Abstract
The Madame Bovary Syndrome is a phenomenon that occurs among different female protagonists of the nineteenth century. Based on Gustave Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary, this syndrome was defined by French philosopher Jules De Gaultier to describe chronic affective dissatisfaction with one’s life. The Madame Bovary Syndrome can be applied to the female protagonists in George Sand’s Indiana, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. Each protagonist in these stories exemplifies chronic feelings of dissatisfaction, hopelessness, and despair due to the lack of control over their lives. With the rise of the middle class, women were now considered solely to be caretakers in the home and only identified with the men in their lives, whether that be her father or her husband. These female protagonists face different forms of oppression within marriage and motherhood as a part of nineteenth century patriarchal societal conventions. As a result, each character either attempts suicide or is driven to madness. This project explores how female societal confinement is the cause of the Madame Bovary Syndrome, as well as the detrimental effects it can have on women and what choices are available to those who do face this syndrome.
Semester/Year of Award
Fall 2020
Mentor
Randi Polk
Mentor Department Affiliation
Language and Cultural Studies, Anthropology, and Sociology
Access Options
Open Access Thesis
Document Type
Bachelor Thesis
Degree Name
Honors Scholars
Degree Level
Bachelor's
Department
Biological Sciences
Recommended Citation
Giesler, Audrey C., "Madame Bovary Syndrome: The Female Protagonist's Plight" (2020). Honors Theses. 780.
https://encompass.eku.edu/honors_theses/780
