A literary canon is a list of the most esteemed books in a country; books that have achieved high status and are considered of high aesthetic quality. Canons are works approved by cultural and academic institutions. Overall, these books are head and shoulders above all other books in terms of language, meaning, and social impact. Due to the progressive nature of the book, Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary is canonical since it served as a harsh critique of French society in the 1800s by attacking economic class divisions, gender roles, and ancient romantic beliefs while using metaphors, detailed images and symbolism to take things further. the overall meaning of the work. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayIn 19th-century France, class divisions were so deeply rooted and widespread; each class having distinct characteristics and almost different cultures. A middle class appeared, called the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie was seen as the materialist by-product of the new French capitalism. In this class, “the family and the state still exist, but – the family [has] been successively broken and [resembles] more of a commercial contract relationship, rather than a relationship [that] truly [expresses] the kinship and the care of a generation. for the other; the state [retained] its essential instruments of violence, but increasingly [found itself] under the influence of commercial interests, reduced to acting as buyer and seller of services on behalf of the community” (www .marxists.org). Obviously, this class was characterized by the simple fact of existing for the sake of production, a true working class. You could never increase wealth and you could never decrease it, if you were bourgeois it was almost impossible to progress in the economic situation unless you were hit by debt or some other unfortunate event. We see Flaubert criticizing the bourgeois class using his realistic style. to write and center Madame Bovary around this middle class. It tells the life of the beautiful Emma Bovary, newly married. Although she is initially content with her middle-class lifestyle, she shows increasing dissatisfaction with her wealth despite reasonable living conditions, a loving husband named Charles, and eventually a daughter. She could not stand the “small living room on the ground floor with its smoking stove, its creaking door, its leaking walls and its damp slabs” (Flaubert 79) compared to the “castle, a modern Italian-style building with two wings in projecting and three in front of it, flights of steps spread out at the bottom of a vast park” (Flaubtert 59) which belonged to the Marquis d’Andervilles, a former patient of Charles. The time she spent at the castle was the life she dreamed of and believed she deserved to live in a rich home and lifestyle while her husband “looked good and felt good” (Flaubert 74) and was still irrevocably in love with his wife. Even though Emma was continually spoiled by her adorable husband, allowed to buy luxuries like "a Gothic prie-dieu, spent fourteen francs a month on lemons to clean her nails, wrote to Rouen for a blue cashmere dress and chose the most beautiful scarf at Lheureux, to wear around her waist over her dressing gown” (Flaubert 137) and yet she was still not satisfied with what she had. “The need for money and the melancholy of passion, all of this merged into a general misery. She was irritated by a poorly served meal or a doorhalf-open; she moped about the velvet she did not own, about the happiness that was passing her by, about the height of her dreams and the smallness of her house” (Flaubert 121); this general unhappiness is the result of a middle-class lifestyle with little or no movement up or down in wealth. By showing Emma's greed and her inability to derive any pleasure from the stable life she currently leads, Flaubert emphasizes the struggle of the bourgeois and shows how unjust French capitalism was. The middle class worked several hours a day, but the result was only to put food on the table, not to buy lavish clothes and throw balls in a castle like those born into wealth. Emma embodies the frustrations of the middle class created by an unjust capitalist system where the upper class is only rich through family wealth, the poor are mistreated, and the middle class endures the greatest workload. In addition to making Emma Bovary the protagonist, Flaubert uses her to criticize the role of women in France. Time and time again, Emma is seen as nothing more than an attractive wife, essentially treated as an object, but no one takes her intelligence into account other than Léon, her first love interest. Even her father ignores her, declaring that he "would not have been sorry to get rid of his daughter, who was of no great use to him in this place... so when he saw that the presence of his daughter made Charles' cheek blush - which meant that one of these days he would ask for her hand... he said to himself: 'If he asks for her, he will have her'" (Flaubert 36- 37). He even treats her as if she were an object, selling her to Charles because he "was then about to sell twenty-two acres of his land and owed a lot of money to the mason and a lot of money to the saddler." …” (Flaubert 37). Emma may have been able to draw, play the piano, read, recite poetry, and sing, but even she was conscious of her place in society, even saying she hoped her child would be a "son …he will be able to explore passions.” and continents, can overcome obstacles, reach out to the most distant joys. Whereas a woman is constantly upset. Both inert and flexible, she must face both physical weakness and legal subordination. There is always a desire that pushes and a convention that holds back” (Flaubert 101). Flaubert shows how women were mistreated and continually disrespected, only being valued as potential wives and mistresses despite their knowledge. 19th century French society was patriarchal, men were responsible for the household and finances while women were expected to be pretty, keep the house tidy and take care of the children. Women had to remain docile, religious and obedient. Flaubert shows how society has repressed women by detailing Emma's thoughts and actions. Flaubert chose to write Madame Bovary realistically, rather than previous published novels which followed romanticism. It focused on the middle class and showed how old romantic ideals were far-fetched and disempowering to those who strive to achieve them. He creates Emma trapped, almost suffocated, by her worldly bourgeois life. His thoughts of love are unrealistic after reading "[novels] about love and lovers, damsels in distress fainting in lonely lodges, spittle shot down all along the road, horses ridden to death at every page, dark forests, troubles of the heart, wishes. , sobs, tears, kisses, boats in the moonlight, nightingales in the grove, gentlemen brave as lions and gentle as lambs,.