How Dysfunctional Marriages Impacted the Lives of the Heroines of "Madame Bovary" and "Anna Karenina"

What are the major components of a successful marriage? Trust? Communication? Love? What happens when these vital components are missing? Could a marriage survive the absence of these extremely important elements? In the novels Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy and Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert, there is a lack of these major factors in the heroines' marriages. The heroines of these novels are very similar; therefore it can be said that they exemplify a pattern in tragic realist novels. The authors of these novels are implying in their works what is necessary for a successful marriage. Flaubert's Emma and Tolstoy's Anna try to find true love by going behind their husbands' back, and go straight into extramarital affairs. We can see the pattern in both novels by looking at three separate parts: their initial problems, their reactions when faced with these problems and their unfortunate downfall.…