Keyword Guide · character-analysis
This guide explains the major and minor characters in Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary. It focuses on traits, motivations, and how each character supports the novel’s themes, helping you prepare for quizzes, discussions, and essays.
Emma is the central character of the novel. She is driven by romantic ideals and dissatisfaction with ordinary life. Her desires shape the plot and highlight themes of illusion versus reality, consumerism, and emotional restlessness. When studying Emma, track how her expectations conflict with her circumstances.
Charles is Emma’s husband and a country doctor. He is kind and well-meaning but lacks ambition and imagination. His simplicity contrasts with Emma’s longing for passion, making him essential to understanding her disappointment and the novel’s critique of marriage and social roles.
Rodolphe and Léon are Emma’s romantic partners at different stages. Rodolphe is confident and manipulative, treating love as a game. Léon is younger and more idealistic but still unable to meet Emma’s expectations. Compare these characters to see how Emma’s desires repeat rather than change.
Characters like Homais, the town pharmacist, and Lheureux, the merchant, reflect social ambition and materialism. Berthe, Emma’s daughter, represents neglected responsibility. These figures help show how society influences Emma’s choices and consequences.
Emma Bovary is the most important character because the novel centers on her desires, decisions, and their outcomes.
Charles, Rodolphe, and Léon each reflect different responses to Emma’s romantic ideals, showing why her expectations remain unfulfilled.
Minor characters represent social pressures like ambition, materialism, and reputation, reinforcing the novel’s broader themes.
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