Emma Bovary

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Emma Bovary

fictional character

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Emma Bovary, fictional character, heroine of the novel Madame Bovary (1857) by Gustave Flaubert. Flaubert’s depiction of Bovary made her the best-known heroine in 19th-century French literature.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.