Comparison: Madame Bovary and Great Expectations

<Tab/>Flaubert and Dickens both fall into the categories of Realist writing and social analysis and criticism. Both were preoccupied with demonstrating the classed-based nature of the society of their respective times and places in history. Both Pip and Emma Bovary spend their time seeking to change their status in society, and the two extracts lay bare the difficulties with which they are presented. Whilst Emma tries her hardest to seem …

…romantic, but we see it for what it is - a final act of mindless self-indulgence. One might also consider the fact that be she a plain farm-girl or a beautiful, wealthy comtesse, the effect of ingesting arsenic would be just the same. Hence Flaubert and Dickens both seek ultimately to explode social mores and preconceptions - or at least to show that some things - life, love and friendship - are far more important.