Various Aspects o f Literature Played in the Madame Bovary Novel - Research Paper Example

Gustave Flauberts Madame Bovary Introduction Madame Bovary is a debut novel by the French Gustave Flaubert that was released in the year 1856. The story focuses on the life of a doctor and his wife. The wife is adulterous and prefers to live beyond her own means which constantly lands the family into deep problems ranging from misunderstanding to financial struggles. The book has been recognized by students as well as scholars of literature as being the forerunner and model of our most prevalent and influential literary genre, the realistic novel. It is now considered a book of great intrinsic worth and one which contains an important and moving story. In addition, it offers a standard against which to compare the works and writers that have followed it. It is impossible to understand or appreciate modern European and American fiction without an acquaintance with Madame Bovary. This paper seeks to give a detailed account of the various aspects of literature that are at play in the novel. A brief plot summary Gustave Flaubert begins her famous novel; Madame Bovary by highlighting the life of Charles Bovary from his early life as a boy who as unable to fir in his new school and as results became the center of ridicule from his classmates. His entire life is marked by dullness and mediocrity that is evident by how he conducts himself before other people. His failure in the medical school leads into him becoming a second-rate doctor in the country. He is married off to a widow by his mother and the marriage does not last for a long time as the widow dies after a short duration. Charles who expected to gain a lot of wealth after the marriage is left with almost nothing and he becomes poorer than before (Rozen, 101). The life of Charles soon takes another turn when he falls in love with Emma who is a daughter to one of his patients and they get married. Emma’s romantic expectations are not met in the marriage. She had spent a better part of her life in the convent and developed an inner belief that marriage was going to be the end of all her troubles. He dream for a sophisticated kind of a lifestyle was borne on the day she attended a very extravagant ball at the home of a noble wealthy man. The village life that she now has to put up with does not match up to her expectations and she gets bored and depressed. She falls ill and after conceiving, they move to another town with the hope that she will get better. In the new town, they meet different people who begin to shape and transform their lives. Emma continues to be despondent after giving birth because she failed to give birth to a son but instead she gives birth to Berthe a daughter. Romantic feeling begin to emerge between Leon and Emma but as soon as she realizes that, the guilt in her turns her into assuming the role of a dutiful wife. Emma becomes miserable after the departure of Leon. Rodolphe who is a rich neighbor seduces her and they begin to have a passionate affair. However, Charles fails to notice that. He fails in his profession and Emma is greatly disgusted by his incompetence. Emma grows desperate and ill when Rodolphe leaves her due to her unending demand for romance and affection. Charles is in deep financial troubles upon the recovery of Emma due to the heavy cost of treatment and paying off all the monies that Emma had borrowed. Emma meets Leon and they begin their love affair and she continues to borrow more money. She becomes bored with Leon and as a result becomes increasingly demanding to him. Her debts increase rapidly leading to seizure of her properties in order to pay off the debts. She finally commits suicide upon the realization that she is unable to pay off the debts despite her many attempts to pay them off. Charles succumbs to the harsh realization that Emma had been cheating on him and upon his death, Berthe is sent off to work in a cotton mill. Formalism in the novel Symbols Symbols refer to objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts within the novel. The blind beggar is an example of a symbol in the novel. He symbolizes physical as well as moral decay that is character of Emma’s life. The blind beggar who follows Emma’s carriage while she was on her way to meet with Leon is a perfect symbol of moral corruption Emma’s life has become a mark of moral filth despite the fact that it is also marked by beauty which is evident in her physical appearance. Her voice appearance and wild fantasies portray the life of an innocent and a beautiful woman while on the other hand; her inner spirit has become filthy as well as corrupt due to her adulterous way of life and deceptions aimed at supporting her illicit affairs as well as hiding her mischievous ways from her husband. Emma’s life transforms from that of an innocent young girl to a woman who has undergone sexual degradation that finally leads to her death in her attempts to cover up her now moral and poor lifestyle. Upon her death, the blind beggar comes to the end of her song that transforms from a young innocent girl dreaming of a better life to a sexual song. The lathe is a symbol of the useless, non-productive and ornamental character of the bourgeois tastes and preferences. It further symbolizes the monotonous life of Emma in which is trapped in and cannot easily get away from. In her numerous ways to take away her life, Emma hears the sound of a lathe calling her to consider suicide as the quick way to death. The lathe finally symbolizes the craftsman who is constantly making simple but well-designed works of art. The dried flowers in the novel are a symbol of unmet expectations and hopes that have faded in the life of Emma. When she arrives at Charles’ house after their wedding, she comes across the wedding bouquet of his late wife and she begins to