Important Quotations Explained
1. But
it was above all at mealtimes that she could bear it no longer,
in that little room on the ground floor, with the smoking stove,
the creaking door, the oozing walls, the damp floor-tiles; all the
bitterness of life seemed to be served to her on her plate, and,
with the steam from the boiled beef, there rose from the depths
of her soul other exhalations as it were of disgust. Charles was
a slow eater; she would nibble a few hazel-nuts, or else, leaning
on her elbow, would amuse herself making marks on the oilcloth with
the point of her table-knife.
This passage, from Part One, Chapter
IX, illustrates Flaubert’s combination of realism and emotional
subjectivity. The passage exemplifies realism because it pays attention
to tiny details, no matter how unpleasant. On the other hand, the
writing maintains a subjective tone in that it leads us to feel
Emma’s disgust and frustration. The importance of the object world
to Emma’s thoughts is emphasized by the connections of her soul’s
exhalations to the steam from the beef. Throughout the book, Flaubert
links emotions to objects in just this way. By making emotions inseparable
from objects, Flaubert denies Emma her one desire: to escape from
the physical world she inhabits and live the life she imagines.
Here, we see her trapped among objects that disgust her. Because
Flaubert does not let us escape from Emma’s environment and forces
us to notice all its imperfections, we share Emma’s frustration
and claustrophobia.
2. She
hoped for a son; he would be strong and dark; she would call him
George; and this idea of having a male child was like an expected
revenge for all her impotence in the past. A man, at least, is free;
he can explore all passions and all countries, overcome obstacles,
taste of the most distant pleasures. But a woman is always hampered.
Being inert as well as pliable, she has against her the weakness
of the flesh and the inequity of the law. Like the veil held to
her hat by a ribbon, her will flutters in every breeze; she is always
drawn by some desire, restrained by some rule of conduct.
There are two voices in this passage
from Part Two, Chapter III; one belongs to Emma, the other to the
narrator. From “A man, at least, is free” through “a woman is always
hampered,” we hear Emma’s thoughts, rendered in free indirect discourse,
imbued with a -romantic nature. The rest of the passage, however,
is the narrator’s commentary and anticipates modern feminist thinking.
The passage claims that a woman is powerless not only over her financial -situation,
but also over her emotions. A double bind occurs when a woman’s
involuntary emotions conflict with inescapable external circumstances.
Her only choice is to behave within the confines of her fixed station
in class and the family. Emma’s hopes for a son -represent a reimagination
of her own identity. She will enact her revenge through a male heir
with access to opportunities that have been denied her. In contrast
to the “strong, dark” male avenger -envisioned at the start of the
passage, the will of a woman takes the form of a veil tied to a
hat by a ribbon, susceptible to the forces of weather. By -looking
to his subject, a woman, for a physical detail to use in meta-phorical
comparison to an abstract concept—her will—-Flaubert uses realism
to heighten the vivid effect of his social commentary.
3. The
whitish light of the window-panes was softly wavering. The pieces
of furniture seemed more frozen in their places, about to lose themselves
in the shadow as in an ocean of darkness. The fire was out, the
clock went on ticking, and Emma vaguely wondered at this calm of
all things while within herself there was such a tumult.
This passage from Part Two, Chapter
VI, describes Emma Bovary’s overriding frustration—that the outside
world doesn’t match up with her inner world. Here, Flaubert’s attention
to specific details—the clock, the fireplace—allows us to envision
Emma’s surroundings vividly, so we can more effectively contrast
them with her turbulent emotions. In this scene, she has just returned
from asking the priest for spiritual guidance. The cleric had seemed
utterly unaware of her distress. In this passage, even the objects
in the room seem to be ignoring her distress, increasing her feeling
of isolation.
4. [Rodolphe]
had heard such stuff so many times that her words meant very little
to him. Emma was just like any other mistress; and the charm of
novelty, falling down slowly like a dress, exposed only the eternal
monotony of passion, always the same forms and the same language.
He did not distinguish, this man of such great expertise, the differences of
sentiment beneath the sameness of their expressions. Because he
had heard such-like phrases murmured to him from the lips of the
licentious or the venal, he hardly believed in hers; you must, he
thought, beware of turgid speeches masking commonplace passions;
as though the soul’s abundance does not sometimes spill over in
the most decrepit metaphors, since no one can ever give the exact measure
of their needs, their ideas, their afflictions, and since human
speech is like a cracked cauldron on which we knock out tunes for
dancing-bears, when we wish to conjure pity from the stars.
Madame Bovary’s subtle
commentary on the inadequacy of language becomes explicit in this
passage from Part Two, Chapter IX. Rodolphe doesn’t believe Emma
because she is forced to use the same words as others have used
to describe a very different sentiment. That the same vocabulary
must be employed to communicate varying emotions means that words
fail in the description of feelings. The extreme degree of this
inadequacy is rendered beautifully in the simile of the cracked
cauldron, one of Flaubert’s most famous lines. This passage is also
a great example of how Flaubert shifts between different perspectives.
Through the first part of the passage, we see mostly what Rodolphe
sees. In the last part, however, the narrator switches to his own
point of view to provide us with an opinion on the nature of language.
5. And
besides, should [Rodolphe] hesitate to come to her assistance, she
would know well enough how one single glance would reawaken their
lost love. So she set out towards La Huchette, unaware that she
was hastening to offer what had so angered her a while ago, not
in the least conscious of her prostitution.
This passage comes from Part Three,
Chapter VII. What angered Emma “a while ago” was the idea that she
might sell her sex for money. She has already refused Guillaumin’s
offers of money in exchange for services of the flesh. Here, however,
Flaubert points out that her willingness to rekindle her romance
with Rodolphe is no better than prostitution. Her unawareness of
the equivalence of the two actions demonstrates the degree of her
moral corruption as the novel nears its conclusion. At the same
time, her belief that Rodolphe truly loved her enough to help her
now is proof of her continued naiveté and self-delusion.
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