What Is Madame Bovary Syndrome?

Madame Bovary’s syndrome is a behavioral disorder that came after the emergence of romantic novels from the 19th century.
Since then, the idealization of love has driven thousands of people (usually women) to constant frustration and disappointment. The search for “perfect love” always ends up colliding with the realistic view of a relationship.

Madame Bovary syndrome is a psychopathology first described in 1892 by the philosopher Jules de Gaultier. In his essay based on the book, Madame Bovary, he talks about the main character Emma. He says she is the perfect stereotype of a person with what he calls “chronic affective dissatisfaction”.

Who was Madame Bovary?

Emma Bovary is a literary character. Gustave Flaubert invented her in his 1857 book. It tells of her marriage to Charles Bovary.

He is a doctor who loves her, but she does not feel the same for him. This is partly because she is so fond of the romantic novels of the time. She has been reading them intensely ever since she was a teenager.

The constant search for passionate, obsessive relationships she sees in her books causes terrible, constant dissatisfaction in her.

After suffering from depression, Charles decides to move to a small town. There meet the different kinds of people.

Emma lets two of them seduce her. The first is a young student and the second is a Casanova named Rodolphe. Her relationship with both of them is possessive, full of jealousy and very dependent. Faced with the abandonment of both lovers, she ends up killing herself by taking arsenic.

Madame Bovary is similar to other literary divr, such as Anna Karenina. They reject their families and roles as wives in search of love.

On the one hand, it can seem very obvious. But on the other hand, it is a great critique of idealizing love. Emma is so obsessed with satisfying her desires that she does not care about putting her family in debt, neglecting her daughter or harming people around her.

“Beware of grief, it is a burden.”
–Gustave Flaubert–

What are the characteristics of Madame Bovary syndrome?

1. Addiction to romance

People with Madame Bovary syndrome do not know how to be alone. They live with the idea that the ideal lover will come, change their lives and take them away from their routine and problems.

When they leave one relationship, they quickly start another. Their only goal is to find someone like them that they see in romantic books, TV shows or movies.

Every time they are hit by a new one, they become obsessed. They idealize the person in such a way that it is impossible to change. This is true even if the person in question is not the right one or is good to them.

2. Impossible conditions

Because of their inability to keep a real relationship, they usually turn to impossible loves. It may be that they already have a relationship . But they are still looking for the illusion of perfect love  with the other person.

This makes them unhappy because they do not know how to be alone. They will rarely end up in a romance if they do not have some kind of “ace” up their sleeve.

Complicated relationships or painful people attract them because they see them as romantic and passionate.

3. Constant dissatisfaction

When they begin a relationship, they begin to discover that their partner is a human being. And as a result, they make mistakes.

The idealization disappears. And then it leads to yet another frustration. They no longer see the other person as the right one, and begin to lose interest.

They never feel satisfied with anyone. Why? They do not understand love beyond the initial phase of falling in love . They have a distorted vision of relationships. It is based on stories or characters who have never experienced peace, trouble or monotony.

4. Copy of the beloved person

Because of their obsession with their partner, they start copying their desires, hobbies and even mindset. Copying comes from the extreme admiration they feel for the other person, or even out of fear.

Madame Bovary syndrome causes a great deal of fear that the other person will give up being with them. This can make them react very badly to a fracture.

Who gets Madame Bovary syndrome?

A few centuries ago, it was more common in women. But today, rates are balanced. This is because men at the time were men who worked while women stayed at home.

They would spend their free time doing things like reading. This took them out of reality and transported them to places where everyday problems did not exist.

People with the syndrome tend to have had problems with being left behind or lack of love in childhood. Therefore, they feel a great need to get the attention of their partner. It’s their way of trying to avoid experiencing those feelings again.

The main symptom of Madame Bovary syndrome is feeling down. However, people with the disease can be treated with the help of a specialist. The specialist will evaluate the case and come up with a treatment plan.

It is also occasionally related to other, more serious diseases. They can be obsessive or borderline personality disorders, making intervention even more necessary because of how dangerous they can be.

Recommended reading

Gaultier, J, (1892),  Bovarism, Psychology in the Work of Flaubert , Paris, France.