Madame Bovary and hysteria: some psychoanalytic considerations

Abstract

This article starts from the freudian comprehension about female psychic constitution and hysteria as psychological destiny, for this, the article focuses on Madame Bovary, character extracted from Gustave Flaubert’s novel published in France in 1856, the same year that Freud was born. Considered the founder and principal exponent of the literary school of realism, Flaubert created Madame Bovary, a female character with a series of conflicts that portray the European bourgeois customs of the second half of the nineteenth century, as well as make clear the place reserved for women in this cultural context. The little woman - as Flaubert will call the central character during the preparation of the novel - is an important representative of the feminine desire for transformation, but it is possible to realize thesedesires are excessive, which places Madame Bovary in the field of psychopathology affectation. The realism with which Madame Bovary is presented made it widely discussed over the years. When published, it caused impact on French society, and its publication was eventually prohibited. Nevertheless, the story built by Flaubert is still up-to-date because it refers to the riddle of femininity and hysterical pathology, both timeless.

Key words: psychoanalysis, hysteria, Madame Bovary, french literature.