Anna Karenina and Emma Bovary The Strength of Revolutionaries
... The characters Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina, from the novels Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy respectively are no different. ... Some argue that because of the actions taken by Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina, the characters can be regarded as weak. But, on the contrary, the actions taken by the two characters are in an attempt to find happiness by rebelling against their bourgeois society, and it is their strength as characters that compel them to do so. Both Anna and Emma struggle against their present state, constantly searching for happiness until their struggles lead to their deaths. ... Emma Bovary’s bravery to struggle against her victimization in Madame Bovary is what makes her strong, and yet also leads to her death. Emma, from a very young age, has been brainwashed by society to think in an overblown and unrealistic manner. Growing up in the convent, Emma became suffocated by “the stuffy school atmosphere” (Flaubert 48). ... Emma began to view the world with the unattainable standards that she, as with countless other children, learns. ... The church and society can be seen as leading Emma towards the very romantic outlook on life that eventually leads to her downfall, because she has the strength of character not to go back on her beliefs. Thus, “Madame Bovary is not only not romantic, it is the bitterest satire on romanticism […] [Flaubert] lays bare […] first weary banality of provincial life, and then the hopelessness of the romantic revolt against banality” (Wells 232). By giving Emma a very idealistic and romantic point of view, Flaubert is criticizing the church and society; showing how the boredom of society and the romanticism of the church combine to teach standards that no person can live up to, and how Emma’s attempt to reach these standards as a result of learning them from the French bourgeois society and the church only leads to her death. In addition, Emma’s victimization can also be seen through Flaubert’s placement of Emma in the middle of French bourgeois society. ... If Emma were as wealthy as her lover, Rodolphe, for example, she would be free to indulge in the rich lifestyle she imagines. ... Special emphasis is placed on the kind, but simple, dull and unremarkable Charles, and the way he treats Emma. ... To Emma, “His unquestioning belief that he made her happy seemed to her a stupid insult; his complacency on the point, ingratitude” (Flaubert 121). Charles blindly enough, cannot see how dissatisfied and bored Emma is with her bourgeoisie life because he is merely fixated on her outward appearance, and such results in Rodolphe, who sees her problem, easily being able to exploit her. ... Emma is unhappy in her position, and like any strong person, she strives to make her life better and does not give up on what she believes to be happiness. ... Therefore, what can be seen as “immorality” from Emma, is actually a desperate attempt to bring happiness into her life that she cannot get through the dull bourgeois life she leads. ... Emma can also be seen as a strong character through her fight to gain control of her life.