Gustave Flaubert’ Madame Bovary - Why Married Women Get Bored?

Gustave Flaubert’s debut novel, Madame Bovary, published in 1856, landed the French author in court on charges of obscenity. He won the case but the publicity made the novel a best-selling sensation. It took Flaubert 5 years to write Madame Bovary, and today it’s considered one of the best novels in the French language. Dozens of films and TV dramas are based on this story and almost everyone has heard of it. So in this video, I will summarise Madame Bovary, tell you about its major themes and a few points of analysis, and answer the question, how fiction impacts reality. I will also show you the genius of Flaubert’s precise language and beautiful description by giving some example passages from the novel. In the end, I will compare it to Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, which I discussed a few weeks ago. Gustave Flaubert in Focus: • Flaubert’s Genius Arti...
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🕔Time Stamps🕔
00:00 Intro
00:53 Madame Bovary Summary (part1)
08:21 Madame Bovary Summary (part2)
15:14 Theme: Dream vs reality
17:53 Writing
19:50 Madame Bovary vs Anna Karenina
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#madamebovary
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Пікірлер: 110

  • @Fiction_Beast
    @Fiction_Beast2 жыл бұрын

    NEW Video on Gustave Flaubert's Life and Style of Writing: kzread.info/dash/bejne/aGqKyI-yXc6Zirg.html

  • @j0nnyism

    @j0nnyism

    Жыл бұрын

    Please do a video on Waverley it’s my favourite political historical romance novel. In my heart I’m a Jacobite high Tory but in my head I’m a Whig

  • @Nia-yz4ft
    @Nia-yz4ft Жыл бұрын

    Everyone pities Madame Bovary. No one talks about wretched Charles. He had been the subject of torment from beginning , domineering parents , unpleasant first marriage...and as he found the woman he worshipped more than love , she decieves him and lets herself and her passions adrift. Her beauty being the snare for all others and her doom. Poor Charles , he did nothing to deserve this.

  • @mayankbajpai170

    @mayankbajpai170

    Жыл бұрын

    यू आर राइट सर आई हैव नो सिंपैथी फॉर एमा

  • @AtifShafiinheritance

    @AtifShafiinheritance

    Жыл бұрын

    Seems not only me saw that

  • @tushitushi9919

    @tushitushi9919

    Жыл бұрын

    Poor Charles!!! His first wife literally died because of him........ imagine yourself in her shoes. What if your wife or husband do this to you?

  • @SaadiaKaamalahD

    @SaadiaKaamalahD

    9 ай бұрын

    NYRB has a book called "Charles Bovary, Country Doctor: Portrait of a Simple Man." I have yet to read it, but it's on my list!

  • @brileyvandyke5792

    @brileyvandyke5792

    26 күн бұрын

    Absolutely correct. Charles was a sympathetic character. Madame was a selfish, ugly personality.

  • @Nia-yz4ft
    @Nia-yz4ft Жыл бұрын

    Just finished reading Madame Bovary. You've summarised it aptly , meticulously pointing creat and troughs of the Flaubert's work. One can relate to her , her sorrows and hollowness that pervades her heart screams aloud , we all have that appetite , Madame slaked it ferociously without thinking of the consequences.

  • @davet2625
    @davet26258 ай бұрын

    Just finished reading Madame Bovary. Have read Anna Karenina twice. First time seeing any of your videos. New subscriber - I appreciate all the insights.

  • @yeyuravi3859
    @yeyuravi38592 жыл бұрын

    Ah good old French literature! I'd suggest you to do a video on Victor Hugo's Les Miserables soon.. Anyway awesome content! ❤️

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    Great suggestion! Thanks a heap!

  • @user-li5jg9jf9q
    @user-li5jg9jf9q2 жыл бұрын

    What a wonderful and impressive analysis of the materpiece novel "Madam Bovary". Beautiful novel and brilliant summary! Thanks a lot!

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    You're very welcome!

  • @UK-jt3mw
    @UK-jt3mw Жыл бұрын

    Amazing commentary and analysis - as always! Bravo!

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks!

  • @zakcole2229
    @zakcole22292 жыл бұрын

    Another awesome, thought provoking video. Thank you!

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    Glad you enjoyed it!

  • @kasiakwiatkowska5816
    @kasiakwiatkowska5816 Жыл бұрын

    This is incredible!! Listened to this video several times to capture as much as possible! Love this summary and analysis. It actually m,add me reach out for my NY Public Library Edition and started reading today! Thank You 🙏

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    Жыл бұрын

    That’s awesome!

