The Breaking of The ‘Dutiful’ Woman Archetype By A Male Voice in The Novel Madame Bovary.

Name of Author : Sithara Kumar

Abstract: This paper looks into the breaking of the „pious‟, „faithful‟, „dutiful woman‟ archetype, attempt of the English translated French novel Madame Bovary (1856) of Gustave Flaubert. It is a realistic, down to earth portrayal of a French lower middle class family. It starts off with the omnipresent narrator probably Flaubert himself, as he later on goes saying, “Madame Bovary c’estmoi,” Flaubert declared – Madame Bovary is me (A Gustave Flaubert Encyclopedia), and “My poor Bovary suffers and cries in more than a score of villages in France at this very moment”. Their existence was against the ardent morals demanded by the society. This realism breaks the dutiful woman archetype.

Keywords : Archetype, Domestic Life, Women Education, Symbols, Philosophy, Dichotomy- convent/school, Reasoning, Pretentions, Hypocrisy, Hysteria, Gender Inequality, Escapism, Libido.

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