Selfishness and Misguided Views in Madame Bovary

1969 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Human selfishness

Selfishness and Misguided Views in Madame Bovary

The majority of Gustave Flaubert's 1857 classic novel, Madame Bovary , tells of the marriage and two adulterous affairs of one lady, Madame Emma Bovary. Emma, believing she is in love, agrees to marry the widower doctor who heals her father's broken leg. This doctor, Charles Bovary, Jr., is completely in love with Emma. However, Emma finds she must have been mistaken in her love, for the "happiness that should have followed this love" (44) has not come. Emma is misguided in her beliefs on the meaning of love and happiness. It is also apparent that she considers herself more important than anyone connected with her, including her husband, her daughter, and her two lovers. Emma's misguided views and selfishness clearly deny her the happiness to which she feels she is entitled.

Madame Bovary begins revealing how she is denied happiness not long after she and Charles are married. A controlling thought resounds in Madame Bovary's mind: " 'Good heavens! why did I marry?' " (58). Emma refuses the happiness Charles offers, despite--or perhaps in spite--of his deep devotion to his wife, and wills herself to separate from her husband. She wonders "if by some other chance combination it would not have been possible to meet another man; and she tried to imagine what would have been these unrealized events, this different life, this unknown husband" (58). Madame Bovary, her loving husband's lack of qualities in mind, instead wants for a "handsome, witty, distinguished, attractive" (58) lover. Assuming this is the version of lover to whom her childhood friends are now married, Emma is also consumed with jealousy.

At the ball at Vaubyessard, Emma ridicules Charles when h...

... middle of paper ...

...al touches; and finally upon the soles of the feet, so swift of yore, when she was running to satisfy her desires, and that would now walk no more" (419).

Madame Bovary selfishly leaves her husband and daughter to suffer in the poverty that she has caused. She has never loved the two people whom she should have loved most--the two people who did love her most. Happiness will be prevented when selfishness and misguided views are present. Instead of longing for things that one cannot have and emotions that are simply unattainable, one should glory in the love of the family and friends one has, and enjoy whatever objects one may attain. Only then may one find the true happiness that one's soul longs after.

Works Cited

Flaubert, Gustave. The World's Great Classics: Madame Bovary . Translated from French by Eleanor Marx-Aveling. New York: Grolier Incorporated, n. d.

Show More
Related

  • Superego In The Crucible

    607 Words  | 2 Pages

    While Abby, a wild, pleasure seeking character, embodies the id, John Proctor, a practical man, represents the ego. Even though he committed adultery with Abby once before, he refuses to give into her again. "Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I‘ll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind—we never touched, Abby" (Miller). By committing adultery, Proctor shows his willingness to give into his passions. However by refusing Abby’s advances, he shows his control and restraint. Freud calls this the “reality principle.” McLeod’s article continues to elaborate this by describing the reality principle as “working out realistic ways of satisfying the id’s demands” (McLeod). Proctor symbolizes the ego due to his realistic

    Read More

  • The True Meaning of Separation of Church and State’ by Bill Flax

    1748 Words  | 4 Pages

    Religion has always been a topic that makes people uncomfortable, it has sparked wars, legal cases and arguments. This is a controversial issue that reigns havoc in many countries and because of this American citizens are afforded religious freedom through the US constitution. The goal of the United States government has never been to make our nation irreligious but to uphold the values of religious freedom.

    Read More

  • The Separation of Church and State in America

    2190 Words  | 5 Pages

    "Prayer has been banished from schools and the ACLU rampages to remove “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. Moreover, “Separation of Church and State” is nowhere found in the Constitution or any other founding legislation. Our forefathers would never countenance the restrictions on religion exacted today." -- Bill Flax, Forbes, 2011

