Madame Bovary Week Two

After the great discussion that occurred in class last week, I was excited to read the rest of the novel and witness Emma's descent into tragic madness. Flaubert's style of writing is fascinating to me; it is exaggerated, humorous, and also very serious. I am continuously amazed by how much this novel has to say that is still relevant and shocking to modern day society. A woman isn't satisfied with her marriage to a "doctor"? She's not really into being a mother? She has multiple affairs? In my opinion, the best works of art challenge established ways of thinking, presenting an alternative and reminding the viewer of the world's complexity and versatility. Madame Bovary is complex and definitely challenging- but I think the immensity of Emma's feelings is realistic. She refuses to pretend, to settle for mediocrity, and that makes her character endlessly interesting.

The letter that Rodolphe sends to Emma was, essentially, mocking Emma's obsession with romanticism. It is absolutely ridiculous with its fancy, exaggerated language; just the kind of letter Emma would love to receive from a lover (although with a much more romantic purpose). The addition of Rodolphe's thoughts to the letter make it even more ridiculous. Rodolphe never cared about Emma's feelings and did not see her as a human with feelings; she was a well manicured, aesthetically pleasing sex object that he enjoyed recreationally. Looking at how he wrote the letter, he could just as well be a writer of a tragic romance novel that Emma would read. Although certain forms of art, like films, appear to be real, they are ultimately fiction, and Flaubert is well aware of the fiction of his art.

Flaubert foreshadows Emma's suicide with her reaction to the letter. Emma's thoughts about jumping out of the window are not an isolated incident- she begins to consider just "ending it all", noting that there is nothing holding her back. Of course, it could be said that Charles and her daughter should hold her back, but Emma is consumed with her own desires and misery. I also find it interesting how Emma, yet again, uses religion for her own purposes. Religion is like one of her lovers that she "fancies."

Leon is an interesting character because he is just like Emma. He wants Emma to be his romantic heroine just as much as she wants him to be her hero. Seems like it would be perfect, right? The relationship actually encourages Emma's financial issues- she indulges her desire for material possessions when things aren't going so well with Leon. Also, the beggar represents Emma's financial ruin, and the true horror of what is happening to her.

Emma's death ultimately disappoints her, and this makes perfect sense considering how the world has only disappointed her. She was not going to get the quiet, "beautiful" quick death she wanted, and Flaubert makes it clear through the realistic commentary littered throughout the scene that her death is not the epic event it would be in a romance novel.

Also, I rolled my eyes when Charles saw Roldolphe's letter and assumed it was a platonic relationship. I know he's dumb, but that dumb? Charles really is something, he was exactly the same throughout the whole novel and never seemed to know Emma as a person. This was clear when he maintained this idyllic image of Emma after her death, although the relationship was far from ideal.

Ultimately, Emma had longed to be important, to be the special romantic heroine that gets the grand love story, and instead she just got a regular human existence in a world that didn't care about her desires. She was married to a regular man, had a regular death, and the world went on. Something that is important about Emma, though, is her determination to fulfill her desires. I can appreciate her strong will to make a better life for herself, to not give up hope that there could be something better.

Madame Bovary: Week One

The first half of Madame Bovary introduces us to Charles and Emma Bovary, two characters that represent desire in very different ways. Emma is a "hopeless romantic"; she does not see any beauty or romance that is in front of her, and only believes in the perfect love and wealth depicted in her romance novels. Her expectations and desires are so high that she is bound to be disappointed. In Chapter IV in Part 1, Flaubert illustrates Emma's disappointment wonderfully. "Before marriage she thought herself in love; but the happiness that should have followed this love not having come, she must, she thought, have been mistaken. And Emma tried to figure out what one meant exactly in life by the words felicity, passion, rapture, that has seemed to her so beautiful in books." (Flaubert 23). Just like Charles saw Emma for her beauty and sexual appeal, Emma saw Charles as a way by which she could obtain "grand romance." Once she marries Charles and experiences the grandeur of their wedding, she believes that their relationship will continue to be just as grand, but then realizes this is not the case. Marriage has not delivered the beautiful romantic bliss she had expected, and this realization serves as a catalyst for Emma's rebellion and eventual downfall. The peeks we get into Emma's past reveal just how discontent she is as a character- nothing has ever satisfied her desires. She seems to attach an impossible hope to something in her life, believing it will save her and satisfy her, which sets her up for failure. Just like the covent and farm life failed her, married life fails her, and it begins to be too much for Emma to handle. In Emma's eyes, she is the femme fatale, the damsel in distress, the victim of life's relentless disappointments. Other characters see Emma as a sex symbol; all the men in the novel desire her at some point for her beauty. She is simply an object of desire, desire as empty as Emma's own desires.

