Madame Bovary Part One
The novel’s first chapter is told from the perspective of Charles’s first day at the Lycée, as he is made to join a class of his juniors because the teachers are unsure of his ability. Charles is studious but unrefined, and the author then describes Charles’s background. His father, a retired army officer, failed to earn sufficient capital for his family, primarily due to his lavish tastes that go beyond his means. He had married the daughter of a relatively well-off man and settled down with his family in a small countryside town. Charles was educated primarily by the curé, and his mother had great hopes for him. She saw him as the means by which she could live out her dreams, and so it was decided that he would study to be a doctor. Charles was set up with accommodation away from home, and he did his best to keep up with the rigorous study of his profession. Alas, the independence of being on his own eventually came to be a distraction, consequently, he failed to clear the examination for the health officer. His family was bitterly disappointed, but they allowed him to study for the exam once again, which he passed the following year.
Charles’s mother, Madame Bovary, had already found a suitable position for his clinic in the town of Tostes. She had also found him a wife, a recently widowed woman, who had come into some money. Charles did not truly love her, but he was loyal to her despite her overbearing nature. She controlled him jealously, although she loved him deeply. One night, Charles was called over to a distant farm to help set the leg of a rich farmer, and there he met Emma, the convent-educated daughter of the farmer. Charles was deeply affected by the refined manners and behavior of the young woman and soon began to visit the farm far more than was necessary.
Charles’s wife learned of the farmer’s daughter and grew jealous of his repeated journeys to the farm. She made him promise not to go there any longer, and Charles complied with her demands rather reluctantly. It soon came to be known that she had lied about the inheritance that she possessed, and Charles’s parents came to see them. They accused her of being deceitful, and she sought shelter in Charles’s arms. He defended her against his parents, but she became soon after that visit and soon passed. He became depressed after her passing, for she had truly loved him, and he could not help but feel her absence deeply. Roualt, Emma’s father, came to visit Charles. He comforted the young doctor and invited him to return to the farm so that they could indulge in some activities that would be certain to cheer Charles up. He happily complied and soon became a regular visitor of the farm. His relationship with Emma began to deepen, and he decided that he would ask her father for her hand in marriage. He could not muster the courage at once, but Roualt had already deduced Charles’s intentions. He thought Charles was a bit of an underachiever, but he was eager to be rid of his daughter and had thus already made up his mind on agreeing to the proposal since Charles would be unlikely to haggle over the dowry. Charles finally managed to ask Roault for her hand, and Roualt conferred with his daughter, who agreed to the proposal at once.
Their wedding takes place a year after the death of Charles’s first wife, and the setting of the wedding is described in great detail by the author. The wedding was a raucous affair with relatives from far off coming for the feast dressed in their best clothes, and afraid of dirtying them. They ate the whole day, and there was a lot of drunkenness. Mr. Bovary could not be separated from his wife for very long during the whole affair, and the newlywed couple left for Tostes within two days, since Charles could not be away from his duty for far too long. Emma takes over the household very quickly and begins to make changes to the house according to her desires. Charles cannot believe how happy he is with his new wife, and he is deeply affectionate with her. The new Madame Bovary, on the other hand, is rather disappointed in her marriage and husband. She had thought she loved him, but being with him did not make her feel what she had thought she would feel. Now, she set out to discover for herself the meaning of words like bliss, passion, and ecstasy. These concepts had pleased her a great deal when she had come across them in the romance novels that she had voraciously read since her time in school.
The author provides a small history of Emma, who had been sent off to a Convent, where she had grown very close with the nuns during the initial period of her education. Emma had grown up in the quiet of the countryside, as such she did not search for the quaint but rather the dramatic side of life. During her education at the convent, she was introduced to novels of romance by an old spinster from a fallen aristocratic house that often visited the nuns. Her mother passed away while she was still at the convent, and she was deeply affected by her mother’s loss. Eventually, she began to rebel against the authority of the nuns and was taken out of the convent at the age of fifteen, by her father. The Mother Superior was glad to see the back of Emma’s head. The countryside turned out to be disappointingly dull and thought she had been disillusioned from life until she met Bovary and experienced excitement over their marriage. However, that excitement did not last long as she did not experience the contentment that Charles experienced. She blamed him for their dull lives and resented him for not recognizing her needs. Within a short time of their marriage, she came to see his love as hollow, and him as dull, and unskilled in the things that a man should know.
