preview

Who Is Emma Bovary?

Decent Essays

In an ideal world, like the one Emma Bovary yearns for in the book Madame
Bovary, romantic relationships are based on the principle that the two participants are madly in love with each other. But in the world Gustave Flaubert paints in his book, as in the real world, passion and personal gain are the only reasons people enter into a relationship.

Before meeting Emma, Charles Bovary weds a much older woman. He
“had seen in marriage the advent of an easier life, thinking he would be more free to do as he liked with himself and his money.';(p. 7) But he also laments that “his wife was master; he had to say this and not say that in company, to fast
every …show more content…

The monotony of daily life as well as her own idealistic demeanor lead to her considering taking a lover. Leon, a young villager, catches her fancy and takes an interest in her as well. But she does not give in to her desires, perhaps out of loyalty to her husband, even though she obviously does not love him. In fact, she “detests';(p. 122) Charles. But still, she does not commit adultery with Leon.

Leon certainly does not love Emma. He is merely physically attracted to her, and is, for lack of a better term, only trying to bed her. After his efforts fail, he decides to move to Paris. He was “weary of loving without any result.';(p. 83) Emma is crushed when he leaves, not out of love realized too late, but out of the realization that her life is once again devoid of excitement.

That is until she meets Rodolphe, a well-to-do type from the suburbs. He is more forceful than Leon, and eventually does make love to Emma. But their relation is not love either. On Emma’s part, she is just trying to fulfill her romantic fantasies by taking an extramarital lover like the women in all the novels she reads. As for Rodolphe, he obviously does not love Emma. Why else does he decide to leave her when she tries to take their relationship to the next level? And when he writes a “dear Jane letter'; to Emma informing her of his leaving, he is forced to fake a tear.

Get Access