Monday, May 31, 2010

Bovary vs. Tess Women/ Class

The way that both authors portray women in these two novels are somewhat similar, however on the other hand they happen in a different perspective. Tess seems to be doomed for life, having her fate already set. Emma, on the other hand, sets up her fate. Tess has moral integrity, which is her main internal conflict in the novel; if she helps her family with money when they most needed it, or if she kept her moral integrity because of her rape. Emma marry Charles because of her fanticism of romantic novels, however she is the one that contributes most to her downfall. She makes her debt larger, and gets involved with many affairs.

Yet, both of them (Tess and Emma) seem to be born in a different era. They are both independent. Looking for an upgrade in society, Emma makes alone the decision of having affairs and doing everything in order to fulfill her dream. Together, Tess is the only independent member of her family. She is the one who is in charge of everything. Tess does everything possible to take her family out of the misery and help them both.

In both novels, Flaubert and Hardy makes use of these characters in order to show discontemptment. Flaubert uses Emma to criticize the social classes, but also because he wanted to show what was happening in that time, and what would probably happen years later. Hardy, also portrays Tess as a woman that was born in wrong era, because she had personnality, she is independent, which are the characteristics that women now-a-days have. And also Flaubert in one sense was correct, because a considerable portion of women betray their husbands and gets huge amount of debts, te only difference is that men now-a-days are not that stupid and figure it out.

Class: The social class in these books are not the same. Tess and her family belong to the working class. They depend on their labor to have food on the table. The greatest problem that they encounter in the book is when their horse dies, because Tess rapidly notices that their ability to produce was much reduced, and this meant no money. Emma on the other hand was member of the middle class, which is so criticized by Flaubert. She is consistently trying to have an upgrade, and does everything in order to achieve this, even her own death.

It seems that both books kind of complement each other because Flaubert barely give his opinion towards the lower class, so the reader is not able to really identify his thoughts on it. Hardy also focuses on a lower class family, which we can easily understand how hard it was to belong to a lower class. Besides this, both women in their way are corrupted, and both of them die in a similar type of way, where there downfall are much because of them, surrendering themselves to death.

Madame Bovary vs. Tess of d'Urbervilles

To begin with, Madame Bovary and Tess of d’Urbervilles present two different types of heroines. Emma is seen as selfish yet a heroine because she broke away from the status quo of what it meant to be a woman of her time and goes after what she wants. While Tess is seen as a self-less being who is a heroine because she sacrifices herself for the greater good. However, in both the themes of class and women are approached.

In both novels it is apparent that the characters are aspiring to be something more than they are, they are wanting to progress in society. In Madame Bovary, Emma so desperately wants to be a part of the upper class, unsatisfied with her position in the middle class. Others such as Homais want a higher status in society as well. Then Tess of d’Urbervilles, Tess’s parents are primarily concerned with getting out of their state of wretchedness and being able to sustain their family. Two characters among the books that are the most similar are Rodolphe an Alec. Both are wealthy men who aspire and chase after pursuits. It appears as though they have an easy way out of things because of their social status so they aren’t concerned with being reckless. Rodolphe pursues Emma out of sheer lust and Alec does the same with Tess.

However a difference is in the fact that class is approached and looked at on other levels as well. In Madame Bovary, the pursuit of attaining a higher social status is what drives Emma, yet in Tess of d’Urbervilles, Angel seems content with his class (in that he doesn’t seem to have any aspirations to achieve a higher status) and prefers to be a farmer rather than a clergy man. Another difference is the way the upper class is viewed. Emma believes the upper class to be elegant and bliss, filled with people who have manners and live happy lives. On the other hand, Angel views the upper class as corrupted and having no morals. He seems them as dishonest, and rather associate with those of humbled backgrounds. While Emma wants to be in the wealthy class where titles are important and what make you who you are, while Angel prefers to be in the middle class, working class where it’s what you do that makes you who you are.

