Abstract

This essay aims to investigate the characters of Emma and Charles in Gustave Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary (1856), as well as to examine how the adaptation process affects the portrayal of Emma and Charles in Sophie Barthe’s adaptation of Madame Bovary from 2014. The study is based in two different theories: For the character analysis of Emma and Charles Bovary in the novel, E.M. Forster’s theory of round and flat characters is used, and for the adaptation analysis of Barthe’s film version, Linda Hutcheon’s adaptation theory is used.  The results of the investigation show that, in the novel, Emma Bovary is a round character and Charles Bovary a flat character. The results of the adaptation analysis show that the adaptation process has caused there to be some differences between the characters in the novel and the characters as they are portrayed in Barthe’s film adaptation. This mostly concerns Charles’s appearance, Emma’s feelings and behavior towards Charles at the beginning of their marriage, and some character traits being less obvious since not all parts of the novel were included. In the film version, the filmmakers have also added some things which are not explicit in the original work. On the whole, however, the characters’ actions are portrayed as in the novel.