Moreover, Charles¡¦s character is not the romantic hero that is sited in most Romantic novels. Flaubert purposely creates Charles as an ordinary character, who does not woo over his wife. As a matter of fact, Emma cannot even understand him and resents him for not being the prince that she imagined he would be. Most Romantic heroes are melancholy lovers who are crushed by guilt for loving a woman. In the Romantic piece, The Queen of Spades, by Alexander Pushkin, the character Hermann can be considered a romantic hero in the eyes of Lisaveta, to whom he wrote letters ¡§inspired by passion, and used language true to his character; these letters were the expression of his obsessive desires and the disorder of his unfettered imagination¡¨ (Pushkin 648). Charles never appeared to Emma in such a way. Actually, he was as far away from a Romantic hero as one could be. Thus, Flaubert uses Charles¡¦s character to react against Romanticist values.

Through Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert both affirms Realist values and reacts against Romanticist values. He uses character, plot, style, and other devices to create a novel with Realist ideals. Emma¡¦s character represents the Romantic, who idealizes everything and cannot live within his or her own realm of reality. Charles¡¦s character is just an ordinary guy; he is not a Romantic hero who writes love letters to his love or awaits his love outside her window. With free indirect discourse, Flaubert is able to remain objective by having other characters say or feel what he as a narrator may be feeling. In addition, Madame Bovary is filled with lots of attention to detail. As a Realist piece of literature, the novel, Madame Bovary, represents life as it really is, which is the ultimate goal for a Realist, such as Gustave Flaubert.

Realism can be considered as a reaction against Romanticism. According to The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Romanticism can be defined as, ¡§a movement in the arts and literature which originated in the late eighteenth century, emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, imagination, and emotional expression. Romantics aim for a return to nature, believing that nature is unspoiled, and civilization is what corrupts human beings. For that reason, many Romantic texts are situated in idealized places such as fields, mountains, forests, oceans, deserts, and the countryside. In addition, they have a keen interest in the transcendent. Dreams, visions, magic, and illusions often found themselves implanted in Romantic literature. Realism, which came after Romanticism, was opposed to these ideals. In Madame Bovary, Flaubert opposes Romantic values in many different ways.

In addition, Flaubert shows Realist values in Madame Bovary through his style of writing. In Realist literature, the voice of the narrator is often invisible because it allows for a sense of objectivity within the piece. In Madame Bovary, Flaubert uses a narrative strategy called free indirect discourse, also known as free indirect style. Though Flaubert is attributed for creating

Written by Gustave Flaubert during the 1850s, the novel Madame Bovary is an example of realist literature. Through character, plot and style, Flaubert emphasizes sever

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