THE PROBLEM OF SELF IN EMMA BOVARY AND DESQUEYROUX

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Published in 1857, Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary and published in 1927, François Mauriac’s novel Thérèse Desqueyroux whose protagonists are Emma Bovary and Thérèse Desqueyroux, constitute the two striking examples on individual and social status of women which rose with a certain social criticism in 19th century and which was discussed with different perspectives as a basic problem in 20th century. The two heroines who want to exist for the sake of their names and themselves within the oppressive values and status quoits mentality of 19th and 20th century rural bourgeoisie, fall into a face off, moreover into a conflict with their own entities as much as with social and moral values in terms of self-consciousness. Both heroines, over their fictional truths, constitute a lively woman figure each, reflecting their own historical periods. In this study, within the social and moral values and from the perspective of woman identity, the problem of selfhood has been discussed with three basic dimensions: “Social environment, values, identities”, “Woman identity as a wife and mother or the edges of resistance” and “the dialects of identity search or from Romanesque to metaphysics”.

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Flaubert , Madame Bovary , Mauriac , Thérèse Desqueyroux , Selfhood Problem , Woman identity , Freedom

Pamukkale University Journal Of Social Sciences Institute

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Pamukkale University Journal Of Social Sciences Institute