The British critic James Wood writes in How Fiction Works: "Flaubert established for good or ill, what most readers think of as modern realist narration and his influence is almost too familiar to be visible"。(2008:39) For Vargas Llosa, “Emma's drama is the gap between illusion and reality, the distance between desire and its fulfillment' and as such shows 'the first signs of alienation that a century later will take hold of men and women in industrial societies”。（Erica Jong）Henry James wrote: "Madame Bovary has a perfection that not only stamps it, but that makes it stand almost alone: it holds itself with such a supreme unapproachable assurance as both excites and defies judgment”。(1914:10)

Superficially, the novel is simply about a woman, Emma's dreamy romanticism。 And it is true that Emma is lost in delusions and desire, Charles is also unable to grasp reality or to understand and meet Emma's needs and desires。 But in essence, the ugly social phenomena under the surface of prosperity, the evil humanity of the bourgeoisie and women’s resistance towards the male society are what Flaubert really shows。 The comments on Madame Bovary are always consistent, which support that Emma is a woman obsessed in extravagance and lust。 And Flaubert said that Emma had to die at that time。 The contradiction between her identity and her illusion is the problem。 The root of her tragedy is society: the vulgar Romanticism resulting in her school failure, the realistic environment of male chauvinism and bourgeoisie extravagance。 

2。 Literature Review 

Flaubert said that Madame Bovary had to die at that age。 Her tragedy lies in the pergence between her identity and the social nature。 The root of her death is the society where she received the failing education and where there was full of the prejudice that men enjoyed higher status than women。 Romanticism began to fade after the Great French Revolution。 And Flaubert wrote this novel 50 years later from that。 To some degree, the character of Emma is a symbol of romanticism, and her death is the mark of the fading of romanticism。 Flaubert was taken to court after his publication of this book which was regarded as a book of obscenity by the so-called positive characters: the sanctimonious upper class, the government officials and the church people。

The factors influencing one person’s fate vary from different aspects which are always external factors (social factors) and internal factors (his or her characteristics)。 There are many papers about the factors。 Some attach more importance to the external factors and others the internal factors。 The main social factors are the political factors, economic factors and cultural factors。 

The researchers studied the political factors mainly from the angle of the evil Capitalism and feminism movement。 First, it has been calculated that Madame Bovary began in October 1827 and ended in August 1846。 This is the time of the "July Monarchy"。 It was a society ruled by bourgeoisie and Madame Bovary was only a common civilian。 ZhouYan pointed out that the political motivation of Flaubert to write this novel was just to attack and criticize the social reality at that time。 He lived in such a so-called prosperous society, however, Flaubert was not deluded by the surface prosperity of the developed capitalist society。 From a farm girl to a sinner, Madame Bovary experienced but also suffered a lot。 Why he arranged a such a tragic fate for the heroine Madame Bovary lied in the final political motivation to criticize the evil Capitalism and the vulgar Romanticism。(周焱: 98-100）

     Second, feminism movement was suppressed。 Especially, the Code Napoleon in 1804 implemented the principle that men enjoyed higher status than women。 For this part, Chen Liqian analyzed it from two parts。 First, Madame Bovary’s revolt against male chauvinism。 At that time, women were always supposed to stay at home to raise children rather than go out to work; they were supposed to serve for one man unlike men who could go out to have many love affairs。 However, Bovary didn’t do those things。 She was brave to pursue her ideal love which was actually not realistic at all。 Second, Bovary’s approval for male chauvinism。 Her revolt against the male chauvinism was blind。 When she tried to change her fate, she didn’t form her independent personality but was affected by male chauvinism invisibly。 For example, that her father sent her to the abbey to receive the aristocratic education and the educational mode in the abbey both subconsciously reminded Bovary that the sole pursuit of girls should be pleasing men and forming families。 (陈立乾: 200-202)文献综述