Mme. Bovary: Ch. 8

Some Words You Ought to Know:

Marquis: A Nobleman of hereditary rank. So he did not necessarily earn his position, it was given to him by default. This doesn't say much about a Marquis' work ethic or character, only to his so-called "pedigree" and the influence his last name might have.

Marquise: Words ending with an "E" in French should give you a clue that the subject is female. The Marquise is the Marquis' (sans "E") wife.

Vicomte = Viscount: Lower to middle ranking nobleman. A non-hereditary title.

Onward!

Charles and Emma are invited to spend a weekend with the Marquis d'Andervilliers, a patient of the doctor's. They are only invited though, after the Marquis sizes up Emma to make sure she is a. pretty enough and b. refined enough (aka doesn't act like a peasant).

The whole chapter describes the happenings at this weekend event. 

At the first dinner, there are four very interesting and singular observations that Emma makes.

The Four Very Interesting and Singular Observations

1. "Madam Bovary was surprised to notice that the several of the ladies had failed to put their gloves in their wine glasses" (Flaubert, 54).

Is it common practice for the genteel to ruin their gloves? Perhaps it is a sign that you are wealthy enough to put your gloves in peril without worry. Some people need to flaunt their wealth I suppose. The fact that some of the women do not partake in this might represent that not everyone at the table is as well to do as the Marquis.

2. "This was the marquis' father-in-law, the old duc de Laverdiere - he was said to have been Marie-Antoinette's lover between Monsieur de Coigny and Monsieur de Lauzun" (Flaubert, 54-55).

This not only puts into perspective the time-frame that this story takes place (about 40ish years after the beheading of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette), but it also alludes to the current political atmosphere in which the French are living.

I am sure I'm not the first to tell you, but after the monumental beheading of the French Monarchy in the late 1700's, France was thrown into many years and phases of political unrest.  At what point of this tumultuous history is this story taking place and how does that influence the actions of the characters and their interactions with each other?

It goes without saying that the common people of France were not big fans of Antoinette (exhibit a: "Let them eat cake"). So it comes as a surprise that Emma, a girl straight off the farm, looks at the duc de Laverdiere with awe rather than scorn, "Emma's eyes kept coming back to this pendulous-lipped old man as though he were someone extraordinary, someone august. He had lived at court! He had slept with a queen!" (Flaubert, 55). This reaction could indicate that Emma is still far too young and immature to be treated like an adult; that she is dazzled by the celebrity status rather than acknowledge the hand that the old Duc had in partaking in Royal Court. 
But this reaction could also represent that the resentment felt toward the monarchy had faded at that point; that now the idea of royalty was looked upon with wonder and nostalgia.

3. "Madam Bovary turned her head and saw peasants peering in from the garden, their faces pressed against the glass" (Flaubert, 58).

Flaubert felt the need to bring attention to the class system in France. Upon seeing the peasants, Emma thinks about her old life on the farm. Now that she is hanging out with big-shot, her humble childhood seems so far away. Is she loosing touch with her roots? Is she getting carried away by this new lifestyle? 

4. "A lady near her dropped her fan just as a gentleman was passing. - The gentleman bowed, and as he stretched out his arm, Emma saw the lady toss something into his hat, something white, folded in the shape of a triangle" (Flaubert, 58).

This is never explained and I have no idea what in the world this could be alluding to. Is the lady trying to pick the guy up? Is it her way of slip him her telephone or hotel room number? Could this be showing that the people in this group/in this class are comfortable cheating on their spouses?
Who knows?


There is one character that seems to have left an impression on Emma in this chapter...

The Vicomte

We get no other name for this character. Just The Vicomte. How mysterious!
The dashing Vicomte convinces Emma to waltz with him, "They started out slowly, then quickend their step" (Flaubert, 59). How very much like love! At some point, Emma's gown get's caught and, "For a moment their legs were all but intertwined; he looked down at her, she up at him; a paralyzing numbness came over her, and she stopped. - There, out of breath, she almost fell, and for an instant she leaned her head against his chest." (Flaubert, 59).
This is the first sign of intimacy that we see Emma react to.
Later, on her way home with Charles, they pass another carriage and it is noted that Emma recognizes (hones in on?) The Vicomte amongst the group riding in it.

