Women, marriage, and shame in the nineteenth century France - Term Paper Example

? Inserts His/her Inserts Inserts Grade Inserts Here (Day, Month, Year) Women, marriage, and shame in the nineteenth century France Introduction: The novel Madame Bovary, written by Gaustave Flaubert, illustrates about the women in 19th century France. He focuses on two main issues of women, i.e., marriage and shame. The writer describes a woman named Emma, the leading character of the novel who plays the role of a woman of France in the 19th century. Flaubert relates the marriage and the shame Emma had to endure with the other ordinary women of France and the way French trends were followed by them. Emma, in the beginning of novel, is presented as a beautiful, sharp and happy girl but, after marriage is referred to as a troubled, unhappy and unsatisfied house wife and mother, while at the end of the novel, she portraits herself as a tragic heroine and kills herself. Emma Bovary (Madame Bovary): Madame Bovary, was the young and beautiful wife of a doctor named “Charles”. She lived in the world of imaginations and fantasy. For Emma, life was nothing but a bundle of excitements. She was not only beautiful, but was also very intelligent and sharp. But, unfortunately, she could not develop her mind as a cautious adult woman. She could not utilize her intelligence and be well-aware of the world and her surroundings. The world in which Emma would live was far more different from the actual world. Emma had a very extremely romantic view and imagination of the world. She strongly believed in romance and excitement related to romance. This opinion of her about a beautiful and romantic world differed from the real world. As Emma was in a habit of reading romantic books and novels, this habit drove her even more towards the heights of passion for romance. She grew even more desperate to experience it. After she met Charles, she felt that she was having a great compatibility with him as both of them enjoyed each other’s company. They would spend a lot of time meeting each other which would please not only Emma but also Charles. Soon with the consent of Emma’s father, they got married. But, unexpectedly Emma started getting bored after marriage and started losing interest in her husband. Therefore, Emma’s opinion about marriage and her excitement about romance in the married life perished away. She became quite disillusioned, dull and miserable about her married life as her husband Charles was very good but a bit dull and boring and was not able to come up with the expectations of his wife, rather the imaginations of his wife. This dissatisfaction with her married life led Emma to two marital affairs. This was because she was trying to seek for more romantic pleasure and wanted to make her life risky and excited. Emma, after marriage, soon gave birth to a daughter who was named “Berthe”. This could prove to be a change and a reason to get excited fir Emma but even motherhood seemed boring to her and was again disappointed with her life Women in the 19th century France: Women in 19th century France, were quite different and far more responsible and loyal than the way Emma was described I the novel. They not only had to look after their home but also earn for their family. They would work in different fields performing different jobs in order to act as a helping hand for their husband. They would usually work outside their homes without their children, husband and other members of the family being neglected. Working outside the home would make them face uncountable and unimaginable sorts of challenges which they would face readily and bravely and then would take good care of their family as well. Some women would work indoors as well, such as maids, laundry women, tailors etc. This would not only keep them safe from the challenges of the outer world but also provide them with the income to help their family. But, these kinds of indoor jobs were not always helpful and enough for their family, therefore, majority of them had to go out to struggle for their living, which was definitely far more difficult and challenging than the indoors. While the union of marriage is usually difficult for anyone, it was much more stressful in France during this period. Not only were couples attempting to have a happy marriage, they were also trying to provide for a family. Love, certainly existed in the 19th century of France as well, but is was far more different from the love and romance we portrait nowadays. Marriages at that time were not dependent upon love. No love in particular was required for people to get married. Parents were responsible to find a suitable partner for their children and would get them married. Love, was however, considered to develop after marriage. Parents would mostly provide life partners from the same financial status, same race and same region. Majority life partners would belong to the equal socio-economic class. In many cases, the main reason for marriages was “economic security” and women, mostly, were the backbone of the family. Women were seen as the caretakers of the home and children. They served as maids, cooks, hostesses, disciplinarians, accountants, and peacemakers. Many of the laboring class families were also rural, farming families. With the males of the household typically traveling for their occupations, the women were also left with the management and maintenance of the farm. Gaustave Flaubert’s view in the novel about French women in the 19th century: The writer Gaustave Flaubert has presented an example of a truly ideal French woman of the 19th century “Madame Homais”. This has been related to the actual French women in France by the writer. He portraits an ideal French woman named Madame Homais, who is similar to the French women of 19th century and was well aware of her moral duties and responsibilities. Madame Homais was the wife of a pharmacist Monsieur Homais. She was a very simple lady whose life revolved around her husband and her four children. She was even dressed simply all the time. She never dressed up fashionably, not even well, just to save some money for her family. This was considered to be a sacrifice for her family. She was a devoted wife and an ideal mother. She looked after her children and her husband very well with no electricity in her house and many such unpredictable and unpleasant situations occurring daily in her life, trying to act as hurdles between her and her responsibilities. Madame Homais, with all these adversities was happy and contented with her life and would fulfill her tasks and responsibilities with pleasure. Through the view of the world, Madame Homais was considered to be a perfect lady of that time. But, according to Emma she was not. Emma hated Madame Homais. This was because she was jealous as Madame Homais always seemed happy and satisfied despite having so many difficulties in life, where as Emma, was not satisfied with her life and was not at all happy. An ideal woman in the eyes of Emma: An ideal woman in the eyes of Emma, which Emma strived to be was the one who was stunningly beautiful. Along with beauty, she also had to be very rich, belonging to a high society. The