Fuzzy said, Now in middle age I feel sympathetic towards her even though her predicament is largely of her own making. I was wondering if there isn't a little bit of Emma in all of us. Isn't there a quotation by Flaubert identifying with her? I think it's challenging for anyone to be completely happy in their present circumstances and to not look wistfully back to the past or regret the road not taken and imagine themselves somewhere else. It's too easy to fall down the path of temptation and vice. I maintain that Emma isn't a very nice person, but she's very human.
I completely agree. I think you're referring to the famous quote, 'Madame Bovary, c'est moi', which is attributed to Flaubert. I googled it but apparently it's not certain that he ever actually said it. Still, it's a great quote, very thought-provoking!
Sorry for the excessive number of comments; I'm just processing what was a very harrowing read and getting everything off my chest!
The last thing I wanted to say (for now!) was that a book I read in my twenties which made a profound impression on me was Deceit, Desire and the Novel by the literary critic Rene Girard. (The original French title is Mensonge romantique et verite romanesque.) Madame Bovary is a key text in Girard's analysis, which introduces the idea of triangular desire. According to Girard, we think that desire is a two-way relationship (one person loving another person or thing), but actually there is almost always a third element involved. Emma is his example: she falls in love with men not because the men themselves are so great, but because she wants to be like the romantic heroines in novels. So in her case, the novels she reads are the third element in the triangle.
Triangular desire can also be called mimetic desire because it imitates the desire of someone else. I find Girard's argument really convincing, because in a way, so many things we want in life, we want because someone else has them, or admires them. This is super clear with little kids for example. If one little kid says, 'I want that toy!' then the other kid wants it too. Even though there are loads of other equally good toys! This can also apply to more significant life decisions. I decided to study French literature because I had a mad crush on my French professor when I was a teenager. 😁So it was not a pure unmediated desire on my part to study French literature; my professor was the third element in the triangle, 'mediating' my desire.
Girard doesn't suggest that triangular desire is a bad thing necessarily; he just thinks it's part of our make-up as humans.
Having now read Madame Bovary, I now have a better understanding of what inspired Girard to come up with this theory! So yeah I would agree Fuzzy that there's a bit of Emma in all of us.