madame bovary

Striving for higher social status has been the downfall of many people just as it was the destruction of Emma Bovary. In Nineteenth Century France, several class existed: peasant or working class, middle class, upper-middle class, bourgeois, and aristocrats. In the story, "Madame Bovary," we see a number of individuals striving to move themselves up to the bourgeois, a status that is higher than the working class but not as high as nobility. The bourgeois …

…Flaubert, Gustave. "Madam Bovary." Vol I of The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Maynard Mack, et al. 6th ed. 2 vols. New York, Norton 1985: 1991. Secondary sources Brombert, Victor. "Madame Bovary: The Tragedy of Deams." Gustave Flaubert. Ed. Bloom, Harold. New York: Chelsa House Publishers, 1966. 23-43. Nadeau, Maurice. The Greatness of Flaubert. New York: The Library Press, 1972. 134-137. Unknown. "Overview: Madam Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert." <http://www.galenet.com> Unknown. "Social Class." <http://www.britannica.com>