Many authors have identified Emma Bovary's self-centered behavior as the key character quality that led to her downfall, and modern analyzes indicate that the lack of Social and educational opportunities are the cause. cause of the decline and death of the eponymous hero of Madame Bovary. However, Gustave Flaubert's incisive and understated narrative provides a simpler, more fundamental explanation for the character's increasing dissociation from reality and the poor decisions he makes as a result. This essay will show that Emma Bovary does not suffer from egocentrism but from a nagging certainty that the lives of others are better than hers and that they experience a happiness that is denied to her. It is this certainty, coupled with a sense of injustice, that motivates every bad decision Emma makes throughout the book. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay For Emma, ​​the proverbial grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. No matter where she goes or what the circumstances of her life are, she is convinced that others are better off. During her years at the convent school, she was allowed to amuse herself by reading French romance novels. These were not the highly sexualized books of today but adventure stories similar to The Three Musketeers. Such novels were based on a gripping plot. Each chapter contained breathtaking drama and excitement. Compared to the daily and relaxed lifestyle of a convent school - and Emma knows no other at the beginning since her father chose to keep her in the convent after the death of her mother - life outside the convent seems full of potential and excitement, especially when she receives letters. of his friends who returned home or got married. Compared to his life, theirs seems happy and exciting. So when her father calls her home to live on the farm, Emma initially feels like her life is about to begin. Once she arrives, her enthusiasm turns to boredom and dissatisfaction as soon as the novelty wears off, and she is left with the question: "Is this all there is?" The pattern repeats itself with her marriage to Charles Bovary and again when she gives birth to her daughter. But instead of finding satisfaction in her daily life with brief periods of excitement for occasional treats, Emma responds to her dissatisfaction by finding a new fence, deciding that the grass is greener on the other side, and making a jump without worrying about the consequences for her. herself or others. If, for whatever reason, things don't go the way she planned, and when she suffers the very predictable consequences of her actions, she breaks down in a way that she feels is consistent with the people she is with. she identifies herself - again without regard to the effect it will have. has relationships with other people. Early in her marriage, Emma is dissatisfied as the wife of a rural health worker, but she feels no need to emulate the other wives in the village. While other middle-class women of that era usually raised chickens, did laundry, rented extra rooms, or looked after other people's children to earn some money, Emma remained idle and read. She subscribes to a circulating library and continues to indulge not only in romance novels, but also in the idea that they somehow represent objective reality. For Emma, ​​fictional heroes and heroines and the worlds they inhabit are real, and their lives are far more exciting than hers. She doeswhat she can to beautify her surroundings and imitate what she interprets as the customs of an upper-class woman. These include having a housekeeper (even though she is young, healthy, and childless), keeping one's nails long and whitened, and spending more than strictly necessary on furniture and decor domestic. Emma's mother-in-law protests against what she interprets as spending behavior. His complaints, although minor, have a factual basis. But they also foreshadow years of compulsive spending which, encouraged by the merchant Lheureux, ends up losing her and Charles everything. An important turning point in the plot occurs when Emma and Charles are invited to a ball at the home of the wealthy Andervilliers family. . This is an annual fall event before the region's wealthiest people leave their country estates and head to Paris or another more comfortable location for the winter. The invitation is a reciprocity for a donation of cherry tree cuttings from Charles: the Marquis d'Andervilliers, present in the area with a member of his cabinet who needs medical care, praises the cherry trees that grow on the property that Charles and Emma inherited from Charles. first wife. Charles graciously sends new cuttings to replace the trees killed by winter on the Andervilliers property. To thank this gift, the Andervilliers family sends Charles and Emma an invitation to their annual ball. The Marquis notes that since Emma does not curtsy like a peasant and is rather pretty, the young couple will not be noticeably out of place in enjoying a unique event that they can later tell their grandchildren about. The couple buys new clothes for the event. But while Charles is simply enjoying the novelty and having a good time, Emma comes to the conclusion that she has somehow been accepted into the upper class. This is not the case. At the Andervilliers ball, Emma