Madame Bovary Part Two, Chapters 9 - 16
Rodolphe chooses not to go to see Madame Bovary for six weeks, although he is anxious that he might have made her wait for too long. All of his concerns are allayed as soon as he walks into her house and notes the look of relief that washes over her face. He resumes his confessions of love, but they are interrupted by the arrival of Charles. Rodolphe suggests that Emma try out horse riding since she had been under the weather for a little time. Emma rejects the offer in front of Charles, and Rodolphe departs. Charles presses her to take Rodolphe up on his offer, and when she acquiesces, he writes to Rodolphe himself to ask him to come over and take his wife for horse riding. The date is fixed and all the arrangements are made. Rodolphe takes Emma from her home and leads her out into the countryside. They dismount and begin to walk about in the woods as Rodolphe continues to flirt with her. Initially, Emma rebuffs his advances, but she eventually gives in to him and they make love in the forest. Afterward, they quietly return to town, where Rodolphe drops her off at home and returns to his property. Emma is over the moon at the prospect of having a lover, and cannot help but imagine herself as a heroine from one of the many novels that she so often read.
Emma is deeply impassioned with life due to her love affair, and soon she cannot stand the idea of waiting for Rodolphe to see her. She begins to leave her home every day just as soon as Charles leaves. She trudges through the spring countryside to Rodolphe’s mansion, where he still lies sleeping. They zealously make love to one another, and she returns to her house. Rodolphe cautions Emma that she is beginning to lose sight of things, as she had stopped trying to hide their relationship. Emma herself comes to recognize this when she is nearly caught by Binet while returning from Rodolphe’s house. The lovers then decided that they would meet in town, and so he would come down to her house and she would sneak out to meet him after Charles had gone to bed. They would then continue their love affair in the arbor, on the Bovary property, or go into Charles’s consultation room. Emma felt like she was deeply in love with Rodolphe, and so she would spend hours fawning over him with the most flattering compliments. Rodolphe was unaffected by these words of grandeur, as he had heard them from several lovers before and so he did not believe that she was being truly genuine about her emotions for him. He also began to take her for granted and stopped trying to sweep her off her feet. He was also bothered by her repeated demands for long and heartfelt love letters. Emma did not appreciate this change in her lover, and she became deeply unhappy with her situation.
She received a letter from her father, who was struggling to keep up the duties of the farm, and Emma was transported back to the days of her childhood. She repented her affair with Rodolpho when he became cruel and tried to love Charles but she could not find any qualities worth admiring in him. She was aided in this regard by Homais, who had the idea that Charles should perform an experimental surgery for club foot on the inn’s stable hand, who suffered from the condition. She wished to aid Charles’ career and so convinced him along with the Apothecary. Charles began to study up on the procedure, while Homais persuaded Hippolyte to undergo the procedure. Hippolyte did indeed suffer from a club foot, but he had learned to cope with his condition and was often remarked to be a most productive and laborious young man. Hippolyte gave in to Homais’ advice, and Charles felt prepared for the procedure. Hippolyte’s surgery was performed well, and it seemed to bring the couple together for a short time. Alas, Hippolytte began to sicken terribly, and soon a doctor had to be called to treat the gangrene that had begun to spread all along his leg. The famous doctor was aghast at the condition of the patient and with the very notion of using surgery to treat someone with a club foot. He publicly insults Homais for his incompetence, while Charles is too embarrassed to even think about stepping outside the house. The doctor recommends amputation, and the Bovarys overhear the screams of the patient as his infected leg is cut away. At that moment, Emma’s hatred for Charles intensifies, and she is suddenly glad that she had cheated on him.
She resumes her affair with Rodolphe with alacrity and begins to bore him by repeatedly telling him that she hated her life, and wished that he would take her away from it. Rodolphe snaps and finally asks her what she means by telling him all of this. She suggests that they leave the town, and start afresh together somewhere else. Rodolphe doesn’t dismiss the suggestion outright, but deep inside he has no intentions of eloping with her even though he found her to be exquisitely beautiful. Emma’s hatred towards Charles continued to grow, and she became increasingly difficult to deal with, especially during the visits of Charles’s mother. Finally, she managed to extract a word from Rodolphe that they would soon elope, and take Berthe along with them. Emma began to prepare for the journey and made use of Monsieur Lhereux, who had also aided her in finding some excellent souvenirs for Rodolphe. She spent her days fantasizing about her life in some foreign land with Rodolphe, but he kept delaying the date of their departure.
