MADAME BOVARYby Gustavo Flaubert and Translated by Lydia Davis

About Gustavo Flaubert● A French writer of the 2nd half of the

19th century● Born on December 12, 1821 in Rouen

France and died on May 8, 1880 (at age 58) in Rouen France

● His father was a doctor● He was sent to Paris against his will to

study law, that's when he started writing● He got ill and left law and Paris for his

devotion to his writings● He had unusual relationships with 2

women; Elisa Schlessinger, a married, older woman whom he met when he was 15 and Louise Colet, a poet, who was his mistress between 1846 and 1854. She and Flaubert saw each other rarely, however continued communicating through letters.

Madame Bovary● Gustavo's first novel

● Madame Bovary was published in February 1857

● His inspiration for the book came from his affair with Louise Colet, who was

smart in literature and was a married woman. Their complicated relationship gave

Flaubert the inspiration to write Madame Bovary

● He based some of his characters and events from the people he knew throughout

his life and attributed some of his own personality traits and values to Emma

Bovary the character

Character List● Emma Bovary - the protagonist, educated in a country convent, married to

Charles Bovary, ○ She was unhappy about her marriage, fantasizes an idealistic marriage (a

husband who knows how to do everything, who treats his wife like an angel, comes home with gifts every night).

○ She has a daughter named Berthe but lacks maternal instincts and is often annoyed with the child.

○ Emma’s desire for passion and pleasure leads her into affairs with Rodolphe and Leon.

○ Toward the end of the book, she runs up enormous debts against her husband’s property and commits suicide when she realizes she will be unable to repay them.

Character List cont.● Charles Bovary: married to Emma Bovary after his first wife died, a country

doctor who's kind but simple, dull, and ordinary. ○ He is a terrible doctor who manages simple cases decently but is incapable of

performing difficult operations. ○ After he was married to Emma he devoted his love and time to her. Despite

his deep love for Emma, he doesn't understand her. ○ Her looks and dress captivate him, but he remains oblivious to her

personality. ○ He fails to notice her affairs with Rodolphe and Leon, but the whole town

knows about it. ○ When Emma begins to have debts, he puts her in charge of all his property,

an act that leads to his financial ruin. ○ After Emma’s suicide, he learns of her infidelities and, soon after, dies as a

broken man.

Character List cont.● Leon - Emma’s friend in Yonville, who later becomes her lover. When Leon is a

law clerk in Yonville, he falls in love with her but moves away to Paris to study law, partly because he considers their love impossible as long as she remains married.

● When Emma meets him later in Rouen, his time in the city has made him to be further away from Emma and her feelings.

● He now perceives Emma to be unsophisticated ● Although Emma believes Leon is cosmopolitan, Flaubert presents him as awkward

and full of himself. ● As a country girl, Emma is drawn to his newfound urban sophistication and begins

an affair with him. At first, they succeed in living up to one another’s romantic ideals. However, as the affair progresses, Emma and Leon grow increasingly bored and disgusted with one another. He cannot help her when she is in financial distress and makes excuses for failing to help her financially.

● Leon leaves Emma and gets married shortly after her death.

Character List cont.Rodolphe Boulanger - Emma’s first lover, a wealthy landowner with an estate near Yonville. Rodolphe is selfish and manipulative. He has had many lovers and believes Emma to be no more sincere than any of them.

○ He begins an affair with her, and then abandons her when he becomes bored of her romantic fancies and emotional demands.

Monsieur Lheureux - A sly, evil merchant and moneylender in Yonville who leads Emma into debt, financial ruin, and eventually suicide by playing on her weakness for luxury and extravagance. Monsieur tricks Emma into lending money from him and leaves her in debt. The elder Madame Bovary - A bitter, conservative woman who spoiled her son Charles as a youth and disapproves of his marriage to Emma. She sees through Emma’s lies and tries to get Charles to rein in his wife’s excessive spending, but she rarely succeeds.

Justin - Homais’s assistant. Justin is young, impressionable, and simple. He falls terribly in love with Emma and unwittingly gives her access to the arsenic that she uses to commit suicide. Heloise Dubuc - Charles’s first wife. She realizes that Charles is enamored with Emma. Soon after having this realization, she dies from the shock of having all her property stolen by her lawyer.

Significance

● Considered the first realism book written● Depicts women's feelings at the time

Themes

● The Powerlessness of women

○ Emma's journey for passion

● Suicide (Emma)

○ b/c the pressure of male dominance in the society where her only way out becomes adultery, eventually causing her to commit suicide

Bibliography

● http://www.egs.edu/library/gustave-flaubert/biography/

● http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/madame-bovary/gustave-flaubert-biography.html

PassageRead and analyze these two passages from Madame Bovary and

Deep in her soul, however, she was waiting for something to happen. Like a sailor in distress, she would gaze out over the solitude of her life with desperate eyes, seeking some white sail in the mists of the far-off horizon. She did not know what this chance event would be, what mind would drive it to her, what shore it would carry her to, whether it was a longboat or a three-decked vessel, loaded with anguish or filled with happiness up to the portholes. But each morning, when she awoke, she hoped it would arrive that day, she would listen to every sound, spring to her feet, feel surprised that it did not come; then, at sunset, always more sorrowful, she would wish the next day were already there. Spring returned. She had fits of breathlessness with the arrival of the first warm days, when the pear trees flowered. From early in July, she began to count on her fingers how many weeks remained to her before October, thinking the Marquis d'Andervilliers would perhaps give another ball at La Vaubyessard. But all of September went by without letters or visitors. From Page 53 - 54, chapter 9