sees and experiences things that she only reads about in books. She tastes pineapple for the first time, sees someone passing a message to someone else, listens to people talking about Italy, and eats a formal meal. Yet she misinterprets much of what she experiences, especially when she sees something that seems to contradict what she has read. When this happens, Emma decides that the people around her simply don't know the customs of their own class as well as she does. She takes her theoretical knowledge as proof that she has at least as much right to be part of the clique as the people who actually occupy it. At the table, Emma is shocked to see that many women do not wear their gloves. their wine glasses. What she doesn't realize is that there is a "silent service" communication system that allows diners at a formal event to communicate with servers without interrupting the flow of table conversation. (Some of these signals still exist, but they are not understood by the servers.) The gloves in the wine glass, in Emma's time, were a signal not to serve alcohol at this restaurant in particular, who was usually a woman who was pregnant or trying. to achieve this. The signal was of the same category as placing one's knife at a forty-five degree angle, with the fork crossed on it, tines down, to signal the waiter to remove the plate. After learning from her romance novels what the mannered elite did but not why they did it, Emma hastily concludes that women at the table who simply want a glass of wine with their meal are rude. Emma is also disappointed by the appearance. of his guests. She expects to be surrounded by peopleyoung and beautiful, but since she only came of age a few years ago and the table contains all the upper-class people in the neighborhood, most of the women at the table are older than her. Many are middle-aged or elderly, and therefore look very ordinary to Emma. In addition, they wear models from the previous season or even before. Emma herself paid a lot for a new dress cut in the latest fashion just for the occasion, so she comes to the conclusion that her taste is better than that of the women around her. In reality, the Andervilliers Ball is an annual event: an autumn farewell for the local wealthy and members of the nobility whose families have known each other for generations. Most of the guests go to their winter residence in Paris, where the big fashion houses are located, where the real social season is about to begin and where their new clothes are waiting for them. So they select dresses from their existing wardrobes. The fact that Emma spent money on ordering a new prom dress and dresses just for one evening does not prove her superior taste: it is proof that she did not already own suitable clothes. She would have demonstrated more know-how by buying gently used clothes in Rouen and having them altered: at least the clothes would have been of the right season and not visibly new. Emma's most potentially embarrassing gaffe is when she waltzes. with the viscount. The handsome, wealthy bachelor is the highest-ranking man in attendance and has danced with Emma several times. In the Emma novels, dancing two or even three times with the same woman demonstrates romantic interest. However, when she manages to tangle the skirt of her dress in her legs and briefly places her head on his chest, he does not respond to the request. Instead of seducing her, he directs her to a bench and dances with someone else, unaware that Emma has just identified him as her new romantic and sexual ideal. She makes up all sorts of stories about how the cigar case with her coat of arms should have been a gift from a mistress. The Viscount – or at least Emma's impression of him at the ball – is the kind of man Emma decides she could really fall in love with. From that moment on, she has a new romantic ideal, a secret fantasy with which her husband Charles cannot compete. She's not bothered at all by the waltzing fiasco; it's a mark of her lack of sophistication that she doesn't think she should be. For Emma, ​​at the ball, it seems like everything in her romance novels is coming to life. She feels like she's finally starting to live because she personally feels the happiness and excitement she's heard about. She looks at the peasants and employees looking out the window and thinks that even though she was born among them, she has finally found the place where she truly belongs. This extreme joy and satisfaction is an emotional high point for her. But she doesn't realize that it's also a highlight for the other people at the ball. Even among the wealthy elite, once the party is over, it's time to go home. She doesn't understand that even for the rich, life must return to normal. Emma expects, because of what she has read, that this group of people will move from one exciting experience to another. So, the next morning, when people are offered a light brunch before leaving, Emma is surprised to find that the hosts do not serve champagne to accompany the meal. In Emma's mind, she is accepted, forever, as a member of the social elite. So, when she returns to her country house with its magnificent cherry trees, she compares it to the Andervilliers mansion and finds itdefects. In fact, everything, including Charles, suddenly becomes