Gustave Flaubert's novel, Madame Bovary, is important because it
             operates on many levels. While modern readers may appreciate Emma's
             Bovary's plight, it is also important to understand how the novel was
             received to gain a greater understanding of its significance. The novel
             was the first of kind in that it was what has now become known as a realist
             novel. It depicts the unfulfilling roles of women in the mid-nineteenth
             century and, as a result, criticized the bourgeois society in general.
             Flaubert was condemned for his novel by a society that was absorbed in
             morality. However, his great achievement is pinpointing human desires
             through the character of Emma and presenting them in a realistic setting
             that does not condemn or condone them.
             Literature of the mid-nineteenth century was largely a product of
             romantic notions. Flaubert said that by writing Madame Bovary, he was
             "exorcising the romantic demons that hover about literature" (Russell 8).
             His style focuses instead on more realistic and natural aspects of
             humanity. In fact, Ernest Boyd, in his essay "Flaubert and French
             Realism," notes that Flaubert is "generally accepted as the father of the
             realistic novel" (Boyd). This fact indicates that society was not
             accustomed to strong, independent women who felt desire and often acted
             impulsively. In short, the French society was shocked at Emma's behavior.
             Tony Williams notes, "Madame Bovary was put on trial when it was first
             published largely on account of its intense critical interrogation of the
             assumptions that collectively make up the common-sense outlook on life in
             nineteenth-century France. The subversive force of the novel is directed
             most obviously against that cornerstone of bourgeois society, marriage"
             (Williams). If any character represents a selfish inclination toward
             happiness outside the confines of marriage, it is Emma Bovary. This type
             of character wa...