Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary tells the story of a woman’s quest to make her life into a novel. Emma Bovary attempts again and again to escape the ordinariness of her life by reading novels, daydreaming, moving from town to town, having affairs, and buying luxurious items. One of the most penetrating debates in this novel is whether Flaubert takes on a romantic and realistic view. Is he a realist, naturalist, traditionalist, a romantic, …showed first 75 words of 552 total…

…showed last 75 words of 552 total…core of Madame Bovary and helps to keep the book alive. (Benjamin 317) We see this when Emma is seduced by Rodolphe who believes that all woman are exactly alike and love the same way. Unfortuntely for her she sees only illusions as to how romantic Rodolphe is and when he leaves her to return to his old dreary lifestyle his existance as an exhilarating and exciting personality is in Emma’s mind and imagination alone.