression. The U.S. was in a state of depression when Roosevelt took office, but through his New Deal program, the federal government became much more involved socially and economically in peoples' lives in contrast to its traditionally passive role. The government's responsibilities in peoples' lives changed and individuals' responsibilities changed too. The role of the government in peoples' lives expanded greatly during the New Deal era.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was loathed by some and yet loved by so many. Becoming one of the most beloved presidents in U.S. history for the four terms he was in office. His unusual charm and optimism that he communicated through the confidence of others is what people easily remembered him by. He often brought a confidence and a smile in to any room he entered and yet never underestimated his own responsibilities to specific situations that needed his undivided attention. Those actions alone helped sustained the nation through some of it’s darker times such as the Great Depression and World War II.
In 1933 FDR was elected President Of The United States. One unique thing about Roosevelt is that he was the only president to be elected 3 times. He ran against Herbert Hoover who was elected the 31st president 4 years before FDR’s term and,was running again for a second term. During FDR’s presidency he led the country through WWII and The Great Depression.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is among the most remembered U.S. Presidents. Serving as President for more than twelve years, he was the only President to be elected four times. Roosevelt led the United States through its worst depression and its worst war. He tried his best to stay optimistic with our country and the decisions he made. In Roosevelt's first inaugural address, he asked for faith in America's future. He told the country, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" (Burns 1970, p. 238). That is the lesson that he taught our country to live by.
Criminology is the study of crime and criminals. In criminology, crime data is gathered in many different ways. All of these ways are part of the National Incident-Based Reporting system, which is a program that collects data on each respond crime incident (CITATION). There are Primary Sources of collecting crime data, and Secondary Sources of collecting crime data. Under the Primary Sources of collecting crime data are the National Crime Victimization Survey, Self Report Surveys, and the Uniform Crime Reports. These reporting surveys and official records gather information for Criminologists about all types of crimes. Some examples of these are homicide, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, arson, burglary, and larceny. Criminologists use these also to measure the nature and extent of the crime, along with behavior and personalities of the offenders. Secondary Sources of collecting crime data are Experimental Research, Observational and Interview Research, Data Mining, Crime Mapping, Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review, and Cohort Research. These gathering techniques gather informatio...
Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary is the detailed tale of the upbringing of a common French farm girl and her experiences as a member of the Bourgeoisie social party. At the end of the novel, Emma, the main character, decides to commit suicide through the use of arsenic because of the large amount of debt she acquired through purchases of gifts for her infidelity partners. Occurring in chapter eight of the last section, the novel continues with descriptions of the funeral, her father’s reaction, and her family’s continuing life. However, the book is centered on the life of the grand Madame Bovary, and is not titled Madame and Sir Bovary. To this, Flaubert uses the death of the main character to purposefully showcase the overall impact her actions have over those who experienced her presence.
In the end, Emma has proven beyond a doubt, that everything in her life was a lie. From her childhood, she created fantasies that she could not act out, and to her marriage, where treachery and betrayal were the foundation of the marriage. Furthermore, her love affairs all ended in lies, and her business transactions were utterly fraudulent. Even her suicide was based on a lie- she lies to get the poison and lies to her husband when he asks what she ate. Thus, the line "everything was a lie!? has enhanced significance when examined in the context of the entire novel.
Moulton, Charles Wells. Moulton's Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors through the Beginning of the Twentieth Century: Volume 1. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1966. Print.
...ssions that art exaggerated.” (2/15 p.236), Emma cannot free herself from the vicious circle of imagination and reality. Therefore, confusing the imagination with the reality at some points Emma searches for reality in her imaginations up until her death.
Madame Bovary is Gustave Flaubert’s first novel and is considered his masterpiece. It has been studied from various angles by the critics. Some study it as a realistic novel of the nineteenth century rooted in its social milieu. There are other critics who have studied it as a satire of romantic sensibility. It is simply assumed that Emma Bovary, the protagonist, embodied naive dreams and empty cliché that author wishes to ridicule, as excesses and mannerisms of romanticism. She is seen as a romantic idealist trapped in a mundane mercantile world. Innumerable theorists have discovered and analysed extensively a variety of questions raised by its style, themes, and aesthetic innovations. In this research paper an attempt has been made to analyse life of Emma Bovary as a paradigm of Lacanian desire.
and to choose for myself what path my life would take. I feel very sorry for Emma. Having never been given the opportunity to discover her true self or to develop her dreams and hopes for her future, all she had to base her aspirations on were trashy romance novels. I