Wednesday, October 22, 2008

A Small Conception of Love

After meeting Leon, Emma begins questioning the meaning of love. She believes that love should not be planned or predictable. She thinks that love should come out of no where... it should be a surprise. Emma clearly does not love Charles, she would much rather be with someone like Leon, because unlike Charles, the connection between Emma and Leon came out of no where. This connects to Jane Eyre because when she met Rochester it wasn't planned at all. Also, I doubt that when she saw him riding up on her horse the fact of falling in love with him didn't even cross her mind.

3 comments:

Marcus said...

Very nice comparison. Although Jane and Rochester was a more grown into love, while Emma and Leon was more instant.

Anonymous said...

this is weak

David Lavender said...

I disagree with Will. I don't think this is "weak" at all. However, while I admire your attempt to forge links between novels (always a good impulse), I wonder if we can really take Emma's thoughts about love seriously. Leon is almost as much of a fool as Charles, and Emma's very conception of love (garnered from the Romantic novels she reads) is so totally at odds with the way she 'practices' love. Maybe only Rodolphe (the 'player') has a clear-eyed take on "love"--the one that Flaubert would most likely side with.

P.S. What's up with that weird picture on Will's post?