Madame Bovary by Gustave Faubert
Summary:
Charles Bovary is a doctor, who marries a woman older than him for pure convenience. Once she passes away Charles is free to marry again, and does so by marrying one of his patient’s daughters. She is much younger than him, and lives on a farm with her father. She is willing to do almost anything to get away from the farm life. This new lovely wife of Charles is name Emma, is a generally unhappy person. At first the couple is doing just fine, but She eventually becomes ill from all of her depression, and the Bovary’s move away, where their daughter is born. The lovely Emma digs into a deeper depression because she is not satisfied with anything. She has created an image of what she thinks love should look like, but reality isn’t like that image at all. Because she is unsatisfied with her husband, Madame Bovary had several affairs on her husband, and put them in debt that couldn’t be paid back. Because of the fact that all of this debt and unpaid bills became long overdue, the Bovary estate was going to be confiscated. Emma tried everything to raise money, even turned to the two men she had affairs with, but nothing worked. Everything was stripped away from the Bovary’s, and the distained Madame Bovary poisoned herself. A short time after this her husband Charles died as well, leaving their young daughter with nothing and to live in poverty. Their daughter has nothing left to do, and nowhere to go because her parents left her with nothing.
Character Analysis:
Emma Bovary:
This is a young girl that fills her mind with the idea of what romance and love should be like. Emma lives of a farm with her father, and is willing to do anything to get away from it, even if it means marry someone she isn’t truly in love with. She becomes disappointed when she actually experiences marriage and love. Once Emma becomes bored with her husband Charles, she developed romantic feelings for a law clerk. The law clerk ends up moving away to finish schooling, which makes Emma go into an even deeper depression. Again Emma tries to fill her need of love through two affairs, one of them being the law clerk she had feelings for. She hides these affairs from her husband, and spends his money that ends up in much debt.
Charles Bovary:
Charles Bovary is not a very interesting man. He is a country doctor, and is described as a very dull man. Charles is forced to be a very diligent worker because most things don’t come easy to him. Unlike his father, Elder Bovary, Charles has to work twice as hard as everyone around him just to understand and finish simple tasks. He learned early on that if he eases off of his work he will get too distracted and not finish. People saw that he could easily be persuaded by women. It is first seen by his mother ruling his life and planning an arranged marriage with his first wife. Furthermore his first wife easy dictates what he does. These two women make it especially easy for his new, young second wife to rule over him and get away with almost anything. Because of the fact that Charles is a dull person, he doesn’t have any desires or aspirations like Emma. He doesn’t even notice that his wife has grown unhappy, which makes her even more upset and is one of the reasons she has multiple affairs. The only thing that Charles Bovary has going for him is his undying love for his second wife.
Leon:
Leon is first introduced in the story as a law clerk, and when met my Madame Bovary, is thought of as a kindred spirit. When in reality he is just as superficial as Madame Bovary. Leon is not the most confident person around. He hasn’t had much experience dealing with the topics of women or love. Because of Leon’s inexperience, he doesn’t quite know how to react when he meets Emma Bovary. Just like Emma Bovary, Leon has lived in a world of fantasy where he dreams about the image of love. Since Emma is a head on person, Leon doesn’t know what to do when she confronts him about her feelings. Although Leon has his own feelings bottles up for her, he isn’t confident enough to tell her about them. After this encounter Leon moves away for the span of three years, where he grows more confidence in himself when it comes to women. Once he moves back and see’s Madame Bovary after three long years, they engage in a love affair for a short time. Leon believes that it should be the man’s job to be in charge, but because of Emma’s stubbornness, and her being used to controlling her husband, it becomes her duty.
