EMMA BOVARY’S DEATH: A CONTROVERSIAL CASE OF FEMALE SUICIDE
EMMA BOVARY’S DEATH: A CONTROVERSIAL CASE OF FEMALE SUICIDE

Summary/Abstract: The present paper examines the death of the protagonist, Emma Bovary, in Gustave Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary, framing it as a complex and controversial representation of female suicide. The analysis explores how Flaubert’s depiction of Emma’s death can be seen as a response to the social, psychological, and cultural constraints imposed on women in 19th-century French society. By focusing on Emma's dissatisfaction with her life, the article discusses themes of entrapment, desire, and disillusionment as central to her final act of taking her own life. Emma's suicide serves both as a critique of romantic idealism and as a commentary on the limited agency afforded to women of her time. The article considers the ethical and literary implications of depicting female despair and suicide, and it evaluates Emma Bovary’s death as a case study of the broader struggles faced by women within restrictive social norms.

• Details
• Contents