inadequate. She fires the elderly maid Nastasie, who faithfully served Charles's first wife and who kept Charles's house after the lady's death, because Nastasie does not display the formal, subservient behavior that Emma believes him to have seen at the ball. Yet among the bourgeois class of the time, women Emma's age rarely employed servants, unless they were ill or busy with children or a family business. Additionally, the servants people had were usually poorer relatives or family friends who helped them in exchange for food, shelter, and some money. When Nastasie didn't prepare dinner when she arrived, Emma scolds her. When she responds to Emma as if speaking to the social equal she is, Emma throws a tantrum and fires Nastasie on the spot. To replace her, Emma hires a young girl who can be taught to always say "ma'am", to bring Emma a glass of water on a tray instead of just handing it to her, and to do the cleaning and cleaning. cooking while Emma enjoys uninterrupted free time. This turns out to be a financially stupid idea: the new servant steals it. After the ball, Emma remembers it, talks about it constantly, and apes some of the outward habits and expectations of the people she saw there, alienating the local women. in the process. She studies Italian, reads different magazines and buys an expensive desk. But instead of writing a thank you note to the hostess, and instead of sending letters to some of the other guests asking how to return the Viscount's lost cigar case, activities which would have been normal and natural among the of Andervilliers. social circle – she decides she has no one to write to. This prevents her from forming the social connections she will need to participate in her new group. Aside from her beauty and manners, Emma has very little to offer the upper-class families she now seeks to socialize with. She is not able, for example, to respond to Andervilliers' invitation by organizing a ball and inviting the people who entertained her. She also cannot provide artistic or intellectual stimulation: she has not traveled abroad, she knows how to play the piano but does not have great musical skills, she is not well educated and she does not nor does she demonstrate the kind of conversational skill that is valuable to a hostess. . In fact, the text doesn't show her engaging in conversation with anyone. Thus, Emma does not develop any social or emotional bonds with her hosts or with any of the other guests. In fact, it's a minor nuisance. Her fainting causes her host to order a window broken so she can breathe, and she laughs at herself on the dance floor. This, coupled with her lack of polite correspondence with the d'Andervilliers family, ensures that there is no reason to invite her and Charles again. Unlike a true social climber like Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair, who never went to a party without trying to befriend as many of the other attendees as possible, Emma doesn't consolidate her new social contacts. So when she isn't invited the following year, it doesn't surprise the reader but it's a horrible shock to Emma, ​​who finds a large metaphorical barrier between her and the green pasture where she thinks she belongs. So she does what any romantic heroine would do: she breaks down and refuses to tell anyone what's wrong. Emma begins to emerge from her expectation-induced depression when Charles sells his profitable practice in Tostes and buys one in another towncalled Yonville. It's not the change of scenery that intrigues him: it's a young clerk named Léon. He introduces her to poetry, which allows for the expression of far more sublime extremes of human experience than Emma's novels. Emma decides that she has a "noble soul" and is therefore a more sensitive and refined creature than the others around her. So she begins to do things she believes are appropriate for a noble and poetic soul: she is devastated at having given birth to a girl instead of a boy through whom she could live vicariously, and entrusts the baby to a nanny at the first opportunity. She also cultivates a platonic but intense emotional attachment to Léon which includes the gift of an expensive mattress topper. She notices that he is in love with her, or at least attracted to her, and they have what in modern times would be called an "emotional affair". Fantasizing about life on the other side of the fence, Emma compares her husband to the fading image of the waltzing viscount, the young and intelligent Léon and the exaggerated romantic ideals she reads in his poetry. Charles now appears to Emma to be mediocre, somewhat disgusting and completely inadequate. She begins to do little things to improve him: insisting that he wear gloves and being fussy about his appearance. Charles, naively, believes that Emma does these things out of love for him. In fact, she is becoming more and more frustrated. She soothes his feelings by behaving like any virtuous heroine in a cycle of sonnets: she and Léon exchange long, lingering glances and subtle allusions. She gives him a sumptuous gift in the form of a feather bed, encouraging and discouraging him in turn. But instead of reacting like a poetic suitor and pursuing her for years or risking his life for his Heroes and Leander style, Leon leaves town. Shocked, Emma collapses