Personal Response to Madame Bovary in Part two:
The beginning of part two in Madame Bovary marks the “inauguration of a new phase”(79) in Emma’s life as they move to Yonville. She starts out full of ambition, the excitement of meeting new people, the adventure of visiting new places and the possibility of finally fulfilling her romantic fantasies. However, this soon deteriorates and this downfall can be seen reflected on Emma’s overall character. We see how Emma firstly declines emotionally, then physically and finally spiritually as the book progresses as a cause to her lovers: Leon and Rodoloph.
Emma is happy and healthy when she arrives and she sparks an immediate attraction, at dinner, towards Leon. She discovers they have common romantic ideals like, when reading books, Leon says he comes across a “vague idea, some blurred image that just spells out your finest feelings” (78) to which Emma responds “Oh yes that is true!”(78) also similar interests like “an evening by the fire with a book”(77) and “go to live in Paris.” (77). Then Berthe is born which brings her back down to realty, as “she wanted a son” (82) and the idea that she can never get what she wants springs back into her mind making her emotionally unstable. She is so in love with Leon and wants be with him that she “would have liked Charles to beat her, so that she might detest him and take her revenge.”(101) These crazy fantasies guided by such a strong desire for Leon that when she cant have him she directs all her hatred and anger towards the close people around her, like when looking at Berthe saying “this child is so ugly” (107) and when the innocent baby wants to play with her mother she pushes her away saying “leave me alone!”(107) Then when “her only hope for happiness” leaves unexpectedly to Paris, her dream, all these mixed emotions of hatred turn into ones of “melancholy” and “deep sorrow” (115). Flaubert uses a clever metaphor of a “fire burning in the snow” to represent Emma’s happiness in life but as much as she tries to keep it lit, it fades away and “black night was all about her.”
