Madame Bovary vs. Tess of d'Urbervilles

To begin with, Madame Bovary and Tess of d’Urbervilles present two different types of heroines. Emma is seen as selfish yet a heroine because she broke away from the status quo of what it meant to be a woman of her time and goes after what she wants. While Tess is seen as a self-less being who is a heroine because she sacrifices herself for the greater good. However, in both the themes of class and women are approached.

In both novels it is apparent that the characters are aspiring to be something more than they are, they are wanting to progress in society. In Madame Bovary, Emma so desperately wants to be a part of the upper class, unsatisfied with her position in the middle class. Others such as Homais want a higher status in society as well. Then Tess of d’Urbervilles, Tess’s parents are primarily concerned with getting out of their state of wretchedness and being able to sustain their family. Two characters among the books that are the most similar are Rodolphe an Alec. Both are wealthy men who aspire and chase after pursuits. It appears as though they have an easy way out of things because of their social status so they aren’t concerned with being reckless. Rodolphe pursues Emma out of sheer lust and Alec does the same with Tess.

However a difference is in the fact that class is approached and looked at on other levels as well. In Madame Bovary, the pursuit of attaining a higher social status is what drives Emma, yet in Tess of d’Urbervilles, Angel seems content with his class (in that he doesn’t seem to have any aspirations to achieve a higher status) and prefers to be a farmer rather than a clergy man. Another difference is the way the upper class is viewed. Emma believes the upper class to be elegant and bliss, filled with people who have manners and live happy lives. On the other hand, Angel views the upper class as corrupted and having no morals. He seems them as dishonest, and rather associate with those of humbled backgrounds. While Emma wants to be in the wealthy class where titles are important and what make you who you are, while Angel prefers to be in the middle class, working class where it’s what you do that makes you who you are.

When it comes to women, in both novels, women are looked at as of a lower position than men. In Madame Bovary, women are seen as powerless and incapable and in Tess of d’Urbervilles, the theme seems to be the same, with men dominating over women. Both Emma and the milkmaids are similar in that when they lose the man they want, their lives fall apart. Emma goes into depression while Marian becomes a drunk and Retty tries to commit suicide. Also, Emma is powerless in the fact that she isn’t able to fully break free and live life independently; something always pulls her back---her reliance upon Charles for money.I am pretty sure that if she had her own money, she would have left Charles yet because he was her source of income, she always had to go back to him. And then for Tess, she is powerless as well in the sense that men screw up her life. First Alec rapes her and emotionally manipulates her for a while, sends her home ruined and then Angel is leaves her and she has no say in the matter.

Their powerlessness is their downfall. Although Tess finally grows some backbone in the end when she writes the letter to Angel about him acting unjustly towards her, it's too late to change the course of fate. And then I think Emma is unsuccessful because she tries to counter-act men’s dominance through manipulation.