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Madame Bovary: Themes, Plot and Literary Devices

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Madame Bovary: Themes, Plot and Literary Devices
Madame Bovary 1. Discuss the theme of social class in Madame Bovary. Is Emma a sophisticated aristocrat in a bourgeoisie prison, or is she simply a Middle-class girl obsessed with a richer life? In the world of the novel, are these distinctions meaningful? I believe that Emma is a middle class girl obsessed with a richer life. This is because Emma, at one point in the play in more concerned about Charle?s making money and looking good after the ?success? of Hippolytes foot operation. However, after the operation is unsuccessful she immediately loses respect for Charles and it gives her more reason to cheat on him. Also, while at the Ball in the first part of the play she shuns Charles because he looks like a country bumpkin while she chooses to look like all the other rich aristocrats and mingle amongst them for the night.

Discuss the theme of love and romance. How do Emma's unrealized dreams of passionate romance contribute to her unhappiness? Are her romantic expectations attainable, or are they fanciful impossibilities? How do Emma and Leon attempt to make each other into their romantic ideals? Emma?s unrealized dreams of passionate romance contribute to her happiness because they are wild and outside of her reach. First, she is a married woman who is seeking love and excitement outside of her marriage. Because she has read so many books about the romantic heroine who finds love and lives happily ever after she is stuck on that dream of finding that one person who will give her the passion she so desperately needs in her life. Her expectations are attainable but they are short-lived. For example, Rodolphe and Leon and prime examples of her short lived romances. She is always jumping from one thing to the next when the prior disappoints her. Emma and Leon attempt to make each other into their romantic ideals because they are both wildly passionate in their views of love, therefore they seek it in each other. Leon fails to realize that his involvement with Emma
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