Emma distracted herself with fine things, and all of their neighbors commented on how she stylishly managed the household. The old Madame Bovary did not like her extravagance, and she criticized Charles for his devotion towards his wife rather than the mother, as he would always defend Emma. She goes on walks and asks herself why she had ruined her life with marriage while wondering about the lives of her peers from the convent who had settled in the city. The excitement came to their lives as they were invited by the Marquis to a ball. Charles had helped treat an abscess, and his wife was noted to be stylish and beautiful by the servant that had been sent to escort Charles back to Tostes.
They arrived at the luxurious home of the Marquis, where Emma experienced the finest delicacies and she found herself surrounded by all the markers of noble wealth. She prepared for the ball with fervor and rebuffed Charles’s attempts to be amorous. She danced the night away and noted the presence of several handsomely dressed, and well-mannered noblemen. She discouraged Charles from dancing and did not return to him until the end of the night. She danced the Waltz with a young nobleman, a viscount, and believed that they had experienced a deeply romantic moment during their dance. Once the ball was over, she tried to stay up as late as possible to absorb as much of that world as possible. They left the following morning for Tostes, and Emma spent the following weeks lost in reverie about the ball.
She hired a young orphan girl of fourteen and tried to train her as a lady’s maid. She subscribed to a lady’s magazine and filled her house with little trinkets and decorations that she learned of from her reading. She began to dream of Paris and spent several hours imagining the balls and grand shops of Paris during the boring routine of her usual life. Charles loved his wife and saw the changes that she made as a benefit to him. However, Emma’s reaction to her husband became increasingly callous, his manners began to grate on her as did her conduct. She felt that he wasn’t ambitious enough as a man, and had trouble being in his presence. She seemed always to be waiting for something, but nothing came, not even the dreadfully awaited invitation from the Marquis for the same ball, the following year. She soon grew depressed, and her health began to suffer. She gave up on the things that had once given her pleasure and became critical of everything and everyone.
Emma spent most of her time just staring out of the window, and believing that there was no hope for her to lead the kind of life that she desired. Charles worried about this change in his wife and thought that they should move, as he thought she hated the life of a small town like Tostes. Emma burned her wedding bouquet as she was preparing for the move to Yonville l’Abbaye, which was a town of reasonable size located close to Rouen. Emma was pregnant when she and Charles departed for Yonville l’Abbaye.
Analysis
This is Gustave Flaubert’s first published novel which he composed over five years. Flaubert composed the language of his novel with surgical precision, as such the writing of the book has been lauded for its lyrical style and symmetry. In addition to the language, Gustave Flaubert perfects the use of the free indirect discourse narrative style in this novel. Most of the novel is told by a third-person narrator who shifts from character to character as the novel progresses. At the beginning of the novel, readers are introduced to Charles Bovary through the perspective of his classmates at the Lycée during his first day. The narrator then focuses on Charles and shifts to Emma when she finally becomes his wife, and it rests with her nearly until the end. The free indirect discourse style involves the writer adopting the voice of the character upon whom the narrative is focussed, allowing the narrator to seamlessly add his comments to the description of the events without affecting the reader’s engagement with a character.
In these initial chapters, the readers are exposed to crucial events that shape the characters’ behavior over the rest of the novel. In regards to Charles, readers will learn of his incompetence, and lack of ambition through his first failed attempt at the medical examination. His experience with his strong-willed mother, and first wife, prepares Charles to behave submissively with Emma, who does not want him to do so. On the other hand, Emma’s ideas of life and love are severely influenced by the romance novels that she begins to read at the convent. It is important to note that Emma always looks forward to a change in her situation, but when the change has taken place, she becomes disappointed because the reality does not meet the fantasy that she had created in her mind. This is evident in her experience with the convent, then the countryside, as well as the marriage. This aspect of her character is also evident during her visit to the palace of the Marquis. Emma fails to realize that no one at the ball is truly paying any attention to her, besides Charles. Yet, she avoids him and concocts the fantasy of a shared romantic moment between herself and the viscount.
