Death Over Life in Flauberts Madame Bovary Essay -- Madame Bovary Ess

Death Over Life in Flaubert's Madame Bovary      Ã‚  Ã‚   Often in literature, a character is found that is quite memorable. Never was this more true than in Flaubert's Madame Bovary. To some, Emma Bovary's action at the end of the novel was drastic and unnecessary; others believed her death to be the end of the natural progression of the story. However, Emma's decision to commit suicide was relatively simple, yet came as a last resort. She had exhausted all the other options she felt were available, and in the end made her plan based on finances, lost love, and the sheer boredom of her life.    One motivation for Emma's suicide was her financial problems. She spent extravagant amounts of her husband, Charles', money on dresses, scarves, and house decorations. More money was expended for Emma's "music lessons," which were actually her alibi for her affair with Leon. Also, she had spent too much money while preparing to run off with Rodolphe, a journey that never occurred. All Emma's debts piled up, then came due at the same time; she tried to put them out of her mind, to no avail. She even went as far as to beg money from Rodolphe, her former lover, who rejects her. After leaving Rodolphe Emma is angry; she has lost her normal ability to reason, but could still make a decision (Roe 42). As she could not forget, she devised, in a moment of "Emma-style logic," the solution to her problems. So, "...in an ecstasy of heroism, that made her almost joyous, she ran down the hill...and reached the chemist's shop" (Flaubert 221-222). Once at the chemist's, she frantically ingests a lethal dose of arsenic. It is tragic that the only release from her problems Emma could see was death.    Emma's failed love af... ...cide became her only option, and having taken the action she thought necessary, "...she went home, suddenly calmed, and with something of the serenity of one who had performed a duty" (Flaubert 222). However, Emma's death was not serene; it was violent and grotesque. Ironically, she did finally achieve "tragic romance heroine" status: she died young, penniless, and heartbroken.    Works Cited Buck, Stratton. Gustave Flaubert. University of the South: Twayne. 1966. 68-72. Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. New York: Dover. 1996. Green, Frederick C. French Novelists: From the Revolution to Proust. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1964. 233. Roe, David. Gustave Flaubert. New York: St. Martin's, 1989. Turnell, Martin. "Madame Bovary." Flaubert: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Raymond Giraud. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1964.