When it comes to women, in both novels, women are looked at as of a lower position than men. In Madame Bovary, women are seen as powerless and incapable and in Tess of d’Urbervilles, the theme seems to be the same, with men dominating over women. Both Emma and the milkmaids are similar in that when they lose the man they want, their lives fall apart. Emma goes into depression while Marian becomes a drunk and Retty tries to commit suicide. Also, Emma is powerless in the fact that she isn’t able to fully break free and live life independently; something always pulls her back---her reliance upon Charles for money.I am pretty sure that if she had her own money, she would have left Charles yet because he was her source of income, she always had to go back to him. And then for Tess, she is powerless as well in the sense that men screw up her life. First Alec rapes her and emotionally manipulates her for a while, sends her home ruined and then Angel is leaves her and she has no say in the matter.

Their powerlessness is their downfall. Although Tess finally grows some backbone in the end when she writes the letter to Angel about him acting unjustly towards her, it's too late to change the course of fate. And then I think Emma is unsuccessful because she tries to counter-act men’s dominance through manipulation.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The different guises of Emma Bovary

In Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary it is possible to see the various manners in which women, especially the main character, Emma, are treated by different men and also the may in which they are portrayed. From the beginning of the novel almost every man has a different idea of Emma.

Charles thinks of her as a virtuous, caring and loving wife but does not seem to care about her as much as to make her wishes such as having a honeymoon in the alps come true, and finds out about her unfaithfulness only at the end.

Rodolphe portrays Emma differently, caused by his experienced nature, from the beginning of his relationship with Emma his image of her is of yet another romantic conquest, and has an affair with her for as long as his interest in her continues.

Leon is somewhat of a foil to Rodolphe. Emma and Leon both shares view of an idealistic romance and seem to love each other very much, even though he begins to think of her as annoying in the last couple of times they meet. He also seems to have no problem in moving on after she dies and marries soon.

Emma’s relationship with Lhereux portrays an Emma that is foolish and easily trick. Her desires are passed on as vain and she eventually leads her family into bankruptcy.

Considering a wider view of the novel it seems as if Emma was as woman from later centuries to come trapped in the 1800s. She forces herself to play the role of caring and virtuous wife but meanwhile is also very independent and goes after for what she desires.

Class on Madame Bovary

In Madam Bovary there are open criticisms by Flaubert from the beginning of the novel towards class, especially the middle class, or bourgeoisie, the Bovary’s belonged to. At that period, the bourgeoisie was beginning to experience an exponential growth in their wealth and their power, feeling as if they were nobles. This is Emma Bovary’s ultimate desire and what eventually leads to the demise of the Bovary’s, so consequently this means that class is the reason for the fall of the Bovary’s.

On Madame Bovary, the class of characters may be distinguished various times by what he or she eats. In the novel the refinement of the characters are shown on what and how each character yet, taking as an example Charles sloppy manners if compared to the refined manners at the guests at the ball.

Flaubert further criticizes the middle class when adding the character of Homais, an obnoxious doctor, who thinks knows everything there is to know. His unlikable personality shuns the readers away from the middle class. Lhereux can also be considered part of a criticism to the middle class if taken into account that the bourgeoisie, which formed most of the middle class, were in most part merchants, and Lhereux treacherous, scheming and villainous nature is one another example of Flaubert’s criticism to class.

Monday, May 24, 2010

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.

Portrayal of Women

By the end of the novel, the readers get the impression that women are always after something better than what they have. They are portrayed as idealistic, selfish, conceited, fickle, shallow, passionate, manipulative, promiscuous and impulsive. As we see with Emma, she’s a character that not only incorporates all these traits but also, in an attempt to have control over her life and be independent, ends up making things worse in the long run. She is idealistic from the very beginning and then fickle in her commitments. First she is dedicated to religion, then to motherhood, then to her lovers, alternating throughout the book. Then there’s Felicite who begins to get tired of Justin because she was “six years older than he, and Theodore, Monsieur Guillaumin’s manservant, was beginning to court her” (p. 185). Though Felicite may not be to the same degree as Emma, both show women’s fickle ways.

Also, one thing to note is how Emma’s egocentrism is what drives her to extremes. When Charles and Emma are first married we get a glimpse of her concern over appearances. “Emma would sometimes tuck the red border of his undershirt into his waistcoat, straighten his cravat…this was not …for him; it was for herself, for her own ego” (p. 78). Then for the rest of the novel, Emma signs notes that she knows she cannot afford in order to get the absolute best.

