Reality vs. Imagination in Emma Bovarys Predicament Essay

Reality vs. Imagination in Emma Bovarys Predicament Madame Bovary, a novel by Gustave Flaubert, describes life in the provinces. While depicting the provincial manners, customs, codes and norms, the novel puts great emphasis on its protagonist, Emma Bovary who is a representative of a provincial woman. Concerning the fundamental typicality in Emma Bovary’s story, Flaubert points out: â€Å"My poor Bovary is no doubt suffering and weeping at this very moment in twenty French villages at once.† (Heath, 54). Yet, Emma Bovary’s story emerges as a result of her difference from the rest of the society she lives in. She is in conflict with her mediocre and tedious surroundings in respect of the responses she makes to the world she lives in. Among†¦show more content†¦In her marriage to Charles, the main motivations are her expectations derived from the cases of marriages which she reads in romances. However, the next morning after the ceremony, the illusion fades away and Emma returns back to reality and everlas ting dissatisfaction appears: Before the wedding, she had believed herself in love. But not having obtained the happiness that should have resulted from that love, she now fancied that she must have been mistaken. And Emma wondered exactly what was meant in life by the words ‘bliss’, ‘passion’, ‘ecstasy’, which had looked so beautiful in books. (1/5 p.47) Disappointed by what she really experiences in marriage and household management, Emma looks for consolation in her books again. Accordingly, Paris points out concerning Emma’s escapist attitude: â€Å"Although she is repeatedly disillusioned, she is extraordinarily resilient and soon finds a new dream†¦She becomes more and more self-destructive as her desperation grows and increasingly divorced from reality in her pursuit of escapes and consolations.† (196). After presenting Emma’s disillusion with her marriage, the next chapter starts with the description of a novel she reads: â€Å"She had read Paul and Virginia, and seen in her dreams the little bamboo hut, Domingo the nigger and Faithful the dog...† (1/6 p.48). Without