Rodolphe:
Rodolphe is considered a bachelor that studies the psychology of women for the only purpose of seducing them and getting them to do what he wants. When Rodolphe and Emma meet, he seems to be the only person that truly understands her and is willing to listen. Right from the start he knows that Madame Bovary has become unhappy with her husband, and that she is ready to feel love and have an affair. Rodolphe quickly learned that to satisfy Emma, that he needed to exaggerate his love for her with fancy words, which he did so. He leaves the affair for several weeks to make the lovely Emma worry about him and wonder what happened. When he returns it is very easy for him to resume the seduction and carry out the affair. Just like Emma has grown bored with her husband, Rodolphe becomes bored with the affair with Emma, and eventually leaves her. Rodolphe only cares about his own pleasure, so he abandons Emma, and doesn’t feel guilty when he finds out about her death.
Homais:
Homais is a very supporting character. He is one of the most progressive characters of the story, one of the people in society that want to move forward. It is very difficult for Homais to actually be a productive member of society like he wants because he is very ignorant in the ways of education. Although Homais isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, because he is ill educated, but he has very high self esteem. Most people think his self esteem is odd because of his lack of education. When Homais talks to people he speaks in half truths, while other notice it he doesn’t. He often speaks in cliché’s that do not make any sense to the person he is talking to, which is one reason everyone things he is uneducated. Homais is a very irresponsible person, which seems to get him into trouble. On top of being irresponsible, he is very much a coward, and doesn’t stand up when he does something wrong.
Setting:
Unlike many novels or works written during this time period, “Madame Bovary” takes place strictly in the French Provinces. Most pieces written in this century took place in Paris, the city of love. The main character Emma complains throughout the story about being stuck in a small town world and dreams of places filled with love and romance such as Paris. Emma feels like her beauty and elegance is being wasted in such a small place. She also feels that being in the small towns of Yonville and Tostes makes her feel even more unhappy about her marriage. The author of “Madame Bovary”, Flaubert, wanted to easily show the ordinary life of the middle class in small towns such as the ones that Emma lives in. The setting contradicts what Emma dreams about because it lacks excitement and adventure, especially romance. Emma imagines herself being in such a place like Paris, but Flaubert makes this dream home out of reach for her. Emma is not self satisfied, and feels that if she were able to leave her small town home for the big fancy city of Paris that her life would feel more fulfilling. The setting starts off in the small farm town where Emma grew up and couldn’t wait to get away from. Once she married Charles, she soon realizes that this move isn’t much better from what she left. Emma realizes that not everything is as glamorous as the just unreachable city of Paris, where she see’s all of these wonderful things that she can’t have.
Major Themes:
One of the biggest themes throughout the novel is Dissatisfaction. All through “Madame Bovary” by Gustave Faubert, Emma endures every kind of dissatisfaction that someone could think of. We first see it before she marries Charles. She hates that farm that she has grown up on, and can’t wait to leave. Once she is married she realizes that the town she has moved to, as well as her husband, simply isn’t her cup of tea. She is never satisfied with her married life, as well as the lack of romance. This is one reason that she takes the path of having affairs with other men. Emma isn’t satisfied with where she lives either, and dreams of being in Paris. Emma is not the only character that has this ugly feeling, but Rodolphe does too. He is never satisfied with one lover, that’s why he moves on quickly.
An easily depicted theme within the novel is Love. Emma obviously has this feeling a lot throughout the book, but so does all of the other characters. First off, Charles has undying love for his second wife who is a lot younger than him. He doesn’t quite realize that she is so unhappy, and probably wouldn’t know how to deal with it if he did. Leon never really had luck with the ladies until after he met Emma. When he comes back to the little town he and Emma engage in a love affair, which ends up going nowhere at all. Leon ends up finding his confidence through this love affair. Rodolphe also endures the powers of love. He never stays with one lover for a long amount of time because he gets bored. But while he is with that lover, he plays them and makes them think that he really loves his poor victim. And lastly, Emma goes through not feeling satisfied with the love that her husband isn’t showing for her, and moves on to other men behind his back.
