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Madame Bovary was the debut novel of
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Gustave Flaubert, published in 1856.
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The lead character lives beyond her
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means in order to escape the banalities
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and emptiness of provincial life.
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The novel begins with Charles Bovary as
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a young boy, where he has trouble
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fitting in at school and gets bullied by
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As a young boy and as a young man,
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Charles is just average and rather
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He fails his first exam before finally
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becoming an average country doctor.
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His mother makes him marry a widow who
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dies shortly afterwards, leaving him
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much less well off than he was expecting
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He meets Emma shortly after this, as
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she's the daughter of a patient, and he
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falls in love with her and the couple
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After a big wedding, they move to
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Tostes, where Charles has a doctor
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practice, but Emma soon becomes
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disappointed with married life.
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She was raised in a convent and saw love
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and marriage as an answer to all her
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When she attends a ball at the home of a
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well-off gentleman, she starts dreaming
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of a more sophisticated life than hers.
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She starts comparing her own life with
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the fantasy life she could be leading,
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and this makes her anxious and in the
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When she becomes pregnant, Charles hopes
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a move to a new town will help her get
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When they arrive in the new town, the
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Bovarys get to know the pharmacist, who
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is very preoccupied with himself.
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Emma encounters Leon, who's a clerk.
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He's like her, since he's bored with
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rural life as well, which he escapes by
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reading romantic novels.
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When she gives birth to her daughter,
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she's also disappointed in motherhood
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and is saddened, since she wanted a boy.
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When Emma and Leon become romantically
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involved, Emma realizes that Leon loves
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her, which makes her feel guilty, and
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she goes back to being a devoted wife to
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Leon can't stand having to wait any
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longer, as he departs for Paris to study
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His departure makes Emma immensely sad.
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At an agricultural fair, a wealthy man
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called Rodolphe declares his love for
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They have a passionate affair, where
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Emma becomes more and more indiscreet,
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and people in town gossip about her.
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Charles has no idea about any of this.
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He adores his wife and isn't the most
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clever person, which makes him blind for
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His professional reputation is also
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damaged when he and the pharmacist
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attempt an experimental surgical
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operation to treat a club-footed man,
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which turns out badly, finally having to
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call another doctor to amputate the leg.
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Emma is outraged with this news and
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throws herself even more in her affair
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She borrows money to give him gifts and
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openly fantasizes to him to elope
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together with her daughter.
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But Rodolphe is growing tired of Emma's
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demanding nature and finally leaves her.
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This breaks Emma's heart once more, and
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she becomes so ill, she's close to
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When she finally gets better, Charles is
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in financial trouble, since he's had to
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pay off the debts she made and pay for
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When he takes her to the opera in the
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nearby city of Rouen, she sees Leon.
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This encounter rekindles their feelings,
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and they start a new love affair.
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Emma starts sneaking to Rouen regularly
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to meet Leon, and she gets in deeper and
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deeper debt to the money lender
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Lheureux, who keeps giving her credit at
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higher and higher rates.
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She grows more careless in concealing
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her affair with Leon, and a few times,
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she gets very close to being found out.
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But this time, Emma becomes bored with
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Leon, but has no idea on how to leave
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When her debt to Lheureux spirals out of
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control, he orders the seizure of Emma's
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property to compensate for it.
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Trying to hide this from Charles, she
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tries to get the money needed from Leon
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and all the businessmen in town.
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She even attempts to get back together
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with Rodolphe, if this will give her the
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When he refuses, she feels she's run out
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of options, and she commits suicide by
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eating arsenic, dying a terrible death.
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At first, Charles treasures the memories
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of his wife. But over time, he finds her
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letters and uncovers her disloyalty with
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Rodolphe and Leon, and is confronted
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He dies alone in his garden, and Berthe
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is sent off to work in a cotton mill.
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