Emma’s passion and seeming lack of restraint appear to portray that women have no control over themselves, and need someone to be in control. Her sudden stops at Rodolphe’s start to get him irritated and the extremity of her feelings for both Rodolphe and Leon is what begins to turn them off.

Through Emma’s character, women are also shown to be somewhat base. When it comes to being an adornment to her husband’s reputation, a woman is valued---whether or not she is faithful to him, keeps a tidy household, etc.---yet when it comes to taking charge she is at a loss. She must succumb to promiscuity in order to manipulate and retain a hold on men. Emma does this on various accounts when Leon starts to feel like the relationship is going wayward but then all of the sudden feels overwhelming passion for her due to her seductive tactics. This is also seen in the end when she is trying to conjure up money to pay for her debts.

The portrayal of women’s desire to be independent may have been positive had it not been for Emma’s character tainting it with her abuse of it. In the beginning we all sided with her when she would speak her mind, but towards the end we feel as though she should have been controlled for she is out of control, lying to Charles about the piano lessons, and then beginning to not care about her affairs being exposed. So in the end, we come away reading the book with a negative view of women. Thanks Emma.

Treatment of Women

Women at that time period didn't have much power. Kings only wanted to have boys as children, because then they could keep up in the throne. This is the same thing that happens to Emma. She wishes that her child is a boy because women are always put aside, and at that time in disadvantage for anything in life. Emma is the only woman which is truly analyzed in the book, and we can notice that only men can change her life perspective. She is married to Charles, which is lazy and doesn't want so many work, therefore doesn't seek to be a member of higher class (which is Emma's wish). One fact that bothers me towards this portrayal of women in the book is that Emma only married Charles because she thought that he fulfilled her dream of a love story, and didn't think about the future. This demonstrates that Emma was naive and also stupid because she relied in love stories to find her husband instead of looking for someone who could provide what she wanted to be.

Emma's lovers are also an example of how women didn't have too much power at that time. Her lovers were the only ones who could cause her to change, and if they wanted to leave her they could, but she had always to stick to her marriage. All of her lovers end up leaving her; one went to Paris, the other one stopped liking her, and all she wanted was to have the power to leave with each one of them, but on the other side she lacked this power. Her lovers (men) in that time had much more power towards women, and these only had to obey, or stick to what they had in that moment for the rest of their lives because they still lacked power. Another example that women lacked power is that in the end of the book the only thing that Emma could offer was her body, nothing more nothing less. She offered her body to Justin, the lawyer asked her sexual favors for his money, and this in my opinion must be a horrible experience.

Treatment of Class

Madame Bovary, Emma, the protagonist of the novel, belongs to a middle class bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie at the time that the book was written is the similar to the middle-class now-a-days: they don't have any rich family that left something behind to them, however they have a job that doesn't require that much laboring. Emma always wishes to change her status in the social class, however her attempts always fails. Her lover Rodolphe is an example of this; he is a wealthy landowner, and took Emma to the parties where all wealthy people were, and she was always astonished by everything, however she tried to act as if she belonged to that class but most of the times did shameful actions. The social class of people that Emma visits in the end of the book is also compromising with the fact of her social class. She visits a nurse who is poor and is from the lower class, and afterwards the rich and wealthy lawyer, that had a big house and had everthing that she dreamed of. These change in scenarios proves that Emma belongs to her middle class. Emma is consistently judging her husband because of not being wealthy, and not having the conditions that she dreamed, and seeks in her lover this opportunity to jump to another social class.

The downfall of Emma was also interesting considering the fact that Flaubert criticized the bourgeoisie. Emma practically get over because of loaning money, and having expensive materials to feel as a higher class person. She is always attending theatres and having piano lessons, and wating money with her lovers. Emma is totally dependent on money and her downfall in the book is mostly because of her trying to be someone she couldn't.