wonder what is likely to happen to hers upon her death. When they move to a new town, she personally sets ablaze her own bouquet as a way of marking her boring life and her unmet desires in her marriage. She fails to realize that marriage was never meant to offer permanent solutions to her life. Another symbolic aspect is seen in the author’s description of the complicated nature of Charles hat in the first chapter. This is not necessary a realistic account of his school days, but has been shown to symbolize many aspects of his personality and future development. The description of the hat provides a glimpse into the circumstances that later befell him such as misconduct in his duty as a doctor (Flaubert, 011-012). Images Images refer to the recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. One of the images in the book is death and illness. There are many disturbing references to death and illness in Madame Bovary, and the novel can seem very morbid. These references emphasize Flaubert’s realistic, unflinching description of the world, and also act as physical manifestations of Emma’s moral decay. For example, Lestiboudois grows potatoes in the graveyard because the decomposing bodies help them grow, and Homais keeps fetuses in jars. Similarly, Hippolyte loses his leg to gangrene, the blind beggar with festering skin follows the carriage to and from Rouen, and, when Emma faints in Part Two, Chapter XIII, Homais wakes her up with smelling salts, saying, “this thing would resuscitate a corpse!” Such excessive corruption is a comment on the physical state of the world. Flaubert constantly reminds us that death and decay lurk beneath the surface of everyday life, and that innocence is often coupled very closely with corruption. This focus on the negative aspects of life is part of Flaubert’s realism. Eating is another form of imagery in the novel. There is a lot of eating taking place in the book and a lot of food has been eaten by the major characters. This was evident in the daily dinner for the Bovary’s which began at the time of the wedding of Charles and Emma. The eating habit of various characters has a close connection with their character traits. Charles’s poor table manners, magnified through Emma’s disgust, reveal him to be boorish and lacking in sophistication. When Emma is shown sucking her fingers or licking out the bottom of a glass, we see a base animal sensuality and a lust for physical satisfaction in her that all her pretensions to refinement cannot conceal. Finally, when Emma goes to the ball, the exquisite table manners of the nobles and the fine foods they consume signify the refinement and sophistication of their class. In each of these cases, what one eats or how one eats is an indicator of social class (Porter, 39). Another aspect of imagery is manifested in the use of windows as a way of demonstrating the inner character of Emma. Emma has been depicted a number of times looking through the windows as she waves to either Leon or Charles. Whenever she is under stress or bored, she looks at the windows hoping to find some solace coming from them. The windows represent the possibility of escape. For example a shutter bangs open to announce her engagement and she contemplates jumping out the attic window to commit suicide. However, Emma never manages to really escape. She stays inside the window, looking out at the world and imagining a freedom that she never can obtain. The windows serve as an avenue for freedom that can never be attained in real life. Windows also serve to take Emma back to the past and as a result they fulfill an important aspect of flashback. At the ball, when the servant breaks the window and Emma sees the peasants outside, she is suddenly reminded of her simple childhood. Such a retreat to childhood also could be a kind of escape for Emma, who would surely be much happier if she stopped striving to escape that simple life. But, again, she ignores the possibility of escape, trapping herself within her own desires for romantic ideals of wealth she can’t obtain. Windows promote the lack of reality that characterize the life of Emma by reflecting upon the things are impossible to attain or to reverse (Roberts, 022). Psycho-analysis of the novel From the onset, it is worth noting that Emma Bovary dreamt of life that was far beyond perfection and being able to attain. She refuses to abide by her simple convent life but chooses to live by her dreams. Dreams are worth attained n life but they cannot be achieved exactly as they appear since most are not real. Their marriage which was originally marked by romance soon comes to an end as she began to realize that she need to pursue her wild dreams instead of a normal life that she was initially used to. The readers of the novel soon come to realize that the story is of a woman whose dreams of romantic love, largely nourished by novels, find no fulfillment when she is married to a boorish country doctor is actually to true picture. Emma is so much absorbed by the love stories in the novels and that is what takes her rom the reality of life. The book seem to be demonstrating the real life of the author who grew up in a wealthy family and his life could easily be related to Charles Bovary who was a rich doctor in the beginning. The author used to be alone most of his time lived in solitude which offered him an opportunity to devote most of his time in writing the novels and reading many as well. This novel offers an in-depth study on the moral degradation, or more specifically sexual degradation of a woman who is bored with her life as a wife of a provincial doctor (Maraini, 98). It demonstrates the actual picture that takes place in the modern societies that is marked by many women not enjoying their marriages but instead are finding other means of fulfilling the gap by engaging in extramarital affairs. In