    Read More

  • Theme Of The Chrysanthemums And The Yellow Wallpaper

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Said he, ‘I beg of you, for my sake and for our child’s sake,as well as for your own, that you will never for one instant let that idea enter your mind!’”(Gilman, 774) shows John begging her to withhold all feelings to save herself, him, and their child from any further pain. This suppression of feeling caused the mental confinement that the narrator felt. He hadn’t known in asking her to do so, it would cause such a reaction. While, Brently Mallard’s consistent pressure of being a perfect wife on Mrs. Mallard caused her conflicting ideas on his death as her being set free. “And yet she had loved him-sometimes. Often she had not.” (Chopin, 785) shows Mrs. Mallard's rethinking of her feelings towards her husband. The release of pressure caused by her husband death caused her to rethink and find her true feelings towards him. Mr. Mallard had unknowingly applied this pressure upon his wife because it was simply what he had always thought a woman should be which is learned from society. Meanwhile, Henry Allen consistently ridicules and rejects Elisa’s ideas of breaking free of the set standards of what a woman should be not knowing the effects it had on her. “Oh, sure, some. What’s the matter, Elisa? Do you want to

    Read More

  • St. Benedict

    1293 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...he centuries following them, they did not work nearly as hard, or did they suffer the same sacrifice and separation from materialistic possessions and luxuries. The church and congregation itself also underwent a dramatic change. The church progressed with the times to be not only a powerful institution religiously, but also politically, economically and also socially. With this rise in power in many different areas besides religion came the involvement in many different areas in society. These ties in society created involvement in the “City of the World” which took away from aspects of the “City of God.”

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Gustave Flaubert and Madame Bovary

    1428 Words  | 3 Pages

    to abide by it.  In the novel, Emma meets a pitiful doctor named Charles Bovary.

    Read More

  • Reality vs. Imagination in Emma Bovary's Predicament

    3641 Words  | 8 Pages

    Madame Bovary, a novel by Gustave Flaubert, describes life in the provinces. While depicting the provincial manners, customs, codes and norms, the novel puts great emphasis on its protagonist, Emma Bovary who is a representative of a provincial woman. Concerning the fundamental typicality in Emma Bovary’s story, Flaubert points out: “My poor Bovary is no doubt suffering and weeping at this very moment in twenty French villages at once.” (Heath, 54). Yet, Emma Bovary’s story emerges as a result of her difference from the rest of the society she lives in. She is in conflict with her mediocre and tedious surroundings in respect of the responses she makes to the world she lives in. Among the three basic responses made by human beings, Emma’s response is “dreaming of an impossible absolute” while others around her “unquestionably accept things as they are” or “coldly and practically profiteer from whatever circumstances they meet.” (Fairlie, 33). However, Emma’s pursuit of ideals which leads to the imagining of passion, luxury and ecstasy prevents her from seeing the world in a realistic perspective or causes her to confuse reality and imagination with each other.

    Read More

  • Emma by Jane Austen

    2037 Words  | 5 Pages

    Emma Woodhouse: Emma is the main character of the novel. She is a beautiful, smart, and wealthy 21-year-old woman. Because of her admired qualities, Emma is a little conceited. She is the daughter of Henry Woodhouse. Since her mother has died, Emma has taken the role of taking care of her father, who is old and often sick. Because she feels she is obligated to stay by his side, Emma decides not to marry. Emma believes that she is a good matchmaker, and tries to put together several couples throughout the novel. Emma believes that social classes are very important and refuses to see anyone cross over to marry someone lesser than themselves In chapter 8-page 52, Emma is talking about Harriet’s situation with the farmer with Mr. Knightley. She says, “Mr. Martin is a very respectable young man, but I cannot admit him to be Harriet’s equal. As the novel progresses, Emma becomes more mature, and realizes how silly she had been in the past. In the end, she finally stops matchmaking others and marries Mr. Knightley, who was perfect for her all along.