Flaubert obviously criticized this class, and he introduces Homais, who led Charles into being a doctor so the reader is able to see his flaws, and he belonged to this middle class. Homais also have long speeches, trying to prove something about being a doctor that he himself did not no. Homais leads people to believe what he says as a result of his long speeches, and this is the characteristic that Flaubert criticizes. When Emma is dying because of the poison, Homais tries to show some knowledge about what to do and says that the smart thing to do was to find the antidote for the poison, and when they go to a real the doctor the guy only says that he should've had stuck his finger inside her mouth. In the end of this book, however, Homais gets rewarded with a medal, while Charles that was a very sincere person and the one that deserved it was dead. This shows that sometimes these people with pretentious display of knowledge win the ones who understands more and are more capable of doing better work.

End of the Bovarys

In this last section of Madame Bovary it is possible to see that the novel has quite an iterative plot. As in other parts of the book Emma follows what can be described as an repetitive set of actions. Emma keeps borrowing money from Lhereux in order to fulfill her extravagant desires. Another of Emma´s auction that has also been seen previously in the novel is her attitude towards Leon. At every part of Madame Bovary, Emma has a lover and even though at the beginning of the romance both feel quite satisfied, eventually Emma and Leon become tired of each other, Leon becomes tired of her extravagant desires and Emma thinks he doesn’t love her once he is held up by Homais while going to see her. Emma does not see her actual situation until the very end of the novel, at which point the demise of the Bovarys is clear. Emma, greatly in debt tries to raise the money at any costs, but upon failure to do so kills herself. Charles on the other hand suffers greatly with his wife’s death and never acknowledges her unfaithfulness and the fact that she was the one that brought him in to his current situation. At the end Charles is unable to come up with the money to pay off his debts and finds letters from Rodolphe and Leon to Emma, finally accepting the fact that she was unfaithful and holds his fate as a consequence to Emma´s behavior. Consequently he dies and Berthe is eventually sent to work at a cotton mill.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Final

Emma, who always had her love stories in her mind, and was always iluded to it, now only takes her down. All of her affairs stop loving her because of this persistent need of having a love like these one in the books. They usually start having a strong passion, but as time passes all of her lovers get annoyed with her romantic idealism.

Flaubert introduces some characters in the end of the book to show that Emma's place is really bourgeios middle class. Always seeking to have a higher class standard Emma was never able to acquire this. Always wanting to attend parties, and being materialistic, Emma was not able to achieve this class. Flaubert introduces in the end of the novel characters what will be either poor peasants or very wealthy. The first character is the nurse that Emma looks for when she is desperate. She was a very simple person who was not able to have a watch in her home and knew the time by holding her fingers. The high class character introduced in the end is Guillaumin, a lawyer. When she arrives to his home asking for help, she sees his mansion, and the good furniture he had. Flaubert did this to prove that her soical status was bourgeios middle class, and any other. Flaubert also introduces a beggar that Emma passed all the time when she was heading to the other town to stay with Leon. He was very simple, and this foreshadows the condition that Emma will end in the final part of the novel.

Emma's financial situation was side by side with her moral standards. As Emma is convinced to borrow money all the time and is always in debt, she has to sell herself more and more. As she gets more in debt, she sells herself more trying to raise money. Charles one the other side, continues to be naive and gives her money for the piano classes and for her to travel. He doesn't suspect anything. Emma brings someone to her house saying that he was her piano teacher, but he doesn't know her name. Charles will only be aware that his wife cheated on him in the end when he opens her drawer and reads all of her notes to lovers. But Charles still loves her after all she did and all her infidelities.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Last Thoughts on Emma...

All the adjectives that come to mind…

Now, upon finishing the book, I have a lot of adjectives to describe Emma Bovary. Selfish, cruel, conceited, reckless, driven by emotions, irresponsible, unrealistic, inane, spoiled, and the list continues. These self-centered aspects of Emma are not just seen at the end, but are seen throughout the story as the novel progresses, it is only ultimately seen at the end when she takes arsenic, poisoning herself, leading to her death.

Emma may be looked upon as someone who is independent and a break-away from society, seeing that women were not supposed to have such freedom over their accounts (as well as their husbands) but her character is truly flawed. She invested her life into the unsuccessful pursuits of a higher social status and passionate lovers, regarding her husband as something flawed and defective. Cruel to him so many times, she would carelessly go off to lovers, leaving him. In addition to that she’d continue to sign notes, sold property without informing him, all for the desire to get herself more materialistic things. And in the end, instead of her death affecting those who she cared about the most, it affected those she hardly paid attention to unless she wanted something.