Home Again Finnigan

While at the Marquis' home, it is apparent that Emma enjoys the finer things in life. She associates with the rich and longs to be more like them. "Her glance lingered on the windows of the various rooms as she tried to imagine which of them were occupied by the people she had seen the night before. She longed to know all about their lives, to penetrate into them, to be part of them" (Flaubert, 60). Just like her perception of love, it seems that Emma is romanticizing what it is like to be wealthy. She wants the balls and the fancy lifestyle, but she might not be putting into perspective all that goes into living with noblemen.

Having to return home, Emma is extremely grouchy. From her actions, we can tell that she is comparing her life to the Marquis' and she is not satisfied with the difference.
The events at the weekend have made her aware of how "The Other Half" lives, and now that she has had a taste, she wants it all for herself. Weeks pass and her discontent grows.

In Summation...

This chapter introduces two very important factors.
1. Lifestyle of the Rich and the Famous (they're always complaining, always complainin')
Emma has her first exposure to an elite group and class that she has only ever read about. Through her marriage she upgraded from farmer's daughter to doctor's wife, but now she is even more dissatisfied with her marriage than before. Why can't she have romance and money? It seems so within grasp yet so unattainable at the same time.
2. The Viconte
Whether we see this character later in the story or not (but I'm sure we will), the interaction between The Viconte and Emma shows a different side of Emma. We know that she is a very emotionally-driven person and her connection with The Viconte stirs something within her. She feels comfortable being affectionate with him.
For a second you're happy for her. You're intrigued. Has she finally found love?
But then you remember, she's married! She should not be allowing herself to feel or behave this way!

How these two things will later affect the story, we have yet to see.



More romantic attempts made by Charles that go unnoticed: The list goes on...
"'You? Dance?' Emma cried.
'Of course!'
'But you're crazy everybody would laugh. You mustn't. It's not suitable for a doctor, anyway,' she added. Charles said no more. He walked up and down waiting for Emma to be ready" (Flaubert, 55).

"Charles came up to kiss her on the shoulder. 'Don't!' she cried. 'You're rumpling me'" (Flaubert, 56). 

Mme. Bovary: Longing

Emma seriously needs to grow up a bit.

Perhaps she got married too young, but this girl keeps yearning for some far-away land where she can run to the arms of her Prince Charming.

Reality bites.

Get with it.

She doesn't even give Charles a chance to prove himself. Every little fault is condemned with the utmost contempt, "He couldn't swim or fence or fire a pistol; one day he couldn't tell her the meaning of a riding term she had come upon in a novel. Wasn't it a man's role, though, to know everything?" (Flaubert, 46).

Earth to Emma! Charles saves lives! Yeah, he's a mediocre doctor, but she doesn't know that. As far as she knows, he races to the rescue of every peasant and Duke, curing their ailments, and having them owe him their lives.

And it's so sweet but sad the puppy love that Charles obviously experiences but is so blatantly overlooked, "Charles enjoyed nothing more than standing beside her watching her bent over her sketchbook - As for the piano, the faster her fingers flew the more he marvled" (Flaubert, 46).

All of his efforts and his affections are completely ignored. If Charles doesn't spoil Emma's fancy, what will?

It is written that Emma tries to induce a spark of love, but in vain, "Even as they were brought closer together by the details of daily life, she was separated from him by a growing sense of inward detachment," (Flaubert, 46), and "His transports had become regularized; he embraced her only at certain times. This had now become a habit like any other" (Flaubert, 49).

Yes, this lack of passion would cause one to fantasize of a more romantic relationship, but I also think that this is what every married couple suffers from. This is not a unique situation. 

We find that domesticity suits Emma very well though. At least she has that to offer.
She is clean and organized, qualities that actually promote Charles' business. His mother, on the other hand, does not suit Emma at all. The two suffer one another with civility but there is a tense loathing exuded from both toward the other. 

It's apparent that Emma is the apple of Charles' eye, but his attachment is unrequited. Emma, though efficient as a housewife, requires more satisfaction from her marriage than, let's face it, is deserved.
She fails to see that relationships must be built and worked on continually. What did she expect when she married a complete stranger? It was stated earlier that, even as a young girl, Emma required immediate gratification from her efforts and if she didn't receive it, she quickly bored of the subject. This is not bearing well in her marriage at all.