Lastly, is the Powerlessness of Women. Throughout the novel there are many instances where Emma hopes and wishes that her unborn baby will be a man so it doesn’t have to endure what she has. Emma is unhappy and feels like she doesn’t have any control over her life, which is true. A reader can easily see that all of the men in this character life have made decisions for her, and have controlled her every move. They have power over her, such as her lovers. Even Emma’s husband contributes to her being powerless. Because of him being lazy he isn’t able to be a good doctor, which makes it impossible for him to be of higher status, and live in a better city like Emma wants. Even Emma’s lovers contribute to this. Rodolphe has the ability to take her away from her dull life, but abandons her. Leon also does this, although at first it seems that he is most like Emma out of all her lovers. The only difference is that he is a man, and is actually able to move away from the country town and live a better life, while Emma is stuck with a dull husband and baby.
Symbols:
Dried Flowers: The dried flowers from Charles first marriage symbolize all of the disappointments that Emma endures, as well as the hopes and dreams she realizes she will never achieve. When Emma first see’s these dried flowers she wonders what will happen to her bouquet when she passes away. As an act of defiance, Emma destroys her own wedding bouquet because of her unhappy marriage. The burning of these flowers foreshadows the way that trying to become happy will consume Emma’s entire life.
The Blind Beggar: A blind beggar follows the carriage that Emma rides in whenever she goes to meet Leon. The man sings songs with lovely lyrics, but in a voice of complete despair. The blind beggar represents the decay of Emma’s moral being. She used to be an innocent young girl, but has transformed into someone willing to do anything to find happiness. Although Emma seems to be innocent in her words and fantasies, her actions are adulterous and foul, which end up making her spirit corrupt. When Emma has passed, the beggar still sings on. We get to see the end of the song, which actually turns out to be sexual and adulterous, just like the end of Emma’s life had been. Her life started out innocent just as the song did, but the endings were much the same.
The Lathe: This is a symbol because the lathe that binds napkins that one of the characters have a habit of making represent how Emma’s life is bind and constricted. Her life is being forced by other people, and her actions aren’t always her own. She is forced to stay where she is because she is a woman, somewhat confined just as a napkin is in a lathe.
Conflicts:
Man V. Man: This type of conflict is easily seen between Emma and her husband Charles. Although Charles doesn’t quite notice the issues that Emma is having with their marriage, they are obviously there. He is so caught up with himself that he doesn’t take the time to know how his wife feels. Because of the fact that Charles is almost ignoring his wife, Emma becomes so unhappy with her marriage that she leans towards having affairs with different men.
Man V. Self: This conflict is obviously with Emma. She constantly dreams of a better life but can’t get away from the decent on that she has. She has dreams and fantasies that are innocent, but in real life she commits acts that are adulterous and conniving. Emma doesn’t know what she wants, which is why she has affairs with completely different men. She also doesn’t know who she is, which is one reason she is in much need of a man that isn’t her husband.
Man V. Society: This type of conflict is also between Emma and the society during this time. Women have to have a man in their life or they can be almost nothing. Emma is relies on her husband as well as the men that she has affairs with to be happy. During this time period women didn’t typically work, so Emma wouldn’t be able to have a job and support herself if it wasn’t for her husband and unhappy marriage.
Man V. Nature: People typically only have one lover, which is the natural order of things. But in this case Emma has many. She is going against what nature intended by having multiple affairs while she is married to her boring husband. These affairs put much strain on Emma’s life as well as heart, and she can’t get away from it.
Man V. Technology: During this time men were the ones that did everything to support their family and knew the things that involved technology. For this conflict, Emma still can’t do many things on her own. She doesn’t know what to do besides be a stay at home mom, while everything advances around her.
Image: This image portrays the dull life of Madame Bovary while she lives in a country town. In the clouds there is an image of Paris, where she wishes she could live and be happy. The bow and arrow represent all of the different types of love, or lack thereof, during her life. She also wishes for wealth while her husband sits around being lazy.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsvPqPBJqu8
Sources:
"Madame Bovary By Gustave Flaubert Character Analysis Homais." Madame Bovary: Character Analysis: Homais. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
"Madame Bovary Summary." Shmoop. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
"Madame Bovary." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
"Literature: Classic." Literature: Classic. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
"Madame Bovary Themes." Shmoop. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
"Madame Bovary." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
N.p., n.d. Web.
