Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Destruction of Charles

Emma's destruction of Charles through out the novel disgusts me. Her dreams of being something bigger and better sends her through a whirlwind of life that ends up badly, very badly. The way that Charles loves Emma, no matter what she is doing makes me sick. The amount of evil "sins" she has committed behind his back are not only scandalous for the times, they are awful for the present. She married into this simply for the prospect of an ideal marriage. The thought of wealth, prosperity, popularity were flourishing in her mind. Charles was all willing to give it to her, but his idea of an ideal marriage is different than hers. He knew with his growing study in being a doctor he would only prosper a certain amount. Emma wanted more. She continued to want more than Charles could ever give.
One person who seemed to see this greed from Emma was Madame Bovary Senior. She always looked down on Emma, always scrutinizing her and making her look bad. Charles would side with his mother, until it came to Emma. This shown affection and love was sad. He looked past everything that was true, whether he knew it or not.
People watching knew something was wrong. The clerk who Emma purchased all of her gifts and trunks from knows something is not right. Emma doesn't seem to care what anyone else thinks. I dont think she wanted anyone to find out about the affairs but she was also so lost up in her love for other men I believe that if someone (Charles) had found out it would have made it easier for her, she finally could have broken away from what she hated; her life.

2 comments:

Sarah Carlson said...

I completely agree with you. Its annoying when you hate the main character. She's completely into herself and I was stoked at the end when she died. haha.

David Lavender said...

Poor Emma. She's finding very few champions in these posts. I think Sarah has a good point when she observes that it is hard to read a book whose main character is so detestable. So what was Flaubert after here? (And what risks was he running?). More to the point, why has this novel managed to make it into the literary canon (and be taught in AP English classes?). I wonder if there's more to this book than simply hating its characters.