Mme. Bovary Ch. 6: A Convent Life

At the age of 13 Emma was taken to a convent by her father for her education. This seems a bit extreme (kind of like your parents threatening to send you to a convent if you were too 'wild' as a teenager), but this was actually considered rather normal in those days. The convent seems to be more of a boarding school with dorms full of other girls. There, Emma was notably pious, but even at a young age she shows signs of deviance.

She had to extract a kind of personal advantage from things; and she rejected as useless everything that promised no immediate gratification - for her temperament was more sentimental than artistic, and what she was looking for was emotions not scenery (Flaubert, 41).

From this we can see that Emma has slightly selfish tendencies. She's not an In-The-Long-Run kind of person.  She needs instant benefits to see the worth in anything, and that obviously doesn't always happen in marriage, or in life. This attribute is going to be a detriment to her In-The-Long-Run.

Emma begins to read the romance novels that are secretly shared between the girls in school. It is here that she is introduced to the idea of dashing princes rescuing damsels from high towers. This exposure to a fantasy romance, and her eagerness for it, is an early indicator that she will be let-down by the realities of a semi-arranged marriage.

It is also from these phantasmic stories that Emma begins to err from the church.

She reacted like a horse too tightly reigned; she balked, and the bit fell from her teeth. In her enthusiasms she had always looked for something tangible: she had loved the church for its flowers, music for its romantic words, literature for its power to stir the passions; and she rebelled before the mysteries of faith as she grew ever more restive under discipline (Flaubert, 44).

Could this be an indicator that she no longer sees the truth in any moral code she was taught in school? After doing some research and watching a few movie trailers, I am getting the jist that Emma procures a few lovers on the side of her marriage. Now as I read the story, I see the subtle hints that will inevitably lead to later immoral decisions.

But you can't help but feel bad for the girl.

She easily persuaded herself that love, that marvelous thing which had hitherto been like a great rosy-plumaged bird soaring in the splendors of poetic skies, was at last within her grasp. And now she could not bring herself to believe that the uneventful life she was leading was the happiness of which she had dreamed (Flaubert, 45).

How crest-fallen would you be if you built up something so big just to find it was mediocre and uneventful?  She had wished and dreamed for romance, and when it seems to be knocking on her door (which Charles did indeed do), it fell short. 

Mme. Bovary Ch. 5: Shocking Discoveries

Though a brief chapter, one upsetting discovery leads to an unsettling realization.

Upon moving into Charles' home, Emma and Charles peruse around the house, taking in the possibility and landscape.

Emma went up to the bedrooms. The first was empty; in the second, the conjugal chamber, a mahogany bed stood in an alcove hung with red draperies. - On the desk near the window, standing in a decanter and tied with white satin ribbon, was a bouquet of orange blossoms - a bride's bouquet: the other bride's bouquet! (Flaubert, 36).

How uncomfortable!

Mme. Bovary #1 left a lingering presence.  This reminds Emma that she is not Charles' first wife.

Charles noticed, picked it up, and took it to the attic; and as her boxes and bags were brought up and placed around her, she sat in an armchair and thought of her own bridal bouquet, which was packed in one of those very boxes, wondering what would be done with it if she were to die. (Flaubert, 37).

I don't think Emma is so much worried about her mortality as she is her replace-ability. Would she be remembered and mourned over properly if she were to die? Or quickly forgotten, her belongings stuffed in an attic along with her memory?

As a reader, we know that Charles is much more infatuated with Emma than he ever was with his first wife, but Emma would hardly be able to know that. Despite his doting on her and being ever-so affectionate, the way Charles treated his first wife's death gives cause for moral scrutiny.

Still, the last paragraph of the chapter very abruptly reveals Emma's definite sentiments.

Before her marriage she had thought that she had love within her grasp; but since the happiness which she had expected this love to bring her hadn't come, she supposed she must have been mistaken. And Emma tried to imagine just what was meant, in life, by the words "bliss," "passion." and "rapture" - words that had seemed so beautiful to her in books. (Flaubert, 39). 

Emma is completely indifferent to her marriage! Her ideas of star-struck love and its passionate urgency fell short of the mark with Charles, and it seems that she has quite submitted to this reality with utter capitulation.

Mme. Bovary Ch. 4: A Zola-esque Wedding

Holy details.
This whole chapter is dedicated to describing the traditional French, multi-day long wedding festivities.
Aside from describing how the guests arrived, what they wore, and what was served to eat, we see Emma and Charles' first romantic interactions.

