Crash Course AP Literature

Madame Bovary
by Gustave
Flaubert, serialized
October 1, 1856,
and December 15,
1856, tried for
obscenity which
made it notorious,
published as a
novel in 1857

Genre: novel

Setting: 19 th century provincial France

Main characters: Emma Bovary, Charles Bovary, Monsier and Madame

Homais, Léon Dupuis, and Rodolphe Boulanger

Main Plot/Idea/Concept: Emma Bovary is discontented with marriage, which

leads her into a scandalous affair. Her spend-thrift ways leave her husband in

financial distress, but she finds she relies on his generosity and tries to help

him.

Tags: realism, Flaubert’s greatest work

The Mayor of
Casterbridge by
Thomas Hardy,
serialized first,
then published
1886

Genre: novel

Setting: fictional Casterbridge, mid 1800s

Main characters: Michael Henchard, Donald Farfrae, Susan Henchard,

Elizabeth-Jane Newson

Main Plot/Idea/Concept: One night, drunk and angry with his wife, Henchard

sells his wife and child to a sailor. After the sailor dies, Susan returns with her

daughter and reunites with her former husband.

Tags: honor, moral righteousness, reconciliation

Medea by
Euripides, 431
BCE

Genre: play, Greek tragedy

Setting: Corinth

Main characters: Medea, Jason, King Creon (of Corinth), and Glauce,

Creon’s daughter

Main Plot/Idea/Concept: Medea’s husband Jason has turned her and her

children away so he can marry King Creon’s daughter, in hopes of advancing

his social station.

Tags: revenge, murder, tragedy

The Merchant of
Venice by William
Shakespeare, from
1596-98

Genre: play, comedy

Setting: Venice

Main characters: Antonio (a merchant), Shylock (a moneylender and a Jew),

Bassanio, Lorenzo, Portia, Jessica and Nerissa

Main Plot/Idea/Concept: Bassanio wishes to court the wealthy Portia, but

he’s squandered his fortune. He asks his friend Antonio to help him once again,

but Antonio’s fortune is tied up in his ships out to sea, so they engage the money