Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Flaubert's Views on Women
After reading this novel, I begin to wonder what Flaubert's views on women are. I mean the main character Emma is this promiscuous whore who expects way to much out of men. It almost seems as if she doesnt love Charles, but just uses him. And the sad thing is that Charles is head over heels for Emma. Is Flaubert's novel a warning to men, to watch out for these kind of women, who now days would be called golddiggers. Emma has the idea that "a women is always hampered" and Charles goes way out of his way to try to please Emma. The whole notion of "instant gratification" really comes into play in this novel. Their marriage never reaches Emma's idea of romance, and because of her high expectations, Charles is always doing something for her. I feel no remorse for Emma, after using her husband and accumulating a great debt. Then the fact that she tries to prostitute herself off to her secret hookup, and atleast he is smart enough to tell her no. So to solve her problems she kills herself, which i find pretty appropriate.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I've seen so many people say she expects too much out of Charles, and while I agree that is totally thankless and ungrateful for the love he does show, is it too much to expect your husband to be just a little different now and then? To not be a total slave to your every wish? Maybe I just have a different view on what the perfect partner is than everyone else...
I think you are right to wonder what views Flaubert holds on women, but I wonder if, in the end, gender even plays a role here. Flaubert seems less misogynistic (a woman hater) than he does misanthropic (a hater of all people). Kirk offers up a defense of "poor" Charles (as others do) but I wonder if he doesn't really represent (to put it in more modern terms) the worst qualities of the Joe Six-Pack whom our Republican nominee has lately been celebrating.
Post a Comment