An analysis of Homais in Madame Bovary

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Wilf

0985072

Nabil Wilf

0985072

Campbell High School

World Literature Paper 2

Word Count: 1619        -45

An analysis of Homais in Madame Bovary

        Flaubert’s Madame Bovary presents the effects of a woman’s destructive desires on the society around her.  From the beginning of Emma’s entrance into the novel it is clear that she is obsessed with romance.  Her marriage to Charles Bovary does nothing to satisfy those desires.  Throughout the novel, Emma is disillusioned by her ultimate dream of style, love, and nobility.  When it is clear to Emma that Charles is too dense to realize her unhappiness, she turns twice to adultery to satisfy her romantic desires and obsessions.  She becomes ruthless in her endeavors, harming anybody and anything in her path toward nobility.  She secretly leeches upon Charles to finance her dreams and drives him into poverty.  By the end, Emma commits suicide to save face and to avoid a life of poverty.  Flaubert is a master at using motifs and minor characters to delineate the different castes of society and Emma’s subsequent struggle for greatness in nobility.  In particular, Flaubert uses the trite Homais to symbolize the bourgeoisie, to represent the male counterpart of Emma, and to achieve what Emma could not.

        Flaubert’s contempt and ridicule for the bourgeoisie are embodied in the apothecary’s uncaring and ambitious attitude.  Homais’s ambition is first traceable when he argues with the priest over the morality of going to the theater and reading literature such as Voltaire.  In order to claim complete victory, the pharmacist jabs the clergyman about priests who go see dancing girls.  After the priest leaves, he turns to Charles and tells him how he won the battle over the clergyman: “That’s what I call a real argument! Did you see how I won!” (212; pt. 2, ch. 14).  Flaubert ridicules the bourgeoisie by portraying Homais as a man who cares about the most trivial things.  His intent to win the argument causes him to disgrace the priest, a classic example of the ruthless attitude that Flaubert detests.  Homais’s drive toward success becomes extremely apparent near the end of the novel.  He is a content father and a successful pharmacist, but he feels the need to obtain the Legion of Honor as a sign of nobility: “He was the happiest of fathers, the most fortunate of men.  But a secret ambition was gnawing at him.  Homais wanted the cross of the Legion of Honor.” (320; pt. 3, ch. 10).  Even though Homais has achieved what some men dream of, the apothecary can never be satisfied until his ambitions are appeased.  Through Homais, Flaubert derides the bourgeoisie’s aspirations toward nobility.

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        Closely linked to his ambition is the pharmacist’s uncaring attitude.  Homais’s indifference toward other people is first noticeable in his involvement in the clubfoot incident.  So that he might become famous and elevate his position in society, he tricks Hippolyte into having a useless operation.  When Hippolyte’s foot becomes gangrenous from the operation, a doctor is summoned to amputate his leg and who then reproaches an apathetic Homais for concocting the clubfoot operation.  During the doctor’s speech, Homais can only think about himself and his business: “Homais suffered as he listened to this speech, hiding his discomfort under an obsequious ...

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