Why 'Bel Ami' and 'Madame Bovary' both are cautionary tales

The famous novel by Guy de Maupassant is not just a story about social climbing but how far someone would go to get a "better" life. In this tale, we learn that Georges Duroy is an unhappy man with not much. He finds a way to gain money by having his way with wealthy women. In the story of Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, Emma also strives for a "better" life and has her way with wealthy men. (Imagine if both were cousins given with their similar stories.) Both obsessively desire wealth and status but it only leads to their eventual ruin.

Through the various retelling in film and television, we see how these characters are driven to have what they desire. In real life we might have met someone of this nature, regardless of appearances. Until their true colours are revealed, how can we say that we can stick by them? In our modern World, we have seen and read stories of people conning others. Some can even be doing it to support an unhealthy habit of sorts. 

Even latter stories of the twentieth century mirrors Bel Ami and Madame Bovary. Such as Francis Scott Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby, Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, Patricia Highsmith's Mr. Ripley and Daphne de Maurier's Rebecca. Perhaps one other famous story which had a chance at redemption is Les Liaison Dangereuse's Valmont. 

In other famous stories like Tom Jones by Henry Fleming and Camille by Alexandre Dumas, these characters are nothing in comparisons. In these two stories, they actually do fall in love and feel guilt. They don't want any dueling and have allies.