addition, she refuses to accept her social status of middle class by indulging in extravagant tastes more proper of the richer or higher classes. Moreover, it gives us a glimpse of the limitations of the women of that century against the greater freedom of the men to decide their own destinies. This has been carried over I the present generation in which women are still limited by a number of circumstances and are yet to realize their true freedom that they are deeply craving for. The main character in the book who is Emma Bovary portrayed as a victim of her own foolish disposition fueled by her need for change, her incessant waiting for excitement to enter into her life, and her romantic nature. All of these things, plus her constant wavering of one extreme to another, also contributes to her suicide in the end. Throughout this story there are many vivid examples of her foolishness. In the beginning of the story she has a desire to change around the house, some might say it is a stroke of individuality. Her craving for constant change in her life is what serves to destroy her. Change is an important aspect of an individual’s life as it offers solutions in life. However, if change is not in the right direction or carefully monitored, it can lead to destruction as was in the case of Emma Bovary. Criticisms The book has largely been criticized as being pornographic in the manner in which it describes some of the themes. This stems from the fact that the author offered an honest as well as true description of the major themes in the novel. In the year 1856, he was charged and tried in the court of law for propagating moral filth in the society. He was soon acquitted for lack of proper evidence. It is worth indicating that the whole process of trial served to popularize the book and it made to be known to many people as opposed to the early situation. He defended his work by arguing that his main objective I writing the novel was to create a clear understanding of the true nature of humanity and that he did not sought to explain it (Warsh, 34-45). The use of color blue in the novel Flaubert has used colors as a means of demonstrating mood and tone in the book. Blue color has been used in the book as a symbol of happiness. It serves to clearly bring out a happy mood in the book. This is seen at the beginning of the life of Emma and Charles soon after their wedding. Blue color appears whenever Emma met one of her lovers things were running smoothly between them. Emma wore her blue stockings whenever she was going to meet with her lovers which indicated her happy state. Other colors have also been used in the novel to bring out different moods in the story (Hewson, 134-146). Other two most often-described colors in the book are red and green. Opposites in the spectrum, these colors seem to operate as harbingers of opposing moods. Red things in the book signal passages dealing with the dangerous outcomes as well as the sinful nature of characters in the book. Contrarily, green flags the rich and ambivalent; those who are most kind to Emma are often dressed in green, which is itself a symbolic aspiration to perfection as well as nature. Red and green almost always occur individually; when they appear together, it is to signify a moment of great tension, or a weighty decision about to be made (Heath, 48). Work Cited Flaubert, Gustave, and Adolphe Gondry. Madame Bovary: Moeurs De Province. Vienne: Manz, 1920. Print. Flaubert, Gustave, Margaret Mauldon, and Mark Overstall. Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Internet resource. Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Publishers may vary, 1857. Print. Heath, Stephen. Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Print. Hewson, Lance. An Approach to Translation Criticism: Emma and Madame Bovary in Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub. Company, 2011. Print. Maraini, Dacia. Searching for Emma: Gustave Flaubert and Madame Bovary. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1998. Print. Porter, Laurence M, and Eugene F. Gray. Gustave Flauberts "madame Bovary": A Reference Guide. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2002. Print. Porter, Laurence M. A Gustave Flaubert Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2001. Print. Roberts, James L. Madame Bovary, Notes: Including Chapter Summaries and Commentaries, Character Sketches, Selected Examination Questions. Lincoln, Neb: Cliffs Notes, 1964. Internet resource. Rozen, Arthur. Gustave Flauberts Madame Bovary. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1997. Print. Warsh, Lewis. Gustave Flauberts Madame Bovary. Woodbury, N.Y: Barrons Educational Series, 1985. Print. Sources “Emma and Madame Bovary in translation,” Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub. Company Press, 2011, pp. 098-101. A Comparative analysis of Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina, and Effi Briest: A feminist approach (Oct, 2000), pp. 192-198. Adaptation, ideology, context, Vol. 04, No. 7 (spring, 2006), pp. 23-34. Breakfast with Emma. S.l.: Nick Hern, Vol. 37, No. 36 (Spring, 2003), pp. 124-134 fr, . P. L., & Carlier, S. Madame Bovary de Gustave Flaubert (Fiche de lecture). Brussels: Primento Digital (Summer 2012), pp. 17-18 Imagined human beings: A psychological approach to character and conflict in literature. New York [etc.: New York University Press, 1997, pp. 109-111. Literature and money, Vol. 17, No. 7 Amsterdam Issue (May., 2009), pp. 45-47 Madame Bovary, notes: Including chapter summaries and commentaries, character sketches, selected examination questions. Lincoln, Neb: Cliffs Notes. (Sep, 1964), pp. 137 Madame Bovary. Hertfordshire, England: Wordsworth Editions. Press, 2001, pp. 217-230. Madame Bovary: The end of romance. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1989, pp. 102-107. Read More