Madame Bovary is undoubtedly the masterpiece of Gustave Flaubert who is the pioneer

novelist in the history of 20th century European Literature. His treatment of the theme of love
and romance has given his novel global recognition and critical acclamation as well. Thought
it was Gustave Flauberts debut novel, he successfully depicted his mastery as a modern
novelist through this epoch-making as well as groundbreaking novel. This essay will reveal
different aspects of the theme of love and romance in the novel Madame Bovary and
Gustave Flauberts attitude towards this theme with relevant textual references. It will also
focus on how Emma's unrealized dreams of passionate romance contribute to her
unhappiness and whether her romantic expectations attainable or they are mere fanciful
impossibilities as well as how Emma's and Leons endeavor to make each other into their
romantic ideals.
Emma Bovary, the protagonist of the novel, has been presented as the true personification of
the theme of love and romance. Her view of love, influenced by the novels she reads, can be
tied intimately to atmosphere she felt as though she could not experience true love without
the right setting, something of an odd and superficial claim. The above statement collected
from the novel Madame Bovary correctly reflects this viewpoint of Emma:
In her longing she confused the pleasures of luxury with the joys of the heart, elegant customs
with refined feelings. Did not love, like Indian plants, require prepared soil and special
temperatures? Sighs in the moonlight, long embraces, tears flowing onto yielding hands, all
the fevers of the flesh and the languors of love these things were inseparable from the
balcony of a great castle in which life moved at a leisurely pace, from a boudoir with silk
curtains, a thick carpet, filled flower stands and a bed mounted on a platform, from the
sparkle of precious stones or the aiguillettes of liveried servants.
However, Emma was eventually married to a country doctor called Charles Bovary and this
marriage could not fulfill her yearning and longings for the kind of love and romance she
read about in the romantic novels during her stay in the convent. The following extraction
from the novel justifies her optimum despair and dissatisfaction over her marriage:
Before her wedding-day, she had thought she was in love; but since she lacked the
happiness that should have come from that love, she must have been mistaken, she fancied.
And Emma sought to find out exactly what was meant in real life by the words felicity,
passion and rapture, which had seemed so fine in the pages of the books.
After attending an extravagant ball at the home of a wealthy nobleman, she began to dream
constantly of a more sophisticated life. Her boredom and depression grew higher when she
could not find any similarity between her long cherished fantasies to the harsh reality of
village life, and eventually her apathy made her ill. When Emma became pregnant, Charles
decided to move to a different town with optimism of reviving her health.
In the new town of Yonville, Emma met Leon, a law clerk, who, like her, was bored with
rural life and wanted to escape through romantic novels. When Emma gave birth to her
daughter Berthe, motherhood disappointed her as she had desired a sonand she continued
to be despondent. With time went by, Romantic feelings blossomed between Emma and
Leon. However, when Emma discovered that Leon loved her, she felt guilty and engaged
herself into the role of a dutiful wife. Leon grew tired of waiting and, believing that he could
never possess Emma and departed to study law in Paris. His departure made Emma
miserable. The following exertion from the novel justifies Emmas love towards Leon:
She was in love with Lon, and she sought solitude because it allowed her to revel in thoughts
of him at leisure. His actual presence disturbed the voluptuous pleasure of her reveries. Her
heart palpitated at the sound of his footsteps, but her agitation always began to subside as
soon as he appeared, and she was left with nothing but deep astonishment which eventually
turned to sadness
Meanwhile Emmas fascinating and breathtaking beauty drew the attention of a wealthy
neighbor called Rodolphe who declared his love for Emma bluntly at an agricultural fair. He
seduced her and eventually they began having a passionate affair. Emma was often indiscreet,
and the townspeople all talked about her. Charles, however, suspected nothing. His adoration
for his wife and his stupidity combined to blind him to her imprudence. His professional
reputation, meanwhile, suffered a severe blow when he and Homais made an attempt to carry
out an experimental surgical technique to treat a club-footed man named Hippolyte and ended
up having to call in another doctor to amputate the leg. Disgusted with her husbands
incompetence, Emma threw herself even more passionately into her affair with Rodolphe.
She borrowed money to buy him gifts and proposed him that they run off together and took
little Berthe with them. Soon enough, though, the exhausted and worldly Rodolphe had
grown bored of Emmas demanding affections. Refusing to elope with her, he left her.
Heartbroken, Emma grew desperately ill and nearly died.
By the time Emma recovered, Charles was in financial trouble from having to borrow money
to pay off Emmas debts and to pay for her treatment. Still, he decided to take Emma to the
opera in the nearby city of Rouen. There, they encounter Leon. This meeting rekindled the
old romantic flame between Emma and Leon, and this time the two embarked on a love
affair. As Emma continued sneaking off to Rouen to meet Leon, she also grew deeper and
deeper in debt to the moneylender Lheureux, who lent her more and more money at
exaggerated interest rates. She grew increasingly careless in conducting her affair with Leon.
As a result, on several occasions, her acquaintances nearly discovered her infidelity.

Over time, Emma grew bored with Leon. Not knowing how to abandon him, she instead
became increasingly demanding. Meanwhile, her debts mount daily. Eventually, Lheureux
ordered the seizure of Emmas property to compensate for the debt she had accumulated.
Terrified of Charles finding out, she frantically tried to raise the money that she needed,
appealing to Leon and to all the towns businessmen. Eventually, she even attempted to
prostitute herself by offering to get back together with Rodolphe if he would give her the
money she needed. He refused, and, drove to despair; she committed suicide by swallowing
arsenic. She died in a horrible agony.

In the conclusion, it can be commented that Gustave Flauberts realistic treatment of the
theme of love and romance has given his masterpiece Madame Bovary a universal appeal.
On the other hand, Emmas fanciful fantasies and fetishism contributed heftily to her misery
and her romantic expectations were undoubtedly unattainable as well as whimsical
impossibilities. As far as Emma and Leon are concerned, their effort to make each other into
romantic ideals went in vein.