Term Paper on "Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary"

Term Paper 5 pages (1678 words) Sources: 1

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Flaubert

Gustave Flaubert writes Madame Bovary as a realist who is particularly enamored with certain aspects of romanticism. In other words, he tells his story from a realists' perspective, but is also very conscious of the limitations upon realism; meanwhile, he also seems to hold a soft place in his heart for the emotional features of the Romantic Movement. He depicts his affection for romanticism through the character of Bovary, who believes in the existence of romantic love and that this love can be used to solve practical, daily-life problems. However, Flaubert is quick to impress upon the reader that the blind expression of these human passions cannot be fully realized in the world as we know it; Emma is fundamentally prevented from pursuing her dreams by the social structure of the world around her, as well as by the imperfect nature of all of her relationships. Despite this clear critique of romanticism, Flaubert also attempts to demonstrate that pure realism is similarly impossible; he reveals the imperfect relationship between language and true emotion through the way his characters interact. Overall, Madame Bovary is an attack upon the rigid ideals and practices of Europe's middle class in the nineteenth century, and the way these structures prevented individuals -- women in particular -- from experiencing any actual happiness.

Emma is a character who is caught-up in chasing the idealistic versions of love and passion that she has read about in books. Because of this, she looks forward to her marriage to Bovary as the realization of all of her fantasies and as the path toward a happy life. Yet, she quickly finds that her marriage to Bovary is elementally lacking in what she desires: "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 find out what one meant exactly in life by the words felicity, passion, rapture, that had seemed to her so beautiful in books," (Flaubert 36). Essentially, this is the launching pad of the rest of the tale: Emma discovers that the nature of the love that she shares with Charles is different from the love she has learned of through artfully compiled words in a book. In fact, there is actually very little artful or beautiful about the love between her and her husband; she soon discovers the full extent of his laziness and stupidity. Ultimately, Emma comes to identify these traits as the source of her own unhappiness. In other words, she believes that it is because of Charles' incompetence as a doctor and his apparent lack of ambition that she is stuck in a country village with unrefined people, and without romantic love.

Still, for an instant, Emma feels that she has discovered another individual who sees the world in the same way that she does: Leon. When the two first meet they find that they share an interest in romanticized novels and that they both feel trapped or stifled by the obtuse people of the middle class with their rigid values. He asks her when they meet, "If madame will do me the honour of making use of it... A library composed of the best authors, Voltaire, Rousseau, Delille, Walter Scott, the 'Echo des Feuilletons'," (Flaubert 88). Leon appeal's to Emma's longing for the purely aesthetic experiences in life; he also appeals to her because he appears to agree with her point-of-view that society is organized such that people are hindered from realizing their own aspirations. Her initial encounter with Leon has the effect of leaving Emma with the impression that her belief in romance is justified, and that two individuals combined -- if they are truly in love -- can conquer the inhibitive features of European society.

Rodolphe, on the other hand, comes into Emma's life at a point where she is utterly distraught over her unhappy marriage and, with Leon's departure, believes that the attainment of real happiness may have eluded her forever. He plans his seduction of her and executes it with textbook precision. She is susceptible to his charms for a number of reasons: first, because she views adultery as one of the only ways she can seize control of her own life; second, because he is wealthy and represents everything that Emma's romantic heart yearns for; and third, because Emma still views romantic love as the escape route for unsatisfied women of the middle class. These motivations combine within Emma's character to cause her to fall completely in love with Rodolphe. From Emma's perspective, this love is completely pure and fully articulated; however, since their relationship was founded upon deceit -- and because Rodolphe has had nothing but a long string of similar lovers -- the unsullied language of love has no meaning between the pair. When Emma expresses her love to him, Rodolphe is unable to tell fact from fiction; since all of his lovers have flattered him as Emma does he assumes that she is being as untruthful as he is with them. In this way, Flaubert demonstrates that even the perfect translation of emotion into words -- as the realists believe can be accomplished -- fails to allow human beings to adequately relate to one another. Had Rodolphe recognized Emma's profession of love to be real, then perhaps the two could have been content; but realism falls somewhat short of capturing the feelings that can run between people.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that despite Leon's and Emma's shared gravity towards the romantic, Leon is capable of escaping his dull life in the country and charting a course of his own in Paris. In many ways Leon is drawn as Emma's male counterpart in the novel -- they both represent many of the same ideals. The difference in sex, however, is very significant to where they both ultimately end-up in life. Despite the fact that they are both morally corrupt and somewhat reprehensible characters, Flaubert suggests that Leon ultimately lives a happy and affluent life. He marries after Emma's suicide and is far more economically independent than he had been when he first met Emma. Although Leon demonstrates an increased amount of confidence in himself as he becomes more affluent, Flaubert continues to stress the more childish and doltish aspects of his character through his relationship with Emma. Ultimately, Leon remains childish because he continues to apparently believe in romantic love, even though this form of love fails to manifest itself with Emma. This too is illustrated with the incongruity between language and feeling. When Emma, for instance, asks Leon to write her love poetry, it is uninspired and usually stolen from published authors: "But he never succeeded in getting the rhyme for a second verse; and at last ended by copying a sonnet in a 'Keepsake.' This was less from vanity than from the one desire of pleasing her," (Flaubert 287). Leon does not truly love Emma but is content to let her believe that he does; his words indicate the purity of his love, but they are truly a mask to hide the differences between them. Realistically, Leon is a successful man who is not in the need of a relationship with a married woman; therefore, it makes no practical sense for him to love or to desire marriage with Emma. Emma, on the other hand, believes that Leon's love can pull her out of her personal and financial woes. So although the two share the same idea of what love is, they both see that love transformed and directed at different people because of the forces of society -- Emma wants to love a man who can save her, while Leon wants to love a woman who is his social compliment.

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