Realism vs. Romanticism

The connection between this book and say, Jane Erye, doesn't seem too strong, or too apparent. Because the two different types of writing, of course the descriptions, symbolism and foreshadowing isn't similar but Flaubert does address romanticism, even if he is a realist. Emma, with her elaborate & romantic dreams and pictures of how her life will be like, is the spark in this book that represents every realist's worst enemy: the romantic. It seems like Flaubert decides to include a character to stand for more "layered", descriptive writing simply to clearly show readers that he is a realist and writes that way. Emma's eccentric and extravagant nature seems to possibly be the thing that Flaubert could never be.

I think that, because of Charles' stupidity, the depressing & unfortunate ending and the extreme contrast between the two main characters, Madame Bovary may be paralleling Flaubert's life as a writer. I feel that Flaubert envies "Emma" in the sense that he could never be a romantic and can only be a plain old realist. Maybe he wanted to be able to write like Bronte, to layer his writing with deeper language and more significant details. Instead, he stood by stupidly and in the end never could immerse himself in romantic prose, mirroring the end of the book. I may be totally off the mark, but that's one thing I feel Flaubert was trying to convey.