"Madame Bovary." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
Summary:
Charles Bovary is a doctor, who marries a woman older than him for pure convenience. Once she passes away Charles is free to marry again, and does so by marrying one of his patient’s daughters. She is much younger than him, and lives on a farm with her father. She is willing to do almost anything to get away from the farm life. This new lovely wife of Charles is name Emma, is a generally unhappy person. At first the couple is doing just fine, but She eventually becomes ill from all of her depression, and the Bovary’s move away, where their daughter is born. The lovely Emma digs into a deeper depression because she is not satisfied with anything. She has created an image of what she thinks love should look like, but reality isn’t like that image at all. Because she is unsatisfied with her husband, Madame Bovary had several affairs on her husband, and put them in debt that couldn’t be paid back. Because of the fact that all of this debt and unpaid bills became long overdue, the Bovary estate was going to be confiscated. Emma tried everything to raise money, even turned to the two men she had affairs with, but nothing worked. Everything was stripped away from the Bovary’s, and the distained Madame Bovary poisoned herself. A short time after this her husband Charles died as well, leaving their young daughter with nothing and to live in poverty. Their daughter has nothing left to do, and nowhere to go because her parents left her with nothing.
Character Analysis:
Emma Bovary:
This is a young girl that fills her mind with the idea of what romance and love should be like. Emma lives of a farm with her father, and is willing to do anything to get away from it, even if it means marry someone she isn’t truly in love with. She becomes disappointed when she actually experiences marriage and love. Once Emma becomes bored with her husband Charles, she developed romantic feelings for a law clerk. The law clerk ends up moving away to finish schooling, which makes Emma go into an even deeper depression. Again Emma tries to fill her need of love through two affairs, one of them being the law clerk she had feelings for. She hides these affairs from her husband, and spends his money that ends up in much debt.
Charles Bovary:
Charles Bovary is not a very interesting man. He is a country doctor, and is described as a very dull man. Charles is forced to be a very diligent worker because most things don’t come easy to him. Unlike his father, Elder Bovary, Charles has to work twice as hard as everyone around him just to understand and finish simple tasks. He learned early on that if he eases off of his work he will get too distracted and not finish. People saw that he could easily be persuaded by women. It is first seen by his mother ruling his life and planning an arranged marriage with his first wife. Furthermore his first wife easy dictates what he does. These two women make it especially easy for his new, young second wife to rule over him and get away with almost anything. Because of the fact that Charles is a dull person, he doesn’t have any desires or aspirations like Emma. He doesn’t even notice that his wife has grown unhappy, which makes her even more upset and is one of the reasons she has multiple affairs. The only thing that Charles Bovary has going for him is his undying love for his second wife.
Leon:
Leon is first introduced in the story as a law clerk, and when met my Madame Bovary, is thought of as a kindred spirit. When in reality he is just as superficial as Madame Bovary. Leon is not the most confident person around. He hasn’t had much experience dealing with the topics of women or love. Because of Leon’s inexperience, he doesn’t quite know how to react when he meets Emma Bovary. Just like Emma Bovary, Leon has lived in a world of fantasy where he dreams about the image of love. Since Emma is a head on person, Leon doesn’t know what to do when she confronts him about her feelings. Although Leon has his own feelings bottles up for her, he isn’t confident enough to tell her about them. After this encounter Leon moves away for the span of three years, where he grows more confidence in himself when it comes to women. Once he moves back and see’s Madame Bovary after three long years, they engage in a love affair for a short time. Leon believes that it should be the man’s job to be in charge, but because of Emma’s stubbornness, and her being used to controlling her husband, it becomes her duty.
Rodolphe:
Rodolphe is considered a bachelor that studies the psychology of women for the only purpose of seducing them and getting them to do what he wants. When Rodolphe and Emma meet, he seems to be the only person that truly understands her and is willing to listen. Right from the start he knows that Madame Bovary has become unhappy with her husband, and that she is ready to feel love and have an affair. Rodolphe quickly learned that to satisfy Emma, that he needed to exaggerate his love for her with fancy words, which he did so. He leaves the affair for several weeks to make the lovely Emma worry about him and wonder what happened. When he returns it is very easy for him to resume the seduction and carry out the affair. Just like Emma has grown bored with her husband, Rodolphe becomes bored with the affair with Emma, and eventually leaves her. Rodolphe only cares about his own pleasure, so he abandons Emma, and doesn’t feel guilty when he finds out about her death.