Everyone moved on in life as if Emma was never alive, but Charles and Berthe remained affected forever. This proves her selfishness. Emma didn’t want to face the debt that she had caused her family, and she didn’t want to face life without a lover that “would go to all limits” for her, so her lack of responsibility drove her to poison herself. And of course this solves the issues in her life, she no longer has a debt and she no longer has to worry about being loved to the extreme. But this just transfers over the weight of her recklessness. Now, Charles is stuck with all the unpaid bills and is left without a wife, Berthe without a mother. And they suffer from her selfishness in ending her life simply because she didn’t want to take responsibility for it. Charles loses his mind, adopting her habits in signing notes for things that he can’t afford, and locks himself up in her memory. So miserable is he that it leads to his death. And then Berthe---innocent in the whole manner suffers the most, ending up with nothing and having to work in a cotton mill.

Everyone else in the novel gets along fine with the death of Emma, unaffected---actually prospering. Its those that she cared about the least that ironically are affected the most.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Emma Bovary & Her Extremes

And so the love Emma had for Rodolphe “increased each day in proportion to the revulsion she felt for her husband” (p. 184) and she begins to put all her time and energy into the affair. We see her hate Charles with each coming day, especially after the incident with the failed surgery of Hippolyte’s leg. When Emma finds out her husband has only made things worse she begins to throw “her soul into her longing [of her lover once again], surging toward it with a new enthusiasm” (p. 183). And once again, no longer does she hold her husband in high esteem.

After investing so much into the affair with Rodolphe and revolving her happiness around it, she loses him because of her extremity of feelings. He, only wanting a mistress from the end, must leave her because she begins to put pressure on him to run away with her, become her one and only. And so, he puts a end to the affair which appears to nearly put an end to Emma’s life. She becomes sickly to the point where she can’t even get out of bed. With her recovery, she becomes a pious wife, devoted to religion. However her extremity of her devotion soon wears out, like her other extremities, not fortified enough to last. But, alas, she is reunited with a love that was never kindled and now our Leon, seeming to be more upfront about his emotions, doesn’t let her escape without showing her how he feels. By doing so, he rekindles the passion she once had for him. Upon her arrival back home, she learns that her Charles’ father has passed away, he grieves for the loss of him, she grieves for the absence of the love of Leon. Being reminded of Leon, she begins to long for him and feels as though she must see him. Conjuring up the excuse of needing to get fabric to once again bask in his presence, she sets out once again to Hirondelle.

The faulty trait of our heroine, is the extent to which she embraces things, whether its an affair, motherhood (at first), or religion. She focuses her attention on that solely and her world beings to revolve around it. Her happiness, as well, depends on it. And then when it fails to keep her happy (as in the case with Leon leaving the first time and Rodolphe leaving), she sinks down into a grave depression as if she is going to die, her extremes prove to be a weakness. It is already apparent that Leon is now taking the place of religion and her previous lover. Now, readers can only sit and ponder whether or not the same will occur with Leon.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

3rd entry

One interesting part in this third reading is that the case of Hippolyte can be an allusion to Emma's life. Hyppolyte has a problem with one of his legs, and in order to try to save Charles' carrer, she convinces both Charles and Hyppolite to make a surgeon. However, this process fails and Hyppolite needs to amputate one leg. This situation alludes to her life because Hyppolite had already accepted that condition in his life, however they tried to change it. Emma, on the other side, is increasing her debt with Lheureux and her financial situation goes deep down. This means that she is trying to change her life style, the conditions of her family and that she is not a person from high society, to something that she is not.
Another interesting part is that her thought of having a suicide foreshadows the end of book. When Rodolphe sends her the letter that he is not going to run away, she wants to die, and this give the impression that the same situation will happen with her other lovers, and the she will end up alone and dead. This situation also shows how Charles is naive. He finds the letter written from Rodolphe, but he thinks its a platonic love, even with the whole town suspecting it and his mother fighting with Emma.