Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Suicide!

I thought Emma's death was completly horrible, a bit funny as well though!!!!! So...Emma not only lies and cheats on her family but now commits suicide?!?! I laugh at how utterly dramatic and pathetic Emma is, but at the same time am disgusted with her choices....especially commiting suicide. It's selfish of her to choose her death the was she does....I mean...she still has a family left. If not stay alive for her sake, stay alive for her family's. I don't really know exaclty why she would do this, I suppose it's because she has such a sense of guilt, it is unbearable. Of course, the huge debt that she owes is also a contributing factor, but I would wonder if that would be the determining factor. In the book it says that she is disgusted by Charles good heart and morals, because she lacks such factors. Perhaps this is the reason that allows Emma to feel guilty. To come to Rodolphe for such a sum of money by using her seductive ways, I found was quite desperate of Emma (especially of his wrong doings to her earlier in the book). In other words, coming to him was her final chance at life. Obviously It didn't help situtions at all, and thus she decided to commit suicide.

2 comments:

Juliette. said...

I agree suicide might just have been an escape route, but i don't agree that her adultery makes her pathetic. Wouldn't it be even more pathetic if Emma were to suppress her passion, and live a depressing, loveless life with Charles. Maybe it's Charles fault for not providing and passion or lust in there relationship, and nothing to fulfill Emma's need for romance. Could it be that Emma is simply looking for a way to express her abundance of passion, and since she cannot do this with her husband Charles, she strays from the constraints of marriage and gives into her desire.

David Lavender said...

I think Juliette's may be the first defense of Emma I've encountered yet. Most seem to agree with you (and pile on the scorn). So, you're in good company. But, as others have asked, what risks does Flaubert run in creating such a detestable heroine? Is laughing at her horrible death the only reaction we're allowed? Is Realism fundamentally pessimistic (in the same way Romanticism is optimistic)?