Clara and Esteban’s differences cause them to become emotionally isolated from each other. She is off in her own world of spirits and ghosts, and after Esteban hits her she never speaks to him again. Clara is generally absentminded around Esteban. No matter what gift he gives her, she will only remark “how lovely.” Though he knows his wife’s views, his unwillingness to be open to her keeps him out of her world.
Charles and Emma’s relationship is similar to that of Clara and Esteban’s. Charles is dull and unromantic. Daily he follows the same routine, happy and content, never wanting more out of life: “Charles's conversation was commonplace as a street pavement, and everyone's ideas trooped through it in their everyday garb, without exciting emotion, laughter, or thought. He had never had the curiosity, he said, while he lived at Rouen, to go to the theatre to see the actors from Paris”(Flaubert 81).
Flaubert, like Allende, characterizes his female protagonist as the opposite of her dull husband. She is passionate and exciting. Emma’s romanticism originates from romantic books she read while attending a Catholic school. Later Emma’s romanticism grows with her visit to the Chateau, where she sees the life of the rich. At the ball, she becomes bored with Charles and tries to escape her dull life. Soon she begins her adventures with her lovers Rodolphe and Leon. The differences between Charles and Emma, as with Esteban and Clara, raise a gap between them. Madame Bovary thinks little of Charles: “His cap was drawn down over his eyebrows, and his two thick lips were trembling, which added a look of stupidity to his face; his very back, his calm back, was irritating to behold, and she saw written upon his coat all the platitude of the bearer”(Flaubert 72). Throughout the novel Emma grows increasingly distant from Charles. His inability to see Emma’s desire to be romantic keeps Charles out of her world. However, unlike Esteban, Charles is never aware of her unhappiness until Emma dies, explaining his quicker change after her death.
Forced to face the reality of their wives’ deaths, Charles and Esteban begin to change. The impact that the wives had on their husbands while they were alive is mirrored in the reactions to their deaths. Upon Emma’s death “Charles flung himself upon her, crying”(Flaubert 238), and afterward he was “weaker than a child”(Flaubert 238). In memory of Emma “Charles decided in favor of a mausoleum, whose two principal sides were to be decorated with ‘a spirit bearing an extinguished torch’”(Flaubert 253). Esteban parallels Charles in his actions. After Clara’s death he, like Charles, tries to be close to her once more: “The night she died I locked myself in the room with her”(Allende 292). Furthermore, he wears mourning attire for the rest of his life, as Charles similarly mourned for Emma the rest of his life. Esteban buys a grand memorial, like Emma’s, for Clara: “the most fitting, most luxurious mausoleum in the world. It would be of salmon colored Italian marble, with statues…”(Allende 295). The strong reactions, long mourning, and the grand mausoleums presage later changes Charles and Esteban undergo to become in their grief, ironically what their wives had wanted.
The legacies of Emma and Clara are shown through the effects they had on their husbands, allowing each author to present important themes. Flaubert shows how romanticism leads to destruction, and Allende depicts hope the future will “break that terrible chain”(Allende 432) of hatred. Emma’s romanticism results in her own death and Charles’s eventual destruction. Charles aspires to be what he could not be for Emma while she was alive. After Emma’s death Charles aspires to be what he could not be for Emma while she was alive by giving up his job to rummage through Emma’s belongings and romanticize about her: “He would never consent to let the smallest of the things that had belonged to her be sold. His mother was exasperated with him…He was a changed man”(Flaubert 249). Immediately after Emma dies, “Charles lay[s] awake, never ceasing to think of her”(Flaubert 248). Charles is drawn into illusion through his wife’s death as she was drawn in through the books she read. Therefore, neither Emma nor Charles leaves a lasting legacy.
As Flaubert focused on Emma, Allende focuses on Clara and shows the effects of her life on other people. Esteban, analogous to Charles, begins to strive for what he was not when Clara was alive when she dies. He, too, becomes obsessed with the memory of his wife: “I wanted to die as soon as possible, because life without my wife had lost all meaning for me”(Allende 295). After Clara’s death, he slowly begins to change. He begins to see Clara’s ghost, seemingly urging Esteban to do the right thing. His first step is to have doubts about the military coup that promoted a fascist regime and destroyed the socialism Esteban had always disliked: “Deep down I wasn’t so sure. I had a feeling things weren’t turning out the way we had planned and that the situation was slipping away from me”(Allende 375). Then after he finds out Jaime is dead, he “begin[s] to speak of tyranny”(Allende 376). His decision to speak against the regime is due, in part, because Jaime reminds Esteban of Clara, for he tried to call him with his mind the way “he used to call for Clara”(Allende 376). Esteban finally does as Clara would have done by feeding the beggars outside his door, and also helping Pedro Tercero Garcia, whom he had hated when Clara was alive, escape with his daughter. The slow progression of Esteban towards change mirrors Clara’s legacy, which will last for generations.
One of the most telling aspects of each of the men’s changes is their progeny. Their daughter and granddaughter show the type of fathers they are. Berthe must work in a cotton-mill to earn a living because of Charles’s money problems after Emma dies. She will live her life in oblivion, as her mother died. Alba’s fate is different from Berthe’s. Alba turns out to have a bright future because of the help Esteban provides being a role model and getting her out of imprisonment. Alba goes on to write the legacy of her family giving hope to the future as her mother did.
Each author structures his novel to reflect his theme. Flaubert places Emma’s death scene at the end of the novel. His graphic depiction is the foolish culmination of all her romantic ideals. In the two final chapters, Flaubert shows the quick demise of Charles and the bleak future of Berthe and the impossibility of trying to break the confines of reality through romantic aspirations. Allende, however, places the death scene in the middle of the novel showing instead the lasting effects of Clara’s love on those around her. The reader sees Esteban’s transformation, Alba’s strength and reliability, and most importantly, the idea that love is a more powerful enduring force than hatred.
Works Cited
Allende, Isabel. The House of the Spirits. Translator: Magda Bogin. United States: Dell Publishing Company, 1993.
Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Translator: Paul De Man. United States: Norton and Company, Inc., 1965
