THE BLUES THAT ROCKS MARRIAGE

Abstract

In this paper, two marital relationships will be analyzed – the one between Mr. and Mrs. Bovary as presented in Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert and the other one between Mr. Karenin and Mrs. Karenin in Anna Karenin by Leo Tolstoy. The focus will be on female partners in these marriages and there will be an attempt to explain why these marriages did not work. Particular attention will be paid to the main female protagonists’ mental health state as described by the authors within their historical context in order to hypothesize that the underlying cause of the marriage breakdown of both Emma Bovary and Anna Karenin could have been linked to medical reasons, exacerbated by social constraints and expectations set by male-dominated societies. Although social and cultural factors should not be overlooked in analysis of the reasons for marital breakdown in both novels, it is hypothesized that the lack of understanding of Emma’s and Anna’s mental health problems by their husbands, relatives and few friends they had, and the lack of proper medical or social support consequently arising from that lack of understanding, exacerbated the mental health condition in both cases leading to suicide.

Keywords

• Emma Bovary
• Anna Karenin
• mental health
• martial breakdown

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