The scene at the ball was interesting to me, because it places Emma into a world that is foreign to her, a world that she wishes she belonged to, but does not. She tries to act like she belongs; when Charles mentions wanting to dance, she says "Why, you must be mad! They would make fun of you; keep your place. Besides, it is more becoming for a doctor." (Flaubert 34). She tries hard to believe she fits in with the upper crust of the French bourgeoise at this ball, but is reminded of her roots when a servant breaks a windowpane. You can pretend as long as you want, but reality will always catch up to the fantasy, which Flaubert proves throughout the novel. His writing becomes more and more realistic, describing Emma's boredom and the mundane details of life that begin to weigh her down. 

Emma's pregnancy also brings up what I see as Flaubert's stance on women's place in society. In Chapter III of Part Two, Emma says that she hopes that her baby is a boy, because the "idea of having a male child was like an expected revenge for all her impotence in the past. A man, at least, is free; he may travel over passions and over countries, overcome obstacles, taste the most far away pleasures. But a woman is always hampered." (Flaubert 62). Of course, Flaubert was writing in the nineteenth century, so his views are very much reflective of the time, but it is interesting to think about what Emma says in modern times. Perhaps Emma believes women are always hampered because she is constantly "hampered" by her own desires and expectations, and she believes men do not desire the way she does. The men in the novel seem to be free as Emma says. I think Emma's pregnancy speaks to this idea of freedom; since men cannot be pregnant, they are "free" to do what they wish, whilst women are left with the "burden" of pregnancy. The pregnancy speaks to Flaubert's beliefs about men and women in society; women are burdened, and men are free. I think this will arouse an interesting discussion in class, because this way of thinking is still around. I don't think Flaubert would mesh well with modern day feminists, let's just say!

The relationship between Emma and Leon is all about wanting what you can't have, and both of these characters are romantic idealists. They bond over their mutual love of romance novels, and begin to desire each other due to their dissatisfaction with reality. Emma sees Leon as an escape from her unfulfilling family life and Leon sees Emma as a forbidden object of desire that he wants because he can't have it. Emma likens love to great forces of nature- "love, she thought, must come suddenly, with great outbursts and lightnings- a hurricane of the skies, which falls upon life, revolutionizes it, roots up the will like a leaf, and sweeps the whole heart into the abyss." She sees love as greater and holier than life itself, idealism that constantly disappoints her because she thinks love should be as perfect as she imagines the heavens to be. 

Roldophe, the third suitor of Emma's in the novel, contrasts with Leon. He becomes tired of Emma's romanticism and fervent idealism, and only desires her for her sexual appeal and beauty. Emma spends money on lavish gifts to please him, and it doesn't matter to him at all, because his interest is as shallow as Emma's interest in her husband. The relationships in this novel are selfish; each character is in their relationship to fulfill a desire, which is the nature of relationships. We all desire something out of a partner, and this inevitable desire can create unrealistic expectations and forget to consider the unique character of the individuals involved. Desire is selfish, and this is evident in anything we have read or watched this semester. 

At this point in the novel, Emma's self destruction and moral corruption can only continue, most likely to a tragic end.

Deadly Desire: Celestina Week Two

In the last part of Celestina, the characters come to terms with the reality of desire and there is plenty of tragic action taking place. The servants are beheaded, the old whore is stabbed, and one young lad takes quite the fall to his death. Why did all these characters have to die? Well, as we know from prior classes, when someone's desire is fulfilled, they must die, because in order to live there must be desire.
In Calisto's case, he was able to get what he wanted- sex with Melibea. However, it was not exactly what he envisioned, and it left him confused, wondering why he wasn't as happy as he expected to be. "That's the wound I feel, now that it's gone cold, now that the blood that was boiling yesterday has turned to ice." (de Rojas, 154). This quote refers to Calisto's desire, and it foreshadows his death- now that his desire is dead, Calisto must die. The fog of desire has disappeared, leaving behind nothing. Calisto did not really love Melibea, or want to be with her for who she is- he wanted the fantasy, the chase, the vision in the dark. His desire for her did not result in the kind of euphoric, divine pleasure that Melibea's perfect, angel-like looks suggested. This is the nature of desire, as we have discussed in class before; the object of desire is never quite what it seems to be, and we are always lost in the fog of desire, unable to see desire for what it really is.