Homais:
Homais is a very supporting character. He is one of the most progressive characters of the story, one of the people in society that want to move forward. It is very difficult for Homais to actually be a productive member of society like he wants because he is very ignorant in the ways of education. Although Homais isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, because he is ill educated, but he has very high self esteem. Most people think his self esteem is odd because of his lack of education. When Homais talks to people he speaks in half truths, while other notice it he doesn’t. He often speaks in cliché’s that do not make any sense to the person he is talking to, which is one reason everyone things he is uneducated. Homais is a very irresponsible person, which seems to get him into trouble. On top of being irresponsible, he is very much a coward, and doesn’t stand up when he does something wrong.
Setting:
Unlike many novels or works written during this time period, “Madame Bovary” takes place strictly in the French Provinces. Most pieces written in this century took place in Paris, the city of love. The main character Emma complains throughout the story about being stuck in a small town world and dreams of places filled with love and romance such as Paris. Emma feels like her beauty and elegance is being wasted in such a small place. She also feels that being in the small towns of Yonville and Tostes makes her feel even more unhappy about her marriage. The author of “Madame Bovary”, Flaubert, wanted to easily show the ordinary life of the middle class in small towns such as the ones that Emma lives in. The setting contradicts what Emma dreams about because it lacks excitement and adventure, especially romance. Emma imagines herself being in such a place like Paris, but Flaubert makes this dream home out of reach for her. Emma is not self satisfied, and feels that if she were able to leave her small town home for the big fancy city of Paris that her life would feel more fulfilling. The setting starts off in the small farm town where Emma grew up and couldn’t wait to get away from. Once she married Charles, she soon realizes that this move isn’t much better from what she left. Emma realizes that not everything is as glamorous as the just unreachable city of Paris, where she see’s all of these wonderful things that she can’t have.
Major Themes:
One of the biggest themes throughout the novel is Dissatisfaction. All through “Madame Bovary” by Gustave Faubert, Emma endures every kind of dissatisfaction that someone could think of. We first see it before she marries Charles. She hates that farm that she has grown up on, and can’t wait to leave. Once she is married she realizes that the town she has moved to, as well as her husband, simply isn’t her cup of tea. She is never satisfied with her married life, as well as the lack of romance. This is one reason that she takes the path of having affairs with other men. Emma isn’t satisfied with where she lives either, and dreams of being in Paris. Emma is not the only character that has this ugly feeling, but Rodolphe does too. He is never satisfied with one lover, that’s why he moves on quickly.
An easily depicted theme within the novel is Love. Emma obviously has this feeling a lot throughout the book, but so does all of the other characters. First off, Charles has undying love for his second wife who is a lot younger than him. He doesn’t quite realize that she is so unhappy, and probably wouldn’t know how to deal with it if he did. Leon never really had luck with the ladies until after he met Emma. When he comes back to the little town he and Emma engage in a love affair, which ends up going nowhere at all. Leon ends up finding his confidence through this love affair. Rodolphe also endures the powers of love. He never stays with one lover for a long amount of time because he gets bored. But while he is with that lover, he plays them and makes them think that he really loves his poor victim. And lastly, Emma goes through not feeling satisfied with the love that her husband isn’t showing for her, and moves on to other men behind his back.
