Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina are famous female characters from the pen of two celebrated male 19th century writers, Gustave Flaubert and Leo Tolstoy. The two fictional women have much in common and illustrate the difficulty of women in Europe of that era. Both books offer social commentary on their respective societies, one, a rapidly developing Second Empire France; the other, a reforming Tsarist Russia. Overall, the authors are sympathetic to their creations and have created indelible characters that live on as referents. But, what relevance do they have today?
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Similarities
Adultery
The defining attribute that ensnares both characters is adultery. In the context of their societies, it was scandalous, ultimately ruining their lives, indeed ending them prematurely. Once Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina overcame their initial reluctance about the act, they hardly thought of their adultery, even blaming their husbands for it.
“Everything in him irritated her now; his face, his dress, what he did not say, his whole person, his existence, in fine. She repented of her past virtue as of a crime, and what still remained of it rumbled away beneath the furious blows of her pride. She revelled in all the evil…