The lyricism of Flaubert’s prose in this section illustrates
the belief of both Emma and Leon that their love affair is fantastically romantic,
while ironically communicating the narrator’s awareness that the
affair is cheap and tawdry. On the one hand, Flaubert uses lyrical,
poetic language to capture the mood of his characters, writing of
Emma, “at times the shadows of the willows hid her completely; then
she reappeared suddenly, like a vision in the moonlight.” On the
other hand, he maintains a detached irony, writing, “they did not
fail to make fine phrases about how melancholical and poetic [the
moon] appeared to them.” The narrator’s use of poetic language to
describe Emma is not sarcastic; instead, it conveys both the beauty
and the absurdity of the situation. Flaubert is never entirely condescending
towards his characters, nor does he ever entirely embrace their
naiveté.