Lastly, is the Powerlessness of Women. Throughout the novel there are many instances where Emma hopes and wishes that her unborn baby will be a man so it doesn’t have to endure what she has. Emma is unhappy and feels like she doesn’t have any control over her life, which is true. A reader can easily see that all of the men in this character life have made decisions for her, and have controlled her every move. They have power over her, such as her lovers. Even Emma’s husband contributes to her being powerless. Because of him being lazy he isn’t able to be a good doctor, which makes it impossible for him to be of higher status, and live in a better city like Emma wants. Even Emma’s lovers contribute to this. Rodolphe has the ability to take her away from her dull life, but abandons her. Leon also does this, although at first it seems that he is most like Emma out of all her lovers. The only difference is that he is a man, and is actually able to move away from the country town and live a better life, while Emma is stuck with a dull husband and baby.
Symbols:
Dried Flowers: The dried flowers from Charles first marriage symbolize all of the disappointments that Emma endures, as well as the hopes and dreams she realizes she will never achieve. When Emma first see’s these dried flowers she wonders what will happen to her bouquet when she passes away. As an act of defiance, Emma destroys her own wedding bouquet because of her unhappy marriage. The burning of these flowers foreshadows the way that trying to become happy will consume Emma’s entire life.
The Blind Beggar: A blind beggar follows the carriage that Emma rides in whenever she goes to meet Leon. The man sings songs with lovely lyrics, but in a voice of complete despair. The blind beggar represents the decay of Emma’s moral being. She used to be an innocent young girl, but has transformed into someone willing to do anything to find happiness. Although Emma seems to be innocent in her words and fantasies, her actions are adulterous and foul, which end up making her spirit corrupt. When Emma has passed, the beggar still sings on. We get to see the end of the song, which actually turns out to be sexual and adulterous, just like the end of Emma’s life had been. Her life started out innocent just as the song did, but the endings were much the same.
The Lathe: This is a symbol because the lathe that binds napkins that one of the characters have a habit of making represent how Emma’s life is bind and constricted. Her life is being forced by other people, and her actions aren’t always her own. She is forced to stay where she is because she is a woman, somewhat confined just as a napkin is in a lathe.
Conflicts:
Man V. Man: This type of conflict is easily seen between Emma and her husband Charles. Although Charles doesn’t quite notice the issues that Emma is having with their marriage, they are obviously there. He is so caught up with himself that he doesn’t take the time to know how his wife feels. Because of the fact that Charles is almost ignoring his wife, Emma becomes so unhappy with her marriage that she leans towards having affairs with different men.
Man V. Self: This conflict is obviously with Emma. She constantly dreams of a better life but can’t get away from the decent on that she has. She has dreams and fantasies that are innocent, but in real life she commits acts that are adulterous and conniving. Emma doesn’t know what she wants, which is why she has affairs with completely different men. She also doesn’t know who she is, which is one reason she is in much need of a man that isn’t her husband.
Man V. Society: This type of conflict is also between Emma and the society during this time. Women have to have a man in their life or they can be almost nothing. Emma is relies on her husband as well as the men that she has affairs with to be happy. During this time period women didn’t typically work, so Emma wouldn’t be able to have a job and support herself if it wasn’t for her husband and unhappy marriage.
Man V. Nature: People typically only have one lover, which is the natural order of things. But in this case Emma has many. She is going against what nature intended by having multiple affairs while she is married to her boring husband. These affairs put much strain on Emma’s life as well as heart, and she can’t get away from it.
Man V. Technology: During this time men were the ones that did everything to support their family and knew the things that involved technology. For this conflict, Emma still can’t do many things on her own. She doesn’t know what to do besides be a stay at home mom, while everything advances around her.
Image: This image portrays the dull life of Madame Bovary while she lives in a country town. In the clouds there is an image of Paris, where she wishes she could live and be happy. The bow and arrow represent all of the different types of love, or lack thereof, during her life. She also wishes for wealth while her husband sits around being lazy.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsvPqPBJqu8
Sources:
"Madame Bovary By Gustave Flaubert Character Analysis Homais." Madame Bovary: Character Analysis: Homais. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
"Madame Bovary Summary." Shmoop. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
"Madame Bovary." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
"Literature: Classic." Literature: Classic. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
"Madame Bovary Themes." Shmoop. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
"Madame Bovary." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
N.p., n.d. Web.
"Madame Bovary." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.