Striving for higher social status has been the downfall of many people just as it was the destruction of Emma Bovary. In Nineteenth Century France, several class existed: peasant or working class, middle class, upper-middle class, bourgeois, and aristocrats. In the story, "Madame Bovary," we see a number of individuals striving to move themselves up to the bourgeois, a status that is higher than the working class but not as high as nobility. The bourgeois …showed first 75 words of 1202 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1202 total…Flaubert, Gustave. "Madam Bovary." Vol I of The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Maynard Mack, et al. 6th ed. 2 vols. New York, Norton 1985: 1991. Secondary sources Brombert, Victor. "Madame Bovary: The Tragedy of Deams." Gustave Flaubert. Ed. Bloom, Harold. New York: Chelsa House Publishers, 1966. 23-43. Nadeau, Maurice. The Greatness of Flaubert. New York: The Library Press, 1972. 134-137. Unknown. "Overview: Madam Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert." <http://www.galenet.com> Unknown. "Social Class." <http://www.britannica.com>