Throughout life, it is safe to say that on occasion, everyone imagines what his or her lives might be like in a fairy tale, where everything comes together, and true happiness is attained. With true happiness, true love would often transpire. This love would be unconditional, meaning that it would be affective under all circumstances. In Flaubert's Madame Bovary, the main character, Emma Bovary, truly believed that her real life would turn out like a fairy tale, with she finding the perfect husband, and generally living the "perfect life."" She also felt that she too would attain a love as strong and romantic as in her readings. More often than not, someone with this mentality will never realize this dream. In the novel, Emma's romantic expectations cause her to grow bored and depressed when she compares her fantasies to the reality of her marriage with Charles Bovary. As a result, it is very evident that Emma's life was destined to fail. This is due to her incapability of expressing unconditional love, her vivid imagination causing change for the worse, and chiefly because of her striving to live a romantic's life. .
First of all, it is easily seen that Emma cannot devote her heart to any one man in particular, not even her husband. Her inability to love unconditionally ultimately contributed to her bitter end. At the beginning of Flaubert's work, Emma does in fact fall in love with Charles and celebrates the marriage with an intricate ceremony. However, it does not take very long before she begins to grow bored of Charles and look for romance elsewhere. "Before marriage she thought herself in love; but since the happiness that should have followed failed to come, she must, she thought, have been mistaken- (Flaubert 24). The first man to come into her life is Leon, a person similar to Emma in romantic ideals. Each expresses their deep feelings for one another.
