Integrating a thematic perspective and textual analysis into the method, this Master's thesis proposes to study the theme and images of death in Madame Bovary. This essay analyses the representation of death, the relationships with the survivors and the links with the main character. It demonstrates the egoistic perception of death among the survivors and explains the thematic advancement in chapter VIII of the third part of the novel. The peripheral elements of death, such as the character Lestiboudois, the cemetery, the taboos and the generally accepted ideas, are studied in the first chapter. The second is devoted to Emma Bovary's romantic conception of death, through an analysis of artistic influences and inspirations, romantic mysticism, and complacency with regards to the idea of death. I will be studying the causes of her suicide, her desire to die, her distress experienced in love, her financial bankruptcy and her emotional and physical disequilibrium in the third chapter, which ends with the study of the thematic "spiral" in chapter VIII of the third section: the race, God, time, love, nature, anguish, emotional and physical disequilibrium and death, without neglecting the various interpretations of the Blind Man's ditty. In the fourth chapter, I study the mourning, suffering and social conventions, the influence from beyond the grave upon the survivors, the grave, the memories and immortality. Finally, the last chapter, so as to integrate the various notions explained in the preceding chapters, analyses the consequences of each death in the novel upon the survivors and their reactions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.23223 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Laurin, Jacinthe |
| Contributors | Duquette, Jean-Pierre (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | French |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Département de langue et littérature françaises.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001475332, proquestno: MM07935, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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