Madame Bovary

In Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, we see that Emma’s escape into fantasy, through her reading is what brings her life to an end. The observation on life that Flaubert makes in relation to Madame Bovary’s life, is that one should not live one’s life in an imaginary world. One should try to focus on the reality of what surrounds them because if the do not, the end result will only lead …

…the splendid life that her imagination craves, and both times she is left feeling bitterly disappointed. It is said good things come to those who wait and if Emma did not try to escape her problems, she may have had a better life. However, she dies because of her attempt to turn her life into a novel. Madame Bovary is a character drawn from life because she is both Flaubert’s refuge and his self-portrait.