  • @Reza090
    @Reza090 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you:) Would love to see more great books like this.

  • @roshananoor3066
    @roshananoor30662 жыл бұрын

    You've done it brilliantly as always. Grateful.......

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thank you so much 😀

  • @kasialeparska2480
    @kasialeparska2480 Жыл бұрын

    Excellent review, thank you! 🌹

  • @thevagabond9228
    @thevagabond92282 жыл бұрын

    great summary. easy to understand. funny. great analysis. thank you so much.

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    You're very welcome!

  • @nadaroshan4022
    @nadaroshan40222 жыл бұрын

    your analysis for novels and those who have written them is wonderful it remembers me the way of choline Wilson the outsider keep going ,I got one of your discipline

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    Wow, thank you!

  • @jamesboulger8705
    @jamesboulger8705 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for the review. Unfortunately, I do not read French, but I have read on Gustave, and I can completely emphasize with his writing ethic. It is incredibly tempting to make cliche', ham-fisted writing. He did not produce a lot, but from what I have read on him, what he did produce was worth 10 books by other authors.

  • @xlrpj123playz6
    @xlrpj123playz6 Жыл бұрын

    thank you for making this

  • @sachieasamizu4809
    @sachieasamizu480911 ай бұрын

    I had assumed that I was going to dislike the novel. You inspired me to read it and it was unexpectedly absorbing. The way Emma slowly goes mad like an addict. The impressive agricultural fair when the door to doom opens. The ghastliness of the final scenes…I’ll read again to fully appreciate the writing, but next, I'm thinking of reading Maupassant's One Life, another story of an unhappy marriage in 19th century France.

  • @andrewdunbar828
    @andrewdunbar8282 жыл бұрын

    I seem to recall that Flaubert believed writing was about the crafting of the language and that the story was of no importance and he specifically chose this story from the tabloid press because to prove his point he wanted a story "about nothing". I read this book twenty years ago while backpacking in Guatemala so I'm not sure how accurate my memory is.

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    You're right, he wanted to turn base metal into gold. that's Madame Bovary.

  • @andrewdunbar828

    @andrewdunbar828

    2 жыл бұрын

    ​@@Fiction_Beast Yes I see you covered this aspect in more detail in your latest video.

  • @madinaurinova751
    @madinaurinova7519 ай бұрын

    Thanks for the best explanation)

  • @cappy2282
    @cappy22822 жыл бұрын

    Flaubert was extremely good and many consider Madame Bovary one of the best. My favorite book of his is "A sentimental education" 👍

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    I love Sentimental but everyone knows Bovary. Thanks for watching.

  • @cappy2282

    @cappy2282

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@Fiction_Beast Ya Bovary is his masterpiece forsure. I would like to re-read it. (I forget most of it lol)

  • @KuR58
    @KuR586 ай бұрын

    Although it's easy to find Emma very irritating. Thinking things like: woman, you're ruining a perfectly fine life and bringing ruin to you and everyone around you. For example I felt horrible for little Berthe since her mother never really loved her, sometimes she wanted to pay her some attention as if she were a cute doll for a while and as soon as she started crying she forgot that she had a daughter again. Or how she grew to hate and mistreat Charles even when he didn't do anything "wrong" althought I think it can be argued that he was so happily ignorant of her pain that I can't help but feel like he was a bit emotionally neglectful. I felt for Emma a lot, specially at the beginning. She talks a lot about how she craves for freedom and excitement in life and I don't necessarily feel that's a bad thing to wish for, but the novel sometimes feels as if it's trying to chastize women about it "don't wish for too much". Okay Emma has unreasonable and unreal expectations on life and that will bring forth her downfall but some of her anguish and pain is very relatable. She wished she was a man so she could travel the world, meet all sorts of people, have relationships and experience love, and have an exciting life. All things that were forbidden for a woman at the time. When she went on about how she felt as if she was watching life through the windows of her house without really living in it or how she was always hoping something new or different would happen to her but never did and suddenly she realized her life would be a neverending loop of living the same day over and over, an eternity of boredom and then death, I can't help but really feel for her. I feel it's a very valid fear and pain. She even wished her baby would be born a man, so that at least she could have lived a happier, more free life.

  • @shivanitiwari2382
    @shivanitiwari238218 күн бұрын

    Literally I must salute your explanation🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉you justify the novel Thanking you so much

  • @carakathleen
    @carakathleen Жыл бұрын

    Really, really incredible!

