Madame Bovary Passage Commentary - Chapter 1

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Madame Bovary Passage Commentary

Chapter 1: Pages 54-59

This passage from Part 1 presents a side of Emma in which all is revealed. After having recalled the events of the ball, she indulges in reliving the moment with the Viscount and contemplates what might have happened. She imagines that the cigar case belonged to the Viscount and that he is in Paris where he pursues a life of excitement and intrigue. She visualises walking through the streets and shopping in Paris and this causes her to subscribe to magazines from Paris. From the beginning of the novel, Flaubert portrays Emma as immature. She is constantly frustrated and longing for a different life. She refuses to accept the way her life is and we see that throughout the whole novel, she does not change.

From this passage, we see that Charles accepts everything at face value. He is humble, free of temptations and without aspirations. He is Emma’s opposite. Whilst Emma spends her day in fantasy, Charles is out “in the rain and snow”, eating “omelettes at farmhouse tables”, living a real life. We learn that Charles is good at his “trade” when he pulls teeth; he has “a devil of a grip”. Charles has a reputation for this in the countryside and among the country folk; however Emma does not appreciate this. She wanted a husband, “one of those ardent taciturn men who work at their books all night”. Emma also wanted the name Bovary “to be famous, to see it displayed in the book-shops, quoted in the newspapers, known all over France.” After his day, Charles comes home to a “blazing fire...an elegant woman, delectable and fragrant, with a quite mysterious perfume, from her skin perhaps, scenting her skirts”, a complete reversal to the practical realities of his day. Flaubert’s depiction of the daily activities and Charles and Emma focuses on Emma’s dissatisfaction.

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After subscribing to the Parisian magazines, “she devoured every single word”. The more connections she is able to make with Paris, the less association she has with Charles. “Even at the table, she had her book with her, and she would be turning the pages, while Charles was eating and talking to her”. Once again she physically rejects Charles. She uses the Viscount as her link from the pages of the magazines to Parisian society. The Viscount made that life, seem almost obtainable;” She wanted equally to die and to live in Paris”. “She yearned to travel or to go back ...

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