Frédéric, un Anti-Héros: L’analyse du Personnage Central de L’Éducation Sentimentale

Abstract

Frédéric is the main character in Sentimental Education, one of Flaubert’s most influential works. Unlike traditional heroes who are always brave, resourceful and ambitious, Frédéric is rather weak, stupid and passive. For traditional heroes, the youth is a necessary passage to arrive in maturity and wisdom. But our hero’s youth finishes with no accomplishment. This paper analyzes his mental state. In fact, his failure results from incomplete nihilism and stupidity. Because of incomplete nihilism, he still insists in the pursuit of love and career after seeing through the meaninglessness of life. Because of stupidity, he lives in imagination and illusion without taking any action. His mental state is the representative of his generation and he’s the typical character of stupid modern people according to Flaubert’s words.