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.
