An elegant analysis brings us, nearly a century later, to Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Set in the pre-modern era, the novel compels us to reflect on the status of women in a rigidly stratified society. In such a world, a woman's primary path to upward mobility was often through becoming a notable courtesan—reduced, essentially, to an object of male desire, a commodity . Their livelihood, well-being, and even their very lives were closely intertwined with this reality, a fact epitomized by the rise and fall of Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry—Madame du Barry. But she was not an outlier

The critique could delve much deeper, or perhaps it doesn't need to. Is the pursuit depicted in such stories one of pleasure, status, or love? and I am looking from purely the perspective of the woman and the options available to them. The question lingers unanswered, and perhaps that is precisely where the beauty lies. The central theme, it seems, is this unresolved conflict, this ambiguity that captures our attention and invites endless reflection. Love, Lust or Survival.