Abstract Madame Bovary is the French writer Gustave Flaubert’s representative novel. This paper focuses on analysis of the reasons of Emma’s tragedy from Madame Bovary. It is hoped that such a study could help people understand the reasons of tragedy of Emma. This paper analyzes the reasons of Emma’s tragedy from Emma herself and the society she lived in. This paper also brings to light some revelations from the tragedy of Emma: love is not all of life; cherish life; cultivate the sense of responsibility. It has practical significance for us in the pursuit of love and happiness.58443

Key words: Emma; tragedy; reasons; Madame Bovary

摘要《包法利夫人》是法国作家古斯塔夫•福楼拜的代表作小说。这篇论文从两个方面来分析包法利夫人中爱玛的悲剧原因，旨在帮助人们理解爱玛的悲剧。首先分析爱玛的自身原因，其次，分析社会的原因，最后从爱玛的悲剧中获得一些启示，爱情不是生活的全部，珍惜生活，培养责任感， 这些对于我们追求爱情和幸福具有现实意义。

毕业论文关键词：爱玛；悲剧；原因；《包法利夫人》 

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. The Reasons of Emma’s Tragedy in the Novel 3

3.1 Emma’s Personal Reasons 3

3.2 Social Reasons 7

4. The Revelation of Emma 12

4.1 Love Is Not All of Life 12

4.2 Cherish Life 13

4.3 Cultivate the Sense of Responsibility 13

5.Conclusion 14

Works Cited 15

1. Introduction 

Gustave Flaubert is a famous novelist of the realist school in French in the middle of 19th century. He is known especially for his first published novel, Madame Bovary.

Madame Bovary focuses on Emma’s emotional life and tragic fate. This novel mainly described that Emma was a romantic girl. When she studied in the convent, she learned a lot of famous romantic literary works, so she desired for the life of peeresses. After married with Charles, however, she thought her husband was banal and common, and she felt her dreamed love was disillusioned. After moved in Yonville, Emma met Leon who was a handsome and romantic man. They hit it off straight away and they had a lot of some interests. But Leon was younger than Emma and Leon was timid. He thought she was so virtuous and inaccessible, and he lost his hope. He given up his love, and left for Paris. When she felt sad and disappointed, she met Rodolphe who mastered chasing women. He often said a lot of sweet words, and Emma took him as her dreamed lover. Afterwards, Emma asked for elope with him, and was abandoned by him. At that time, Emma had already started to borrow money. Emma’s dream was disillusioned again, and got a serious illness. 

In order to change Emma’s mood, Charles accompanied her to the theater of Rouen. They happened to met Leon who had returned from Pairs. Leon was not a shy man any more. The love of them was rekindled and they met in a hotel of Rouen once a week. Over time, the life of mistress had became bland and she was already in debt. She asked for Leon’s help and hinted him to embezzle the money of his office, but Leon refused. She also borrowed money from notary, but she was unwilling to sell her love for money. It showed that she still had some romantic spirit. She refused to bow to her husband, because she did not love him and did not want to lose her dignity. In the situation of desperate, she decided to commit suicide by poison. Her life showed the disillusion of romantic thoughts.