The next day, however, he seemed a different man. It was he who gave the impression of having lost his virginity overnight: the bride made not the slightest sign that could be taken to betray anything at all. - But Charles hid nothing. He addressed her as 'ma femme,' using the intimate 'tu,' kept asking everyone where she was and looking for her everywhere, and often took her out into the yard, where he could be glimpsed through the trees with his arm around her waist, leaning over her as they walked, his head rumpling the yoke of her bodice.

It seems that Charles is finally smitten, but Emma nonplused. The completed opposite of what one tends to expect.

My conclusion is that Emma is either very introverted or that she doesn't love Charles!

How very sad for both of them.

Mme. Bovary Chapter 2 and 3

Chapter 2
Just as I thought!
The current Mrs. Bovary cannot be the protagonist because...

Dr. Charles Bovary starts helping a farmer with his ailment and falls in love with his daughter!

Rodney feels your pain Charles.

Emma is her name and being adorable is her game.
Charles is immediately taken in by Mademoiselle Emma Rouault and frequents her home to "check in" on her father.

The present Madam Bovary hears about Emma and instinctively dislikes her but, as luck would have it, Madam Bovary dies!

Charles is not all too saddened by the event, though he feels some twinges of sentimentality,

When everything was over at the cemetery, Charles returned to the house. There was no one downstairs, and he went up to the bedroom. One of her dresses was still hanging in the alcove. He stayed there until dark, leaning against the writing desk, his mind full of sad thoughts. Poor thing! She had loved him, after all.  (Flaubert, 23).

When authors introduce characters and kill them off so quickly, I always wonder what that dead character's purpose was. Why have Mme. Bovary at all if she is going to die within two chapters anyway? What purpose did she serve to the plot? Why did Flaubert feel the need to include her at all?

But he did. Flaubert introduced her for some specific reason, we just don't know it yet. Despite her brief and uneventful appearance, Mme. Bovary the First must serve as some anchor or comparison for the later wife. "Poor thing! She had loved him, after all." Despite all her follies, she had been a loyal and loving wife.  Maybe the next one won't be...

Chapter 3
Charles' sadness quickly dissipates.

He though of her less and less as he grew used to living alone. The novelty and pleasure of being independent soon made solitude more bearable. Now he could change his meal hours at will, come and go without explanation, stretch out across the bed if he was particularly tired. (Flaubert, 24).

Doesn't sound like he's missing his wife too much. Charles is enjoying his freedom. He likes being a bachelor, yet he still pursues Emma. He continues to go to her house, "Now he went to Les Berteaux (Emma's home) whenever he pleased. He was aware of a feeling of hope" (Flaubert, 24). The funny thing is, it doesn't sound like they have a very deep connection to one another. When they talk, it is briefly. There's no deep intellectual or emotionally connection that they have. So it is slightly impulsive of him to ask Mr. Rouault for his daughter's hand in marriage.

Some background on Rouault. He sounds just like Charles' father.

He never lifted a finger if he could help it, and never spared any expense in matters of daily living: he insisted on good good, a good fire, and a good bed. he like his cider hard, hi leg of mutton rare, his coffee well laced with brandy. (Flaubert, 27). 

Mr. Rouault is lazy and quick to spend money. Which is why he's rather relieved when Charles proposes. Rouault owes a bit of money and seeing as how Charles is well-educated and reliable (and won't haggle over the dowry) Rouault believes Charles is a great match for his daughter.

Reading this is just another example of how marriage and match-making are very political, with the match-makers working under selfish motives. 

Anyway, Emma, and her father, accept the proposal, but one slight detail delayed the wedding ever so slightly.

"There was plenty of tine, since the wedding couldn't decently take place before the end of Charles's mourning - that is, toward the spring of the next year" (Flaubert, 28-29).

Let me state that again,

"Since the wedding couldn't decently take place before the end of Charles's mourning-." 

Charles really didn't beat around the bush in getting another wife. In fact, he was so quick to get another one that it wasn't even socially proper for him to marry. 

Yeesh! 

Mme. Bovary Ch. 1

Note:
Lycee is the French term for secondary school in France. It through me off as to what it was when I first read it. I took the liberty of looking into it so you all wouldn't have to. It is the school that prepares its students for Baccalaureat.

Okay, so here it is! The grand entrance of:

Charles Bovary

In the middle of a lesson in a lycee, Charles is introduced to the class. The first thing we notice is that he is unaccustomed to academia and from his physical characteristics we assume that he is poor. 

