Essay | Feminism in Madame Bovary

The character Emma Bovary of Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert, exhibits feminism in its purist state through her actions and feelings dealing with men. Many of the male characters in the book suppress her which gives a sense of a male driven world that she is striving to break free from. Throughout the story she is defined by her relationship to men, either as mother/wife, daughter, or prostitute. Her father Rouault expects her to be a dutiful, compliant daughter. Her husband Charles assumes her to be a loving wife and perfect mother to their child. The other men in her life, such as Rodolphe, see her as a play thing. They believe that they can toy with her emotions, because she isn't more than a woman. The narrator, being a man, over exaggerates her situations to make them seem petty. Even the narrator has male dominance. Through her relationships with...
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