BUSCA

Links Patrocinados



Buscar por Título
   A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z


Madame Bovary
(Gustav Flaubert)

Publicidade
Published in 1857, Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert is recognized as one of the great milestones in French literature. The novel was certainly controversial for its time. Its candid portrayal of an unhappily married woman pursuing elusive happiness in affairs with other men confronted contemporary morality and resulted in both Flaubert and his editor being prosecuted for ?offences against public morality?. Flaubert was a ?realist? writer. His description of the novel as "...the dissection of a beautiful woman with her guts in her face, her leg skinned, and half a burned-out cigar lying on her foot" describes Madame Bovary perfectly. The story is simple yet powerful. Emma is the beautiful, innocent daughter of a farmer. When Charles Bovary, the local doctor, comes to mend her father?s broken leg, he becomes smitten with her and asks for Emma?s hand in marriage. Emma is idealistic and in love with the idea of love. She accepts his proposal without question. Emma soon realizes that the reality of married life is very different to what she envisaged. Charles is a well-meaning but unimaginative clod who adores Emma but is unable to satisfy any of her romantic longings. When Emma and Charles are invited to a ball at the chateau of the Marquis d?Andervilliers, the gap between the reality of Emma?s life and her aspirations becomes glaringly apparent. She realizes with dismay that her marriage to Charles will never allow her to have the life of which she dreams. Emma continues to wilt in the provincial rigidity of Tostes and, ever concerned for her well-being, Charles decides to move his medical practice to Yonville-l?Abbaye, a more vibrant market town in the Neufchatel district. By this time, Emma is pregnant. Emma gives birth to a daughter, Berthe, and, despite her reservations about motherhood, she seems relatively content in her new surrounds. She makes the acquaintance of a young law clerk, Leon Dupuis, and recognizes a kindred spirit. They develop an unspoken and platonic love affair that becomes so uncomfortable for Leon that he moves to Rouen. Emma feels Leon?s loss keenly. She is ripe for seduction and meets the charming but insincere Rodolphe Boulanger, a local landowner. He is struck by Emma?s simple, elegant beauty and teases her for being a ?square peg in a round hole?. She feels that he understands her, is flattered by his attention and a passionate affair begins. As in life, happiness for Emma is all too fleeting. She is impetuous and emotionally demanding. Her incessant desire for Rodolphe begins to irritate him and his ardour cools. Sensing Rodolphe?s emotional retreat, Emma attempts to rejuvenate her relationship with Charles. When the local chemist, Homais, suggests that Charles performs radical new surgery to cure a club foot, she encourages him to try it. Perhaps she can come to love a man who achieves professional fame and fortune? To please her, Charles pores over surgical manuals and performs the operation on Hippolyte, the club-footed porter at the local inn. The operation is an unmitigated disaster. Infection and gangrene set in and the unfortunate Hippolyte?s leg has to be amputated. Driven back into the arms of her lover by her husband?s dismal failure, Emma begs Rudolphe to run away with her. Rodolphe has no intention of doing so. He writes Emma a letter of farewell and leaves the district. Emma is inconsolable and takes to her bed for six months. Throughout Emma?s convalescence, Charles faithfully ministers to her every need. When she is well enough, he takes her to Rouen to see a show. There, she renews her acquaintance with Leon Dupuis and a passionate affair ensues. True happiness again eludes Emma despite her being reunited with her one-time soul mate. Her insatiable desire for Leon is matched only by her greed for material goods in the pursuit of the bougeouis lifestyle to which she aspires. She becomes hopelessly in debt to the avaricious draper, Lheureux, who encourages her excesses. Leon soon tires of her demands and their relationship falters. Emma?s financial situation deteriorates to the point that all of her furniture is repossessed. Despite her best efforts to raise enough money to pay her debts and hide the terrible truth from her husband, she realizes the situation is hopeless and takes enough arsenic to kill herself. Emma dies a horrible and painful death. Stricken with grief, Charles later dies of a broken heart and their orphaned daughter, Berthe, is brought up by a distant aunt. In its uncompromising portrayal of the tragedy of disillusionment and unfulfilled desires, Madame Bovary has secured its place as a timeless piece of literature. Who, after all, has not wished for things greater than those achieved? Have we not all regretted decisions we have made or relationships pursued? Are we any different today in our untiring pursuit of material goods, in our desire for passion that inevitably wanes, in our quest for social standing and stature? We have all yearned for things we cannot possess or regretted that our lives have not gone as planned. All of us, men and women, can identify with Emma Bovary and that is why Madame Bovary is deserving of a place in the bookshelves of all readers.



Resumos Relacionados


- Madame Bovary

- Madame Bovary

- Madame Bovary

- Madame Bovary

- Madame Bovary



Passei.com.br | Biografias

FACEBOOK


PUBLICIDADE




encyclopedia