The imagery of Melibea in the dark when Calisto and Melibea first meet lends itself to this idea of Melibea as a angel-like, divine object of desire. I also remember reading about this in the article- that "This light emitted by the eyes of the beloved, as Claire Nouvet explains, is an incomparable vestige of divine illumination that should signal the lover to move beyond himself and aspire for unity with Supreme Goodness itself." (Ealy, 391). In this particular scene, the stars, moon, and beams of light illuminating Melibea paint her as a divine figure in Calisto's eyes, her beauty seemingly representing what function she would serve in his life. Calisto literally thinks being with her will unite him with the gods, as we saw all throughout the book. He is unable to see Melibea literally and figuratively; there is just enough light for his desire to continue.

Ultimately, Celestina was an amusing, tragic tale, and the personification of desire in Celestina was wonderful. To think of desire as a meddling, self serving, aging former prostitute is hilarious, because if desire were a person, Celestina would not be far off from what I would imagine. There is no logical reason as to why our desire for someone blinds us, changes us, and fools us as it does- just like there is no logic behind most of what Calisto says about Melibea. You really begin to know someone once the fog disappears and the desire, the lust, has faded.

Celestina Week One

Celestina Questions

2. Discuss Calisto and Sempronio’s conversation in Act I. How do you interpret Calisto’s illness? His discussion about Melibea? The discussion about women? What occurs here? Use quotes and specific examples for the text to support your answer.

Calisto is ill because he desires Melibea, a woman he is in love with. When Sempronio asks him about his religion, Calisto responds, "I am a Melibean. I worship Melibea, I believe in Melibea and I adore Melibea." Calisto's desire for Melibea places her on a pedestal, putting her even more out of reach (as we discussed last class). His desire has caused him to be "ill", and Sempronio is not buying it. Sempronio tells Calisto that "women and wine make men renege" and that "they dare to do whatever enters their heads without pausing for a moment's thought...just think of those pea brains under the flimsy fabric holding those tresses in place." Sempronio, although attributing negative characteristics to women, is at least seeing women as human, and therefore subject to negative characteristics. This completely goes over Calisto's head, and he starts trying to defend his holy view of Melibea by discussing her physical traits- her "round firm breasts", "full lips", and 'slanted eyes" are a few of many flattering features. Just like we saw in the Song of Songs, the object of desire is always described physically. It is always her physical form that causes the narrator to swoon. In this discussion, Sempronio tries to get Calisto to understand that he sees Melibea "through a magnifying glass" and that he is not being realistic, but Calisto is a star-crossed lover and he only sees his mighty desire for Melibea. I found it interesting how negative Sempronio is about women- looks like he has been burned by love before!

4. Analyze Parmeno’s long speeches concerning Celestina. What is her history, profession, etc.? What do you think she represents within the text? How does the entire community view this woman? Why? Use specific examples from the text to support your answer.

Celestina is a former prostitute and now a witch and "virgin-mender". Parmeno describes her as a "mistress of six trades, namely; seamstress, parfumier, a dab hand at painting faces and patching maidenheads, a bawd and a bit of a witch." She is a woman of many trades and of much knowledge, which intrigues anyone she comes in contact wit. She is also quite persuasive; she convinces Parmeno, who initially warned Calisto about her, that she loves him and he can trust her. She tells him to "abandon your impetuous youth and follow the common sense your elders teach. Where better than following the good counsel of the woman your parents entrusted you to?" She tells him to befriend Sempronio, because "you can't hope to be Calisto's friend because that rarely happens when there's such a difference in rank." Celestina is a catalyst, using the power of suggestion and persuasion to cause actions that greatly influence the rest of the play. She is so important to the play that it was named after her; surely this was done on purpose! Overall, Celestina is quite infamous in the community for her immorality, audacity, and avarice.

6. We will talk more in class about Areusa and her illness in Act VII, but how do you interpret Celestina's actions with Areusa (maybe even apart from her illness)? What might these actions have to say about Celestina? What insight do we gain about her character here?


Celestina teases Areusa with a cure for her illness, saying to her "you are so plump and firm! Such lovely breasts!" Areusa is very hesitant and unsure about whether Celestina is even going to cure her at first, asking Celestina, "Why all the flattery, Celestina, when I want no one? Just give me a cure and stop making fun of me." Celestina sees that Areusa just wants a cure, but that's no fun for Celestina, who is ultimately a selfish woman, so she talks in circles and keeps Areusa asking for a cure. This was an interesting scene because it does reveal a significant amount about Celestina- she is not concerned about what will happen to those she is employed by. She is simply looking to please herself by toying with these people like puppets. 

My overall argument about Celestina is that Calisto and Melibea are the desirer/object of desire, respectively, and Celestina is the catalyst that promotes the desire of those around her. She is seemingly helping the "lovers", but not seriously helping them. She has her own desires that she wants to fu