Portrayal of Class

All throughout the novel, the importance of class is strung from beginning to end. When Emma marries Charles and then attends the ball, she begins to crave the life of the wealthy class. Emma’s innocent attempts at belonging to the wealthier class are first shown through her change in manners, as she starts to read all about the fashion, gestures, etc. of Paris and other elegant places. She even “forbade [her maid] to wear cotton bonnets, taught her it was necessary to address people in the third person, to bring a glass of water on a saucer…she wanted to make her into a lady’s maid” (p. 76). She impresses Charles with her fancy manner and daydreams about being rich and it is then that she begins to buy expensive things. Emma feels as if she belongs to that upper class, however it is apparent that she really isn’t when it is mentioned how Charles is ignorant to her “elegant touches” (p. 77).

Not only does Emma desire a higher position in society, but others do as well. Everyone is striving for something more, a better, more prosperous life. Monsieur Homais is selfish and goes into long dialogues about things he does not know about. He flatters everyone in order to be in good opinion, and in the end he ends up getting an award of recognition. Also when Charles and Emma first move to Yonville, Leon is delighted that he has a chance to speak with “a lady” (p. 99). He looks at Emma as an elegant woman. Monsieur Lheureux, the merchant, is constantly using the idea of upper class to get Emma to buy expensive products that he knows she can’t afford. Class also comes up when Emma has the affair with Rodolphe; she is so enamored by his manners and his upper class lifestyle; this makes her even more in love with him because with Rodolphe as her lover its as if she feels a step closer to the upper class society.

Emma’s pursuit for a wealthier lifestyle continues and is even amplified. She begins to make absurd purchases, signing notes and building up debt. When Emma is trying to find the money in order to salvage her reputation, she ends up resulting to promiscuity and attempts to seduce men into giving her the money. For Leon, this worked---as he did go out to try to borrow money. Yet for upper class men such as the Legion of Honor, who instead of responding to her as others did, he “suddenly drew back quite far as if he had caught sight of a snake and shouted: ‘Madame, what’s got into you?’” (p. 286), clearly showing the behavioral difference of the two classes. And in the end her pursuit of a wealthy lifestyle is what kills her and her husband, and makes life miserable for her daughter. The thought of having everything taken away and facing responsibility for her attempt at living a high lifestyle drives her to poison herself. Her suicide leads her husband to insanity and robs her daughter of any chance of having a happy life.