Once they have finally decided on a date, he visits her on the night before they are to leave and asked her to reconsider once again what she was leaving behind. Emma made him promise that he would meet her at the hotel on the following day, and he departed. Rodolphe had already decided that the plan was foolish and that he would not wish to abandon his country just to be saddled with someone else’s child.
He returned home and began to pen a letter of apology for not going through with their plan. He has trouble finding the words and so browsed his collection of souvenirs from all the women to search for memorabilia from his affair with Emma. He writes the letter then and claims that it would be too painful for her and that he’s going to exile because he did not want to ruin her life. He sends the letter the following morning and Emma is immediately filled with foreboding upon receiving the letter. She reads it in the attic, and nearly kills herself but she is called away for lunch. Emma tries to remain calm, but she suffers a violent fit and faints at the sight of Ropholde’s carriage passing by her window as he makes for Rouen. Emma’s health rapidly deteriorates, and she becomes completely bedridden. Charles gives up everything to care for her and ignores all his patients for his sake. She recovers but then suffers another fit when Charles takes her to the arbor, where she had often made love to Rodolphe. The situation wears out Charles’s finances, but he refuses to think of it. He takes a loan from Lheureux without having the means to pay it back.
Charles is rewarded for his care as Emma eventually recovers and she tries to find solace in religion and then charity. The sickness changes her, and her behavior with the family changes. She deals with her child much better and even gets on well with her mother-in-law. Charles tries to cheer her up by taking her to the theatre in Rouen, and she reluctantly accepts the proposal. She’s affected by the performance of the actors, particularly the man, and begins to fantasize about being with him. Charles runs into Leon while he is getting water for Emma, and brings him back to her. They begin to converse but the play resumes, and Leon insists on going out to a cafe, an idea that Emma supports. The three of them talk affectionately about their times together, and Leon offers to escort Emma for another night at the theatre since Charles has to return the following day. Charles is eager for Emma to take Leon up on the offer as he feels that it would be good for her to have some more music, and Emma promises to think about it.
Analysis
This section of the novel focuses on Emma’s relationship with Rodolphe, who is a more experienced suitor than Leon. Rodolphe understands that words of impassioned love are rarely true in affairs, but he uses these concepts to indulge his sexual desires. He is very much like a predator, who recognizes Emma as a potential prey, while her marriage is merely an inconvenience. On the other hand, Leon believes that he experiences deep emotions for Emma, and he is unable to surmount the challenge of her marriage, at least during his time in Yonville. Flaubert’s disdain for Rodolphe and his confession is evident in the scene that takes place during the award-giving ceremony. The narrator shifts back and forth between officials giving speeches, and Rodolphe confessing his love for Emma. This shift in focus continues to accelerate and reaches its peak as the bureaucrats announce the award for the best manure, just as Rodolphe tells Emma that he loves her.
The readers are aware that the affair with Rodolphe will end badly from the very beginning, as they are privy to Rodolphe’s thoughts from the time of his introduction. This is perhaps why it is all the more tragic to watch Emma believe that she loves him and attempt to elope with him. It is not clear whether Emma truly experiences love for him, as it often seems like her elation and passion for her relationship are motivated by Rodolphe’s manipulation and higher social status.
Yet again, we witness Emma’s inability to remain happy for too long with any arrangement as she soon begins to experience guilt over her infidelity. She tries to reclaim her morality by focussing on Charles’s career and practically forces him to maim Hippolyte, the stable hand of the local inn. This incident is significant for two reasons, primarily it reveals Charles’s incompetence and highlights the susceptibly of simple and innocent beings to the evils of pride. Additionally, Hippolyte’s surgery can be seen as an allegory for Emma’s life. She sets out to cure her boredom for marriage, which could be seen as something benign just like Hippolyte’s club foot. In the process of doing so, she ruins her own life as well as that of her loved ones. The author in this way likens Hippolyte’s gangrene to Emma’s adultery.