  • @zicokahuroa3660
    @zicokahuroa3660 Жыл бұрын

    “Doctors alleviate your pain and lawyers empty your pockets so both are equally as useful” Lmao

  • @nefwaenre
    @nefwaenre2 жыл бұрын

    i have zero sympathies for Emma. She deserved the misery she got. But i absolutely felt for Charles. Clearly the poor guy and the innocent daughter deserved much, much better. Guys like Charles are mild mannered, nice and so it was a perfect catch. There's no competition. But no.. there needs to young men, attractive men. All just shallow and vain. This is an excellent case for that saying that beautiful people are never satisfied by one lover.

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    Charles did everything right except he was boring. His biggest mistake.

  • @pseudonamed

    @pseudonamed

    3 ай бұрын

    It's tragic, because he was a simple man who could have been happy with a simple wife, and vice versa. But marriage at that time didn't involve really getting to know your future spouse, it had little to do with your personalities being compatible, you could end up with totally the wrong match.. as these characters did.

  • @andygeary3531

    @andygeary3531

    Ай бұрын

    ​@@Fiction_Beastgot it, you shouldn't be boring. I'm guessing you should also be charming and funny too? Oh and handsome, gotta make sure that I'm handsome. Rich too of course, can't be poor and satisfy a woman! Romantic too, gotta make sure she is the centre of attention. And agreeable, happy wife happy life, can't go letting her go wanting for anything. Did I miss anything? No matter, she will leave anyway because of her personality. Moral of the story- don't change yourself to please another, find one that likes you as you are 😊

  • @Tolstoy111
    @Tolstoy111 Жыл бұрын

    Madame Bovary inspired Anna Karenina. Just as War and Peace was inspired by Les Miserables.

  • @harikaimal
    @harikaimal2 ай бұрын

    Remarkable The observation that Capitalism is to blame...is remarkable ❤

  • @sharontheodore8216
    @sharontheodore82162 жыл бұрын

    A novel with a powerfully lasting effect. Emma was the product and the victim of the new romantic era in literature and art where true love meant certain experience without which it is not love. Flaubert was the teacher of Guy de Maupassant, another leading French writer and who is the father of the French short stories. If you get a chance, read his story ‘The Necklace’ or ‘La Parure’ which kind of resonates with Madame Bovary. Thank you so much for your amazing analysis.

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    I read the necklace a while back. It’s a great short story. Thanks so much as always.

  • @katlynklassen809
    @katlynklassen8092 жыл бұрын

    She got what she thought love was. The problem is she never knew what it is that would get you.

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    i think she had fun but it was tough for others around her.

  • @4imee198
    @4imee1989 ай бұрын

    In my opinion his warning was against Monopolies, because one his competition is gone (free market) he's able to do as he please. I love to realize all the authors I grew up admiring like Leo Tolstoy weren't fans of modernity as myself. Things just go so damn fast I just want a break and a simpler life, happiness or no I want peace, quietness, stability :/ #minimalism?

  • @Barnabas94
    @Barnabas942 жыл бұрын

    Just finished reading Madame Bovary. Loved your analysis of the book like how I love all of your videos but I did not love this book. Idk if it was bc I read the Eleanor Marx translation or the plot just wasn’t for me. The descriptive language was beautiful as is to be expected of Flaubert, the social commentary is interesting but others do it better, I couldn’t get into the characters and didn’t care or like Emma. Just a narcissistic girl who takes others for granted and wastes everything for selfish gain. I also have another Flaubert on the shelf with “Bouvard and Pecuchet”, but I’m going back home to Russia for awhile before I give Flaubert another chance. 2/5

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    I think Madame Bovary's plot has dated a lot since we live in a very different world with female liberation but at that time it was a huge scandal. Flaubert delibrately chose a somewhat ordinary story he read in a newspaper and chanllenegd himself to turn it into piece of great literary work. For me Flaubert's language is magical an dI agree the story is pretty ordinary.

  • @j0nnyism
    @j0nnyism Жыл бұрын

    When I read this in my 20s I detested Emma and sympathised with Charles but reading it again in my 40s I reversed my opinion on them. Strange how age and life experiences change the way you react to character

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    Жыл бұрын

    Proust’s novel in search of lost time is mainly about how time changes us.

