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.
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