What the fuck was her problem

The spread of the bourgeoisie to countryside, and its predation upon the romantic heroine. It's a tale of the tragedy of the growth of capital, and the failure of its new means of production to work with an antiquated relations of production.

The key is Larivière. Emma is Don Quixote but with the pedantry and mediocrity of Homais (surely this is a criticism of the zeitgeist by F, who incidentally had a deeply caustic personality, one bent on ridiculing things as a principle of life -- see his correspondence or even le Dictionnaires des idées reçues, but this is irrelevant). Larivière is the anti-Don Quixote -- he's a physician, a bourgeois, a serious man. He is also the anti-Homais: actually successful, competent, kind and admired (as F describes) and humble and also with a taste for mocking of stupidity (as can be seen in the breakfast scene). Homais could be redeem by trying to become Larivière; Emma cannot -- she is Don Quixote, a mediocre Don Quixote or rather a Don Quixote with mediocrity. In the time and place she lived in, this means death

Literally no reason why her daughter had to suffer, though. And Homais getting the best ending is just weird.

I liked that nigga Homais, didn't really get the hate until he ditches Charles near the end

TRIANGULAR DESIRE

She did nothing wrong

she fell for the memes

be born after penicillin

nothing really, life just sucks

Lariviere is a minor character. I think you're reading too deeply into his role. He serves as a foil for Bovary's and Homais' incompetence and mediocrity.

>Larivière is the anti-Don Quixote -- he's a physician, a bourgeois, a serious man
Bovary and Homais are bourgeios as well in the historical 19th century french sense.

>Homais could be redeem by trying to become Larivière
He literally can't. An apothecary is a medical profession totally different from a doctor historically. It was more akin to a "trade" or artisanal skill back then. Doctors were similar but it was becoming a serious "profession" that required EDUCATION and certification, as demonstrated by Bovary's failed attempts at the beginning of the book to train as a doctor, failing out, and settling for the position of "medical officer", which allowed him to practice under the radar but also significant rank under a true medical doctor who actually went through the rigors of medical training (not that doctors were so great back then either, but Flaubert shows that Lariviere knows his shit about diseases, their causes and when NOT to do things and when NOT to intervene, while Bovary does not). Also, for all his mediocrity, his pretentiousness and sometimes incredulity, Homais is decent at what he does and Bovary pretty much is too.

She wanted the life of her romantic heroines, not the drab one of a second-rate dentist's wife. She couldn't live with what she had.

I always felt Zola did this sort of story better than Flaubert because Zola deliberately works to get the reader to agree with the point of view of his character. Flaubert just depicted dull unending misery, which can get pretty unconvincing. Basically Flaubert has all of the sin but none of the seduction of Zola.

disease of romanticism

the real question is: what the fuck was Edna Pontellier's problem?

>it's cool when my partner cheats on me I just need to understand her perspective.

She did not have enough Chads in her life

I don't think I am, the scenes involving Larivière are otherwise strange and uncalled for. Dont forget F worked like mad on Bovary; the initial draft was 5000 pages long, there easily could've been 100 pages on Larivière. Also you're right, I'm using bourgeois in Benjamin's sense (basically someone who's rich a traditional bourgeois and doesn't heed what Benjamin thinks are his inner call for greatness). In this sense Emma is trying to transcend her condition. As for Homais this is not what I'm saying; what I mean is that as a humain being all his bad traits are utterly negated in Larivière. Also, no, Homais is a good apothecary (who wouldn't be) but shit at everything he tries to do -- idk about the translation but in French the titles of the scientific articles he publishes are clearly ridiculous and show their unimportance -- and Bovary is a shit wife, a shit mistress (she's getting fucked by a 20yo, yo. Also Rodolphe clearly manipulates her), and shit at everything she undertakes

>What the fuck was her problem

taking bourgeois novelists seriously

She was a dumb whore who refused to settle.

She was selfish and thought her desires were important and good