again. This emotional overreaction, which now becomes Emma's standard response to disappointment, is consistent with what Tennyson's Lady of the Shallot or any other tragic poetic heroine might do. Emma's next glance across the fence comes when the wealthy Rodolphe Boulanger decides to introduce her to horse riding and adultery. He accomplishes the latter with a series of dramatic sighs, references to his misfortune, and a conveniently placed shelter when they are both caught in the rain. The initial seduction accomplished, Emma assumes her new identity as an adulterer and begins to act out all possible dramatic excesses. She does everything she believes an adulterous woman should do: she dresses outrageously in a man's vest, she smokes cigars in public, and her speech and facial expressions become more direct in a sexual manner. . It does not avoid speculation or discovery; in fact, she invites him because she wants drama. She takes risks, exchanges love letters with Rodolphe and travels the countryside to surprise him in the morning. She begins spending more than she should on cosmetics, lemons to bleach her nails, and gifts for men that never seem to be worn or used by Charles. Little by little, she ruins her reputation in Yonville: we are convinced that she is having an affair with a rich man, but we do not know with whom. She even brings Rodolphe into her home in the presence of Charles, asking Rodolphe if he has a pistol to “protect” her against her husband. Rodolphe, for his part, has no reason to hate Charles, let alone shoot him, and he finds Emma's suggestion ridiculous. Sensibly, he conducts his affair with Emma the same way he did with his other adventures. He doesn't buy Emma lavish gifts for fear they will reveal evidence. But he is more than willing toaccepting the cigar case, the silver-handled cane and the other treats Emma buys him. In Emma's mind, she pieces together her fantastical story in which the Viscount receives gifts from his rich and indulgent mistress. It is the gifts for Rodolphe, as well as other expenses for clothes and perfumes that she cannot afford, that begin to put Emma into debt. She buys on credit from the merchant Lheureux, who has a habit of encouraging people to accumulate debt only to sell the notes at a profit and cause bankruptcy. The affair lasts four years, during which Emma becomes bored. She raises the excitement level in several ways, such as having Rodolphe enter the house at night while Charles is present - she asks Rodolphe if he has a gun to protect her from Charles' wrath if they are caught, which Rodolphe finds ridiculous - but she eventually discovers that adultery can be as dull and boring as marriage. So she looks for another, greener pasture, and she finds it: she wants to marry, but not with Charles. As a result, she and Rodolphe plan to run away and live happily in an obscure village somewhere as husband and wife. Rodolphe thinks it's a fantasy, but Emma is making secret preparations. She buys travel trunks and a new wardrobe from Lheureux, all on credit. On the day of the planned departure, Rodolphe comes to his senses and leaves the city, sending Emma a farewell note in a basket of apricots. Emma – as expected at this point – breaks down again. As usual, Emma doesn't recover until she finds a new way to identify with herself. She turns to religion, spends a small fortune on a prie-dieu and considers herself the quintessence of the repentant Mary Magdalene. She likes to do a pious act, but she ends up receiving less attention from the village priest and the other nuns. She does not feel the great emotional passion of famous saints and sinners, she does not feel great religious ecstasy, and quiet contemplation and meditation on the divine proves boring when no one is looking at her. So his familiar “is-this-is-all-there” feeling reappears. Charles takes him to Rouen to consult one of his former mentors and meets not only his enemy Homais but also Léon. On Homais' advice, Charles buys opera tickets. This is another key turning point that is often overlooked by critics. Yet it is as vital to Emma's character development as the Andervilliers Ball. Opera is an art form that capitalizes on exaggerated dramatic emotion expressed through music. Every aspect of a character's feelings, thoughts, and living spiritual essence is condensed into song and channeled – with appropriate orchestral support – through the world's only perfect medium of expression. This medium is of course the human voice. Even heavy metal doesn't bring as much drama (although the costumes tend to be similar and it's just as difficult to understand the lyrics). Emotional extremes don't get any greater than on the opera stage. So when Emma is exposed at the opera, it affects her even though she tries to hide it. It doesn't help that author Flaubert chose to cast Emma in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, which is one of the most exaggerated and extravagant gothic tragedies ever staged. Lucia di Lammermoor is based on The Bride of Lammermoor by Sir Walter Scott. , one of the novelists whose work Emma devoured in her youth. In the story, the heroine Lucy is deceived and trapped in a loveless marriage. She goes crazy, murders her unwanted husband, then commits suicide. The main role,. 1847-1848.