Prostitution In A Simple Heart By Gustave Flaubert

At the end of the nineteenth century artist, authors, and composers threatened the status quo with their different art forms. Artist were no longer worried about having their art in the salons; instead artist, like Manet, were taking a new approach as flâneur observers. Art was scandalous, avant-garde, and concerned with the mundane (everyday). The world was beginning to modernize, with new ways of transportation and the rise in consumerism. The mundane was becoming important to people, not only in the art world but in literature as well. In “A Simple Heart” by Gustave Flaubert, a story of a modest housekeeper’s life and death. No extravagant life just an everyday person you would observe passing you on the street. The importance of the mundane

was very popular in the Realism era; it no longer focused on the magnificent royals or outstanding beauty, it was just natural. The idea of subverting the status quo would carry into the beginning of the twentieth century with the Impressionism era. Composers, like Claude Debussy, broke all the music rules when it came to harmony, tone, and rhythm; some may call it complete chaos. Challenging the status quo is truly a creative risk these artists took; even though it was not well accepted at first, their names would forever go down in history as revolutionaries in the arts.
The salons of 1848 contained art that was worthy of judgment, but many of the artists of this time did not care if their art was worthy; instead they were flâneur, observers that are critical of the world around them.

Manet’s Olympia (Fig. 1) was a scandalous piece of art that exposed the bourgeoisie use of prostitutes. It shows a woman that is naked, which at first seems to be the scandal, but when you examine it you see details that point to prostitution. In addition, this piece closely resembles Titian’s Venus of Urbino (Fig. 2), but it is in the details where we see the different message of being a flâneur of the times. Prostitution dates back much farther than the nineteenth century, but at this time it became much more a part of everyday life. Manet’s Olympia and is modeled after Titian’s Venus of Urbino. Both paintings contain a nude woman lying on a bed with a pet at her feet and a servant in the background. The similarities between the two works, however, are not as essential as the differences. Titian’s painting is almost goddess like, as if the woman is outside of the audience’s world. Olympia on the other hand is stiff, wearing heels and a choker, as well as the kimono on the bed point to the modern fashion. Unlike Venus, Olympia is a real person that the viewer is confronted with on a daily basis. By making Olympia realistic, rather than ideal, Manet expressed the idea that prostitutes were no longer hidden from society; rather, they were a ‘business’

happening in the streets from his objective point of view. Manet depicts the woman looking directly at her potential buyers, the audience. With the piece being so similar to Titian’s, it is a subtle way of criticizing the social and economic world he lived in; because it is the little details like the flowers, heels, chocker, and kimono that are being flâneur.
While Manet was a flâneur of the mundane, artist like Gustave Flaubert were observes of the mundane. In his short story “A Simple Heart” he tells the life story of Félicité a house keeper to Madame Aubain. The piece is an objective and accurate representation of the middle class life. Madame Aubain is a widow, with two children and debts left by her husband. She moves into a small house, that Flaubert goes into great detail about, and hires Félicité as the ‘cook and general servant,” she did the “ sewing, washing, and ironing” and could also “bridle a horse, fatten poultry, and churn butter” (Flaubert 105). It was by no means a glamorous life, but she “had her love-story like another” (107). That line is what took the simple life of house chores to something bigger, this is the mundane. Flaubert is conveying that even daily life is important; from the cooking to the washing Félicité lived a meaningful life. The story was simple; Félicité was a housekeeper, and when Madame died, she took over the house until she died. She had felt the pain of losing her nephew, love for her pet Perrot, and had found meaning in life through church and God. She even had moments “filled with tears” when Madame Aubain “opened her arms” so that she could embrace Félicité and “satisfy their grief in a kiss that made them equal” (135). This was a moment when Madame understood that it did not matter that Félicité was lower class, then her, did not have a husband, kids or a home, because in that moment she knew they were equals. They both had a life story of love, loss, and grief. The message that you do not have to be of royal birth or rich to have a life story worth telling. Flaubert observed that people he walked by everyday had a story. No matter how simple or chaotic there was a story of meaning. “A Simple Heart” is a subtle story, not dramatized like Racine’s Phaedra, which represented the Realism era; the truth and reality of everyday life.
Being a flâneur or subverting the status quo would carry into the beginning of the twentieth century with the Impressionism era.

Claude Debussy, broke all the music rules when it came to harmony, tone, and rhythm; some may call it complete chaos. Debussy composed music for Stephane Mallarmé poem called, Prelude to “Afternoon of a Faun”. Mallarmé describes a faun’s, half man and half goat, sexual encounter or imagination with nymphs. This piece of program music evokes a mood of not knowing the effects of memory. Debussy opens with a flute solo that begins to create a sense of musical uncertainty. Mallarmé faun’s uncertainty about his experience, the flute melody subtly subverts artistic harmonic principles. Debussy maintains in the Prelude to “The Afternoon of a Faun” with chords that do not resolve, leaving the audience unsure where the music is going next. The creativity of Debussy’s nonfunctional tonality, non-tonal scales, parallel cord movements, and floating rhythm was difficult to appreciate; the audience was left puzzled, this was his goal as a seminal composer to subvert the status quo. Debussy’s flute aroused music into the modern

era.
The modern era that we are living in now has many different styles and Debussy was one of the artist that planted the seed of change. If I were to subvert the status quo I would do it with drama and art. I would use the internet, which occupies our daily lives, to put together a collage to subvert the government that allows abortion. I would use images to compose a piece that represents the life of a woman that does not care for her child. When a woman smokes and drinks while pregnant is no different than abortion because it brings intentional harm to the baby. I would show a woman in a club partying as if nothing was wrong. Below her I would show what she has done with a doctor, or the pill, and how her friend does not even know. Woman who do have abortions typically do not tell others that they were even pregnant or they will lie and say they loss the baby. Woman do have grief after an abortions; this is expected because they are now murders. They must put on a mask to hide their shame but some of us see through this mask. However, even though one may see the murder they do nothing about it. I want to subvert this crime against humanity; I want to create art that screams murder at the world. I will expose the truth of the people that believe this is a choice. When a woman is blessed with a baby they do not have a choice as long as the baby is inside them. Once they give birth they can give up the baby for adoption because there are so many people that would love to have a newborn. The purpose of my art would bring out of the darkness the reality of abortion; it is pain and murder and the public and the government need to know the truth.
The truth is what so many of the artist wanted to convey at the turn of the century. At the end of the nineteenth century artist, authors, and composers threatened the status quo with their different art forms. The world was beginning to modernize, with new ways of transportation and the rise in consumerism. The mundane was important. In the Realism era; it no longer focused on the magnificent royals or outstanding beauty, it was just natural. The idea of subverting the status quo would carry into the beginning of the twentieth century with the Impressionism era. Composers, like Claude Debussy, broke all the music rules when it came to harmony, tone, and rhythm; some may call it complete chaos. Challenging the status quo is truly a creative risk these artists took; even though it was not well accepted at first, their names would forever go down in history as revolutionaries in the arts.