Desperate disheartened Madame Bovary? (4)
I believe the answer is:
emma
'bovary?' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'desperate disheartened madame' is the wordplay.
'desperate' is an anagram indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'disheartened' suggests removing the centre.
'madame' with its centre taken out is 'mame'.
'mame' with letters rearranged gives 'EMMA'.
(Other definitions for emma that I've seen before include "Flaubert's heroine" , "Jane Austen heroine" , "Ack -, a term for a.m." , "Lady - Hamilton, mistress of Nelson" , "Mrs Bovary" .)