The eponymous character lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life. When the novel was first serialized in Revue de Paris between 1 October and 15 December , public prosecutors attacked the novel for obscenity.
The resulting trial in January made the story notorious. After Flaubert's acquittal on 7 February , Madame Bovary became a bestseller in April when it was published in two volumes. A seminal work of literary realism , the novel is now considered Flaubert's masterpiece, and one of the most influential literary works in history. He sets out to build a practice in the village of Tostes.
One day, Charles visits a local farm to set the owner's broken leg and meets his patient's daughter, Emma Rouault. Emma is a beautiful, poetically dressed young woman who has a yearning for luxury and romance inspired by reading popular novels.
Her father gives his consent, and Emma and Charles marry. Emma finds her married life dull and becomes listless. Charles decides his wife needs a change of scenery and moves his practice to the larger market town of Yonville.
There, Emma gives birth to a daughter, Berthe, but motherhood proves a disappointment to Emma. Next, Emma begins an affair with a rich and rakish landowner, Rodolphe Boulanger. After four years, she insists they run away together.