 

We are abruptly made aware of the cruel environment that both Charles and the rest of the characters are living in. 

In today's standards, teachers are adults who tend to like being around children. They stand for fairness and acceptance. This is not so for the professor at this particular Lycee.  Charles is humiliated by the professor in front of the class and the students, rather than respond sheepishly embarrassed for Charles or with a resenting solidarity toward the teacher like we hoped they would, they continue to taunt Charles, reminding us adults of the unrelenting cruelty of children. 

Charles' family life is then described. Unfortunately, his father, though handsome, is a scheming, lazy, greedy man who married for money which he squandered. Not a specialist in anything, he found a way to make a living off renting properties and then let his wife worry about all the other details. 

Charles's mother, "Once sprightly, all outgoing and affectionate, with age she had grown touchy, nagging and nervous, like stale wine turning to vinegar" (Flaubert, 7).  Years of living with a cheating and useless man ruined Madam Bovary Senior. Because of this, with the arrival of Charles as a child, she was able to convey her unrealized dreams onto him. "In the isolation of her life she transferred onto her baby all her poor frustrated ambitions. She dreamed of glamorous careers: she saw him tall, handsome, witty, successful - a bridge builder or a judge" (Flaubert, 8). This enthusiasm for her child's future isn't a new feature for mothers, but its seldom that the children fully live up to their parent's self-imposed, vicarious aspirations so I'm waiting for either a major, inevitable let-down and scenes of disappointment OR for the mother delude herself into only looking at the good in her son and never seeing the bad.

Despite these high-hopes that Mme. Bovary Sr. has, Charles doesn't start school until the age of 12 with a local priest and only when the priest felt like giving lessons. He didn't start formal education until entering the lycee where he was a marked student for being so incredibly unmarked. Charles did not stand out in his class in any way. He was in no way considered bright "By working hard he managed to stay about in the middle of the class" (Flaubert, 10).  He was neither precocious nor a complete idiot. Even so, his parents pulled him from the lycee early and sent him to study medicine completely unprepared intellectually and academically.

In medical school we see how Charles flounders. He attends all lectures and labs, and really tries his best, but he swims through a mass of information, "Like a mill-horse that treads blindfolded in a circle, utterly ignorant of what he is grinding" (Flaubert, 11). He does this until he reaches a point of self-discovery and free will. He takes one day off from class and realizes the beauty of relaxation, and makes a nasty habit of playing hookey. He obviously fails his first examinations, then runs to his mother with his tail between his legs. He is given the opportunity to re-study and re-take the exams of which he passes with relief.

From here he moves to the city of Tostes (just south of Rouen) where he sets up practice and marries an ugly, over-bearing but rich, 45 year old woman in an arrangement set up by his mother.

We end the chapter with Charles married to a very unreasonable, needy and draining wife.

It's just an inkling, but I'm assuming that this first wife isn't the protagonist from which the novel is named after. Some ill fate must befall Wife #1 so that our heroine can take the stage.

Madam Bovary: All I Know Is...

All I know is that it is called, Madam Bovary, and that it is by Gustave Flaubert.
And I'm assuming that it's French.
"Madam" and "Gustave" being the operative words to bring me to this conclusion.

Madam Bovary has been on my To-Read list for a while now. It's part of the Canon (I think) and I've heard cheeps here and there that it describes the doing-s of a very bored woman.

You think, "How interesting can reading about a bored woman be?"
Very. Interesting.
From my past experiences reading up on very bored women and house wives, the dissatisfaction and the monotony all foster the behaviors associated with housewives, including cattiness toward others, simple-mindedness, and deviousness.
Not surprisingly, these factors can all stir in together to create a very captivating plot that makes readers simultaneously hate and empathize with the female characters.

I love issues. Women's Issues in particular, but also any population that has been suppressed and misrepresented. I love reading about how a group's "duty," or stereotype, or roll that was thrust on them unwillingly affected their behavior.

Which is why my last posts were on Black Boy.
I loved reading Richard Wright's Native Son in high school. I felt like I understood to another degree of why a population often lives up to (or down to) the standards that are placed on them. There is a vicious cycle that inflicts the psyche, which in turn affects the behavior.

If Madam Bovary is anything like Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, or Kate Chopin's A Pair of Silk Stockings, I'm sure I am going to love it.