  • @moshefabrikant1
    @moshefabrikant12 жыл бұрын

    9:40 Woman want a real man, its in anna karinana and madame bovary 11:00 We only realize we are getting older because how others see us 15:00 Don't read too much romances when you are young 21:00 Jordan Peterson might argue that women are chaos. Without chaos in their lives, they search to find one somewhere else. If they can’t, they create chaos themselves. These two novels seem to suggest that both Anna and Emma married boring men, reliable but not exciting. So they searched for some excitement somewhere else. Today that message has been instilled in every one of us. Don’t wait for happiness, chase it. Don’t be content with what you have. Always shoot for the best. So I don’t blame Emma. I am much like her. On a subconscious level we all chase chaos. We’re programmed to deal with adversities, chaos and thrills.

  • @yohann2217

    @yohann2217

    8 ай бұрын

    I think there's a difference betwern chaos and to be stimulated. Charles was objectively boring. To seek other man it's not to seek chaos in this case. I think Emma and Léon was a good couple.

  • @burke9497
    @burke94972 жыл бұрын

    FB, which English translation of Madame Bovary do you recommend? Thanks!

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    I read the penguin classics version. It’s beautifully done.

  • @gurashishsingh7813

    @gurashishsingh7813

    2 жыл бұрын

    Lydia Davis's translation is absolutely stunning!

  • @CinemaSatsang
    @CinemaSatsang Жыл бұрын

    your videos are very educative! Thank you! I didn't like the live action images (the black & white one) in India this story could still be taboo!

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you! You mean women leaving their husbands?

  • @CinemaSatsang

    @CinemaSatsang

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Fiction_Beast yes!

  • @MrExtraordinaire16
    @MrExtraordinaire162 жыл бұрын

    As a big fan of your video i am curious at the end you stated that you thought jordan peterson whould think woman's are chaos is that what you believe he would say or did he actually say that I am quite curious.

  • @gracefitzgerald2227

    @gracefitzgerald2227

    2 жыл бұрын

    I’ve read Both of JPs books and he says woman are the Yin to the man’s Yang. The dark to the light. The chaos to the order. No pussyfooting, that’s what’s literally in his books. Funny thing is, I still love his books.

  • @MrExtraordinaire16

    @MrExtraordinaire16

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@gracefitzgerald2227 really! What page is that for the most part I more often than not watch his lectures because i love them a lot except the one on communism which he himself has stated to not having read any other communist text other than marx. So yeah! But as much as many say they don't like jordan Peterson I truly adore his works, probably because of my conservative values but then again I did hear that a lot of moderate liberals say that they like his work .

  • @gracefitzgerald2227

    @gracefitzgerald2227

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@MrExtraordinaire16 rule 2 treat yourself like someone you are trying to help. That’s where he mostly talks about the yin and the Yang and the book of Genesis. The message is spread apart in both of his Order books ( I’ve never read Maps on Meaning). I lean towards the liberal side, and I’m seeing him in 2 weeks. I’m praying he sticks to the books. 😊

  • @MrExtraordinaire16

    @MrExtraordinaire16

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@gracefitzgerald2227 really!wow that's awesome hopefully the reunion will go well between you two,I really appreciate that you took the time to explain the page thank you very much and seems like my hunch on certain liberals liking him is true.😊

  • @gracefitzgerald2227

    @gracefitzgerald2227

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@MrExtraordinaire16 you’re correct. He’ll be in Providence so I’m hoping it’ll be mostly peaceful New England folks. It’s scary that some people are showing up to his lectures with banners about him being hateful. I don’t agree with everything he says but I also don’t like the far leaning left. You sound nice Imran, I hope you read his books and get the best from them.

  • @gracefitzgerald2227
    @gracefitzgerald22272 жыл бұрын

    I’m so happy I listened to this. I always thought Madame Bovary was when the wife has an affair with a farmhand because her husband is disabled . What am I thinking of? As usual your explanation was thoughtful, and fun. This one was sadder than the others.

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks a heap! I think you're talking about Lady Chatterley’s Lover by DH Lawrence. the husbnad tells the wife to cheat so there is no betrayal i suppose.

  • @gracefitzgerald2227

    @gracefitzgerald2227

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@Fiction_Beast yes! I think I might have sneaked some peaks on Skin-a-max back in the 80s when my parents went to bed. Ha ha😝

  • @encantarebelde
    @encantarebelde2 жыл бұрын

    Sick burn on the lawyers

  • @ericuttamkumar1672
    @ericuttamkumar1672 Жыл бұрын

    Very very very true this is going on in this society, just like a fictional dreamy world imagination fairytale of fantasy romantic perfect love friendships attachments connections fantasy obsessions all are one day becomes as a bulshit rubbish ruins the precious valuable life's of the person (person) even the families it is all going on in the societies of the people and in the world very very bad it's all happening in the practically.

