"Madame Bovary," a novel by the renowned 19th-century French author Gustave Flaubert, tells the story of Emma, a farmer’s daughter who marries a doctor and becomes increasingly dissatisfied with her life. She gradually becomes a victim of consumerism and ultimately embarks on a path of unfulfilled desires. Throughout the novel, Flaubert employs various images to express the theme of the illusions that romantic society can create. This analysis focuses on two significant images used in the novel.

Firstly, the image of “shadow” is repeatedly used by Flaubert to depict Emma’s idealized projections of her external environment. From her time in the convent, Emma views it as a “shadowy place” where she conjures countless fantasies about her ideal life and “inconceivable” romantic love. She wishes she could be like “those long-waisted chatelaines” who gaze out at a “white-plumed knight on a black horse galloping across the fields” under the “trefoil vaults.” These imaginations cause Emma to create a perfect “shadow” of herself in her mind, believing life should be like a dream. She immerses herself in these fantasies and loses touch with reality. When she meets her husband, Charles, and finds him devoid of any romantic qualities—dull and practical—her life becomes overshadowed by this disappointment. At the Marquis's ball, the light illuminating the portraits on the hallway walls makes her feel “deeply shadowed,” making her realize that this is not the life she had fantasized about. Thus, her life becomes enveloped in a “shadow.” After moving to Yonville and meeting Léon, Emma finds in him her second “shadow.” During their clandestine meetings at night, Emma “dimly perceives” the tree tops and the distant meadows, and the moonlight makes her think that perhaps this is what she had always dreamed of. However, after parting with Léon, she once again falls into the “shadow” of her life and meets her third “shadow,” realizing that her life only appears in the “remote, low-lying, and dark gaps of the mountains,” while she roams through a “magical world of passion, intoxication, and ecstasy” surrounded by “boundless blue skies.” These characters are all different “shadows” Emma conjures up in her pursuit of dreams, but when she wakes up from these dreams, she painfully realizes that the process of seeking these “shadows” has led her down a path of no return, symbolizing the illusions created by romantic society that detach people from reality.

Secondly, the image of the “moon” is used to reflect Emma’s romantic ideals and hopes. From her time in the convent, Emma immerses herself in romantic novels, imagining the lovers in those stories. The “moonlit boat” described by the author represents the quintessential romantic object in a romantic setting, leaving a deep impression on Emma. At the Marquis's ball, when she hears a gentleman talking to a noblewoman about the “roses of Genoa” and the “moonlit terraces of Colle,” these images imprint on her mind. Later, during her passionate affair with Léon, Emma’s letters to him are filled with mentions of “flowers, poetry, the moon, stars, and the natural resources after the waning of passion,” indicating that these things have become synonymous with the romantic aristocratic life she yearns for. When she discusses eloping with Rodolphe, the moon rises “round and red at the end of the meadow, finally climbing into the clear sky, white and glistening,” reflecting the moon's bright and full characteristics, creating a tranquil and elegant atmosphere that matches Emma’s hopeful mood. She projects her inner joy onto the moon, making it appear even more radiant in her eyes. Here, the “moon” serves as a real-world reflection and embodiment of Emma’s romantic fantasies. “Looking at your house: the moonlight illuminates the roof,” Rodolphe expresses his affection to Emma. At the novel’s end, Emma’s corpse is wrapped in a shroud, “white as moonlight, rippling and shimmering,” ironically echoing Rodolphe’s earlier words. Thus, the appearance of the “moon” symbolizes Emma’s delight in her romantic life, while its disappearance represents the destruction of her inner fantasies.

In conclusion, "Madame Bovary" uses imagery to depict Emma’s pursuit and fantasies of a romantic life while revealing the illusions that romantic society creates, detaching people from reality. Through the images of “shadow” and “moon,” Flaubert skillfully conveys Emma’s deep-seated projections of her ideal life and her yearning for romantic love, illustrating the escapism and self-deception that romanticism brings, exploring the relationship between dreams and reality, illusion and truth.