most important factor which Emma emphasized upon was Romance. Emma’s ideal woman also contained romance and romance related excitements in her life. However, she copied and adapted the ways and life style of Madame Homais when Emma wanted to show off herself to the world as a good mother. Despite of her hatred for Madame Homais, Emma still adored her in a way. She knew within her Heart that madame Homais was a wonderful lady, otherwise, she would never have copied or even tried to do so. Comparison of Emma with the other French women of 19th century: Emma was very different from majority of women in France. Their difference can be highlighted in a few points: Hard work: As stated and in the beginning, the women in the 19th century France were extremely hard working. They would work hard day and night just to serve their family. Women were almost in all fields of jobs and were earning enough so as to support their family. They would earn as well as look after their house and their husband and children. Emma, on the other hand was a woman who would appreciate high society comfort and luxuries and therefore did not like to work. She had hired a maid to do all the chores of the house for her. She would not even earn. All she craved for was beauty, wealth and luxury. Devotion for family: The women in the 19th century France were highly devoted towards their family. They would always take care of their family without taking any care of themselves. For them, family came first. They were considered to be good daughters, good wives and above all, excellent mothers. They would even take care of their in-laws. On the other side, Emma never showed any dedication towards her family. Her concerns and worries were only restricted towards her own self and her own happiness. She was not at all a good wife as she was dishonest and insincere in her relation with her husband by having two affairs after marriage. Because of the same reason, she was not even considered to be a good mother because she had left aside her daughter in order to enjoy her life by performing adultery. Emma’s adultery: "What exasperated her was Charles' total unawareness of her ordeal.  His conviction that he was making her happy she took as a stupid insult:  such self-righteousness could only mean that he didn't appreciate her.  For whose sake, after all, was she being virtuous?  Wasn't he the obstacle to every kind of happiness, the cause of all her wretchedness, the sharp-pointed prong of this many stranded belt that bound her on all sides?" (123) The above lines from the novel tell us how and why Emma entered into the world of adultery even after getting married. This was due to the boring nature of her husband that Emma decided to approach other men for sexual satisfaction. Soon she met a rich and rakish landowner Rodolphe Boulanger, who very easily understood her thirst and lust for romance. “How bored she must be!  Dying to live in town, to dance the polka every night!  Poor little thing!  She's gasping for love like a carp on a kitchen table gasping for water.  A compliment or two and she'd adore me, I'm positive.  She'd be sweet!  But - how would I get rid of her later?"  (147) But, as stated in Rodolphe’s above dialogue, “But-how would I get rid of her later”, this clearly meant that Rodolphe just wanted to play with her and so he did and soon threw her out of his life. Emma was not able to bear another misery in her life and fell seriously ill. After she got recovered, she met Leon in an opera and her passion for romance aroused again. After they started an affair, these were Leon’s thoughts about Emma: "With her ever-changing moods, by turns brooding and gay, chattering and silent, fiery and casual, she aroused in him a thousand desires, awakening instincts or memories.  She was the amoureuse of all the novels, the heroine of all the plays, the vague "she" of all the poetry books."  (302) Leon soon realized that he had been wasting time with a married woman who was also acting as a hurdle between him and his career. Emma’s shame: Emma, who was fascinated by the glitter of wealth, got herself captured in the trap of the money lender Lheureux. She spent lavishly on borrowing the money from Lheureux but when she had to pay the debts, she didn’t have any money. She pleaded, rather begged from several people for money including Rodolphe and Leon. But, to her utter surprise, even they turned a back towards her. Emma then realized the crime that she had committed and all this was a result of her own romance follies. Her lust for glamour, beauty, wealth and had turned her down and therefore, with no possible way out of the uncontrollable situation, she killed herself and died a death of pain and agony. Her crime led her to the heights of shame, which she felt after being incurred in debts. The shame that she had put her husband into a huge trouble due to her debts and the shame that she had betrayed her family by being selfish and going ahead for extra marital affairs, but when she realized, it was too late. Emma’s Death: Emma’s marital affairs which go against the morality of the society punished her and therefore, she decided to kill herself. Flaubert’s description of how Emma died is quite long and torturing for the readers. Emma suffered from the poison she had taken, and readers can feel her suffering in the language used of the writer. “She began to groan, feebly at first. A violent shudder went through her shoulders; she turned whiter than the sheet she was clutching in her fingers.”(p.327) "DEATH always brings with it a kind of stupefaction, so difficult is it for the human mind to realize and resign itself to the blank and utter nothingness." - Gustave Flaubert,( Madame Bovary). Conclusion: The reason for Emma’s death which Flaubert describes is his novel was that Emma was unsatisfied with her life, first with her social status, then with her marriage, then with her financial status and then with her marital affairs. All this piled up to make the reason for her suicide stronger. Finally the shame which Emma felt after being incurred in debts, the fear of the destruction of her reputation that she had gone against the rules and trends of the society by having two marital affairs and had drowned herself as well as her faithful husband into a sea of troubles, led Emma to take such a big step. The writer very clearly explains that Emma was unrealistic and lived in her dreams, unaware of the actual meaning of life and duties in life, therefore, as she did not fulfill the responsibilities of a true French woman in the nineteenth century, therefore, she had to bear all the shame which left her no other option than to kill herself. “The incidence of adultery is not subject to computation; but crimes of passion seemed to be breaking out more and more shockingly; while the suicide rate more than tripled during the years between 1830 and 1880 in France.” (Harry Levin)   References Flaubert, G. Madame Bovary, 1856. Levin, H. The Gates of Horn, New York, Oxford University Press, 1963. C, Baudelaire. `Madame Bovary' in Oeuvres completes II, Paris: Gallimard, 1976. S, Heath. Flaubert: Madame Bovary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Read More