Often many authors describe the inner lives of their characters and their actions within their literary works. Other case authors exemplify their investigation of social problems and the limitations that society imposes on its residents. In the two literary works, Ibsen's Hedda Gabler and Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary, they share a common representation: the main heroine faces the complications of social restrictions. Ibsen's short story and Flaubert's novel emphasize women struggling with what can and cannot be done in their society. The protagonists Hedda Gabler in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler and Emma Bovary in Flaubert's Madame Bovary are estranged individuals hindered by society. Many of Ibsen's works highlight a character's need for freedom and his struggle with isolation within society, as depicted in Hedda Gabler. Society makes Hedda think and act as she does; Hedda is perceived as a charming, intelligent and extraordinary young woman, but under her guise she is a vile and manipulative human being. Her intention to get married is because she believes it is better to get married at 25, which she considers old, rather than becoming old and lonely. She makes it clear that she is going to get married because she feels she is getting too old: “I was really wild, Judge. My time was up” (251). When he states that his “time is up” he implies that he gets married because he had to and time was something he didn't have. An additional social constraint during this period was that women like Hedda had to be married because they were elegant and, metaphorically, placed on a pedestal. Many upper class men were inclined to marry a woman like her because society made it so. Hedda in turn ends up marrying... middle of paper... Arles' marriage proposal without her consent. Because society allowed parents to interfere in marital affairs, Emma was a victim of her own society. They were both unhappy in their marriage to say the least, but Emma definitely wins when it comes to who suffered the most. She had no say in her marriage and had a mind full of romantic literature. Ultimately this is what leads to her death because she had believed foolish fantasies. In Ibsen's Hedda Gabler and Flaubert's Madame Bovary, the two women are faced with problems that arise from their society. Society determines who they are as people and who they want to be. While some may argue that society is the final factor that explains why they choose to behave in a certain way, others think that it is in the nature of protagonists to commit such sins. However, both Hedda and Emma are individuals who are alienated and hindered by society.