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.