Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
An unusual book club meeting, with only the female members present! Definitely a first. We all seemed to enjoy the book, and as with any good sex scandal, talking about it was much more fun than reading about it. We had two different translations of the book, but I’m not sure what effect that had on our enjoyment or interpretations of events.
We talked a lot about the character of Emma Bovary. We thought she was portrayed as quite a dislikeable character, with Ann pointing out the selfishness of almost all her actions and behaviour throughout the book. Nicky also thought she came across as quite snobbish, especially in the episode where she fires their maid for very little reason. She flirts with bohemian life, but looks down on women who live like that.
We discussed whether it could be read as a feminist book. Ann wondered if there was an undercurrent of opposition to educated women, with Emma’s fate serving as warning as to what happened when women were enabled to analyse their own lives and imagine alternative lives for themselves. However, we wondered how this would square with Flaubert’s famous quote: “Madame Bovary is me”. Nicky felt that although Emma couldn’t be seen as a feminist, Madame Bovary could be seen as a feminist book. I agreed, pointing out that the book is never judgemental about Emma, and describes her as a real, flawed person. Ciara thought that Emma was railing against being part of a male dominated society, and always playing the role that she was expected to. We all agreed, but I also thought that there was a contradiction in that she always ended up becoming subjugated by her lovers rather than liberated by them, doing nothing with the any power that she has.
We also looked at Emma within the context of the traditional romantic heroine. She seems to have had the misfortune to be a romantic heroine trapped in a realist novel, with the consequences of her behaviour (large debts, social disapproval etc.) catching up with her. I think that we all felt that she was a very naive character. I felt that she would have benefited from some close female company, either a best friend or a mother, to either act as guidance, or a confidante. We felt that she’d been let down by her own romantic ideals; Ann thought that this was representative of women being sold an idea of romantic love that did (does?) not exist. Ann also thought that Emma was responding to the flattery and excitement of her lovers rather than actually being in love with them, but Nicky disagreed. I wasn’t sure myself, but thought that she didn’t really see, or love them for who they really were, but saw them as romantic heroes.
At one point Ann called it ‘a love story that’s not about love’ with marriage acting not as the happy ending of a fairy story, but the beginning of a story that leads to disappointment. We spent some time discussing Charles’ character. Ciara pointed out that even though Emma is the main character, the book begins and ends with Charles. We all agreed that Charles is portrayed as a pathetic character; this is clear from the beginning of the book when he wears his ridiculous hat to school. I was a little confused by the incident where his botched surgery results in a man’s leg being amputated. I thought that if the only reason for this was to demonstrate Charles’ idiocy, then it was a little bit unnecessary as the book continually portrayed him as rubbish in bed, unintellectual and generally a weak character. We felt very sorry for their daughter who is barely mentioned, then packed off to the workhouse when they both die of broken hearts (with the assistance of arsenic).
We discussed the significance of other characters in the book, particularly Homais the chemist. We came to the conclusion that he was a satire on typical bourgeois village characters, maybe also used by Flaubert for comic relief. Other village characters contribute to Emma’s decline by encouraging her to get into debt that there is no escape from. We talked about whether her neighbours had realised that she was having an affair as her behaviour becomes more and more reckless throughout the book, and decided that they must have known. Ann pointed out that all the characters in the book are highly flawed, and there is little redemption for anyone at the outcome.
Overall, we really enjoyed reading and discussing the book. A definite recommendation.