  • @ReligionOfSacrifice
    @ReligionOfSacrifice Жыл бұрын

    What is the story where the wife returns and the husband does not remember her?

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    Жыл бұрын

    The man who forgot his wife?

  • @ReligionOfSacrifice

    @ReligionOfSacrifice

    Жыл бұрын

    ​@@Fiction_Beast, yes, as you described this book to me, I wondered if it wasn't the book my mother wants me to read, where the wife returns only to find she can't return for the man does not even know who she is (dementia). I can still remember picking up a book my mother was reading where a man was wondering where all the churches in Russia had gone. That book was "In the First Circle" and I wasn't a teenager. She always had a book around her that was usually big and so I'd pick it up and read one chapter around where she was and then go back to Sci-Fi. As I got older, I fell in love with the Russian writers she had read by reading the whole book and now I ask for book ideas, but that book she told me about has been the only illusive book I can't find. She leaves her husband and then finds she can't go back. It isn't "Jude the Obscure" as mom calls that one the book where the wife jumps out of the window, but does go back and the husband takes her back.

  • @ReligionOfSacrifice

    @ReligionOfSacrifice

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Fiction_Beast, oh, that is the title. Mom didn't know.

  • @ReligionOfSacrifice

    @ReligionOfSacrifice

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Fiction_Beast, no, that is not it. Or at least I don't believe it is. The book I want has the wife returning to him. Not they are divorcing. Rather she is used poorly by other men and returns to the man who she knows loves her, only her husband can't even remember her. This would be a book before 1995 let's say.

  • @custer264
    @custer2643 ай бұрын

    Women get bored because they are meant to be taken for a ride and cannot find satisfaction in work, whereas a man can become obsessed with some hobby or profession.

  • @weile4u
    @weile4u2 жыл бұрын

    Madame Bovary was NOT Flaubert's first novel!

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    debut novel.

  • @custer264
    @custer2643 ай бұрын

    Oh yeah. And just like junk food ruins your body junk information ruins the mind.

  • @YoYo-gt5iq
    @YoYo-gt5iq Жыл бұрын

    I love the jokes, like when you say that all of France celebrated. Just kidding. It's a provincial wedding.

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    Жыл бұрын

    😂

  • @humanfirst11
    @humanfirst11 Жыл бұрын

    When you say "Bovary" it always sounds to me that you are saying "Bolvary", or it's just me!

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    Жыл бұрын

    I still dont know the correct french pron

  • @2msvalkyrie529
    @2msvalkyrie529 Жыл бұрын

    Strindberg understood women better than Flaubert. It's blindingly obvious that Emma is sexually unfulfilled . ( to everyone except the author apparently .). She would like Charles to beat her..? Hmmm.....?

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    Жыл бұрын

    Here’s the irony though. Strindberg was heavily attacked by women for his views while Flaubert’s Emma has become the symbol of liberated woman.

  • @davidjooste5788
    @davidjooste57886 ай бұрын

    It's amazing and awful to have had almost the same partner. I should have known better. Blaming this on capitalism is foolish. Nonetheless an excellent precis.

  • @nycgweed
    @nycgweed2 жыл бұрын

    Worse are the novelas on tv! Every Latina I’ve dated thinks life is like a novela where everyone is screwing everybody lol

  • @robmurrah3224
    @robmurrah3224 Жыл бұрын

    The widow was so humiliated she DIED? That's pretty weak writing.

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    Жыл бұрын

    it's on me. Hard to convey his writing in a short video.

  • @sammoe1292
    @sammoe1292Ай бұрын

    Society is now full of Emma’s… and how terrifying it is that they think their neuroticism and capriciousness is empowering.

  • @mayankbajpai170
    @mayankbajpai170 Жыл бұрын

    I have no sympathy for Emma

  • @AC-ob7ke
    @AC-ob7ke Жыл бұрын

    She's a Brenda.

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    Жыл бұрын

    Who?

  • @mayankbajpai170
    @mayankbajpai170 Жыл бұрын

    सॉरी फॉर हेर डॉटर हर हस्बैंड

  • @oksanatulpa7984
    @oksanatulpa79842 жыл бұрын

    Ufortunately never read and don't like romantic novel. Better myths of German . Legend of Nibellungs for example )

  • @Fiction_Beast

    @Fiction_Beast

    2 жыл бұрын

    It’s not really a true romance. More a social and psychological commentary on chasing happiness.

  • @reeset2198
    @reeset219811 ай бұрын

    Millions of people today, mostly women, are in Credit card debt because their shopping habits? What on earth are you talking about?? What a completely weird thing to say.