    Read More

  • The Episcopal Church

    583 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Episcopal Church was founded in the 16th century during the Protestant Reformation on the belief to spread Christianity and worship . The Episcopal church originated from the Church of England that modeled much of it’s religious beliefs from the Roman Catholic Church. Episcopalians (followers of the Episcopal Church) refer to their religion as “Protestant, yet Catholic,” (Wikipedia). I had the privilege to interview one of my teachers from middle school, Erin Havens. She grew up as a conservative Episcopalian, and described that experience as being almost identical to, “The way the Roman Catholics hold their masses, holidays and how they practice their beliefs,” (Havens). Which is true, because most of the modeling of the faith is role modeled after the Catholic Church other than some key differences.

    Read More

  • Lacanian Desire: Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary

    2244 Words  | 5 Pages

    Madame Bovary is Gustave Flaubert’s first novel and is considered his masterpiece. It has been studied from various angles by the critics. Some study it as a realistic novel of the nineteenth century rooted in its social milieu. There are other critics who have studied it as a satire of romantic sensibility. It is simply assumed that Emma Bovary, the protagonist, embodied naive dreams and empty cliché that author wishes to ridicule, as excesses and mannerisms of romanticism. She is seen as a romantic idealist trapped in a mundane mercantile world. Innumerable theorists have discovered and analysed extensively a variety of questions raised by its style, themes, and aesthetic innovations. In this research paper an attempt has been made to analyse life of Emma Bovary as a paradigm of Lacanian desire.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Emma Bovary

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    The men in Emma’s life are subpar: her father essentially sells her so he can live comfortably without thinking about her needs, Charles, her husband is bland and inattentive to her needs, Rodolphe, her first lover is a player and uses her for sex even though he knows she is in love with him, Leon, her other lover satisfied her only for a short amount of time and then could not keep her interested. Because of the disappointing men in her life, Emma must turn to novels to encourage her will to live. She clings to the romance shown in fiction because she cannot find any in her own life. Whenever Emma indulges herself and dreams of romance, she has just been heartbroken. The first scene is after Rodolphe breaks up with Emma, she goes to the theatre and thrusts herself into a dreamed life with the main character of the play: “she tried to imagine his life…the life that could have been hers, if only fate had willed it so. They would have met, they would have loved!” (Flaubert, 209). In order to help herself get over Rodolphe, she has to reimagine a life with another man. The second follows Emma fretting breaking up with Leon, as she no longer tolerate him. As she’s writing another love letter to Leon, she creates an imaginary lover to write to. Creating a man from her favorite novels, a man so perfectly imagined she could practically feel him.

    Read More

  • Madame Bovary

    1422 Words  | 3 Pages

    Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Trans. Geoffrey Wall. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 1992. N. pag. Print.

    Read More

  • Romance and Reality in Flaubert’s Madame Bovary

    1129 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thus without ever realizing the actual joys of motherhood, marriage, or life, Madame Bovary, convulsing, gurgles her last life’s breath; a most ignoble, and unromantic, end.

    Read More

  • The Church as the People of God

    1239 Words  | 3 Pages

    What is the church? This can be a very deep question, or a rather simple one depending on one’s context, theology, and general understanding of Scripture and faith. From my personal experience, most members of the congregations I grew up in if asked this question would point to the church building or sanctuary. This is not that surprising in my opinion when we consider the gorgeous monuments we have built as houses for God. As a child, I would have answered the exact same way as most people in a congregation, and it was not until later in my adulthood that I came to understand “the church” not as a physical building, but as much more. A very common response to this question has been that the church is “the people of God” or even “God’s chosen people.” I, however, prefer the definition of the church as “the community of Christian faith,” a much more inclusive definition than the previous mentioned definitions.

    Read More

  • The State And Religious Organizations

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    The separation that exists between the functioning and activities of the church from the state has serious implications in the society and will greatly influence how decisions regarding laws are made at the state level. Although some of the laws made by the state do not conform to the doctrines found in religious entities, the state guarantees the freedom to the church in order to accord each organization the freedom it deserves to worship. This means that the state and laws of any society do not take sides, and any belief in the conduits on the society does not allow for support from the state. The principles of separation of the church from the state and political neutrality...

    Read More

More about Selfishness and Misguided Views in Madame Bovary

Open Document