The Victorian era was a time of both beauty and elegance. Many wonderful novels were written during the period including Jane Erye by Charlotte Bronte and her sister Emily's famous work, Wuthering Heights. But in contrast there are novels that express Anti-Victorian sentiments as well. One example is Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert. To examine why this novel uses Anti-Victorian views in it's plot we must first understand what the Victorian Era was about.
             Victorians were complicated people with somewhat similar views on life as many people today. They were concerned about manners, morals, and money. To be proper was everything. Men wanted to be thought of as Gentlemen and ladies wanted to be "Lady-Like", meaning they were to respect their husbands, and never show any indecency towards men or each other. Appearance was everything to these people. The better you looked (i.e. how expensive your clothes were) the better you were treated during the Victorian Era. The plot of most Victorian novels centered on "struggles of a main character to find self knowledge". People's relationships to society was more important then anything else.
             Quite possibly the most obvious example of Anti-Victorian sentiment in the Novel is Emma lack of Victorian ideals. She engages in two affairs while she is married to her husband. The first with Rodolphe, a man that seduces her yet never truly loves her and the second with Leon, who she truly loved but for the wrong reasons. This was not a very "Victorian" thing to do. First of all because it does not show loyalty to her husband. It is a great disrespect to his name. Second women wanted to be thought of as very proper and respectable, and sleeping with every man that claims to love you would not make you very proper in the eyes of others. Loyalty was very important to the Victorians. A woman never divorced her husband regardless o
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