POST: Reactions to Madame Bovary

A major theme or atmosphere I felt while reading was how tight the mood progressed every chapter. It seemed that the more and more Emma borrowed money and escaped to see one of her lovers, she would be further blinded by her romantic dreams and lusts. She would escape into her dreams of making love and being swept up. Her blindness to herself ended up in her down and released the tension she had built up throughout the whole of the novel.

Well...I didn't like the fact that she slept around so much! And how she didn't really appreciate her husband and her child. I kind of thought her ending was satisfying and...yes, a sad ending, but fitting for someone who did so much. But I also thought it was sort of cowardly too, commiting suicide beacuse she couldn't handle the thought of belongin to someone over blackmail. But...I don't knw...I had a lot of mixed feelings.

One of my favorite characters in the novel was the creepy guy who she ran away to see and "play piano" with while lying to her husband. (Unfortunately, I've forgotten his name) He was my favorite character because of the way he was portrayed in the movie. He was straight up with Emma from the beginnning; he told her he already had a mistress (he even used that term) and that he was losing interest in her because she was getting fat. He was honest about his shallowness from the first time they met, so she should have known he was a creep, but the fact that he was real and upfront with his business from the start and he STILL got Emma means that either his game was tight, or Emma was a complete idiot. (I'm giving her the benifit of the doubt)

When Emma dances at the ball with the viscount she gets a taste of what she wants her life to be like. After this happens she begins to get more and more pessimistic about her own circumstance in comparison to the life she thinks she deserves. It is also one of the first times she realizes that she can "dance" with other people right in front of Charles, who is completely content in his obliviousness.

What I enjoyed most was the irony presented within the novel. Emma throughout the novel was constantly searching for love and compassion. She was willing to commit adultery believing she had true lovers, Rodolphe and Leon, when in actuality the only person who truly loved Emma was Charles Bovary.

I noticed that a lot of people are bashing on Rodolph in this thread, but I think that Leon is just the same. Sure Leon seemes like a nice guy but what does he seriously want? He just wants pleasure from this girl. I know that early on in the novel he show'd sympathy but this is the way some guys are able to "lure" some girls into bed with them. Leon I think is a very decieving character, but he has morals. His morals do prevent him from doing rude things that Rodolph does in the novel. Leon is as big of a player as Rodolph because he knew that she was with Charles at the time but he still went after Emma.

Madame Bovary was a very cool book and movie! It was nice how intense the characters were and something I have never really experienced throughout my English classes. I like watching the movies after reading the book because it makes more sense to me when i see it, if I missed something in the reading. Also I love the scandel and secretiveness that Madame Bovary achieves in the novel. Definitley one of my favorites!!

Flaubert's writing style is extremely boring. There is way too much description and the French landscape and society was dull. I see Emma Bovary as just someone bored out of her mind with no chance of achieving anything in her life. I think she started fooling around with other guys after she realized this truth. Charles reminds me of a Puritan because of his work ethic and his trust in everyone around him. This novel was frustrating.

I enjoyed the novel all of the way until the ending. I thought the fact that Emma was able to simpy pawn off her economic burdens on those that she should have cared about was wrong. Even though she suffered during her death, she should have had to endure the consequences of her decisions while she was still alive. I also didn't like the fact that just about everybody died. When a book ends like that and I'm reading it during the afternoon, as I was with this one, I'm fairly depressed for the rest of the day.

Flaubert really seemed to like to use blood as a symbol for the passion Emma feels in certain situations. She often references her deep emotions as powerful as the blood running through her veins. Chrles bovary himself is a doctor in the time of blood-letting as an exceptable way to cure sickness. Maa bovary mentions biting her lips to feel the blood flowing through her veins and she makes it clear thet he sight of blood does no bother her as she helps in the amputation of the clubfooted man. During all these moments, she felt passion of one type or another that was decided by Flaubert to be expressed as blood.

One of the scense from Madame Bovary that I thought was really great was when Leon and Emma are in the room alone together and Leon is telling Emma that he is leaving to go study in Paris. I thought this was a really awkward but romantic scene at the same time. You could tell that there was a lot of sexual tension between the two because they obvious had feelings for eachother more than just being friends, but neither of them wanted to admit anything. It wasn't until after Leon came back from Paris that Emma finally hinted she loved Leon and he did the same for her.

Madame Bovary found three very different men in her desperate search for happiness. Charles provided a safe and homely marriage, yet it was seen as boring and lacking in passion. She found this lost passion in the young Daniel Deronda but she asked too much from him which eventually lead to their separation. In Rodolph, she found passion with no security. Her failure to find happiness resulted in her death.

Emma pushing her child, Berthe, is a very important event for it further emphasizes Emma's unhappiness. Emma's resentful feelings and sense of entrapment surrounding her marriage are physically shown through Emma's abuse. Emma also pushes Berthe out of frustration that her child is in fact a girl. She doesn't want her to have to go through an unfullfilling, empty life similar to her own.

I thought Emma husband’s naiveté was incredible. The signs were obvious but he refused to accept them even to the very end. I felt very sympathetic towards Charles for a while but as the novel progressed I lost a lot of that sympathy because of his gullibility. His whole life, his wife had been nothing more than a detriment. It is amazing how he could have tolerated all of this.

The best part of Madame Bovary in my opinion is the death. The irony is so rich. during the death she exibits sweat, moaning, and screaming. All of these are the results of intercourse. What she did to sin with is extremly similar to what she is dying with, except that instead of the chance life, there is death, and there is, instead of pleasure, pain.

Madame Bovary was a pretty strong lady until her secrets started to unfold before her. I've always had this theory that the more you sheild away from others, especially if its hidden because of embarrassment or the upkeep of a reputation, the worst you will be when all thats hidden is revealed. Now although Bovary's husband was still pretty clueless towards the finale, Bovary had reached her "point of no return" & I would have to say that her death was a key moment in the novel. The way she died, dishonorably, painfully, immorally, summarized what kind of life she had been living and what kind of marriage she had.

I loved the scene where Madame Bovary burned the bouquet from her and Charles' wedding. The bouquet represented her life as a married woman and buring it showed she was unhappy with the way her marriage was going and needed a change. This was a key scene that showed how strong and independent Emma was.

I think the surgery on hippolyte acts as a symbol for the entire story. Hippolyte managed to walk fine before the surgery, but in an attempt to prove himself, Charles was foolish and attempted the risky procedure anyways. The result was Hippolyte's leg being amputated which was worse than his previous case. It leaves Charles looking like a fool and drives Emma to refresh her affair with Rodolphe.

This event to me represents the usual cause and outcome of whatever Charles tries to do. He tries to fix things and just can never seem to get it right. And then Emma runs off to do her thing.

i particularly like the scene when Emma pushed her daughter causing her to fall. It was terribly funny yet at the same time not. It is funny in the sense that it was incredibly random and that no one would ever expect someone to actually do that. However, this scene also reveals Emmas certain disreguard for her family, and the fact that she reall doesnt take them seriously. Obviously bored with her family, Emma acts and dreams as if the grass is greener on the other side...she is a baby....i really cant stand her.

The scene that i liked in Madame Bovary was when Emma burned the bouquet. It was really symbolic of her relationship with Charles and her feelings on it. It kind of marked the turning point in the book for me when Emma went from her unhappiness to her real bouts of unfaithfulness.