Her Too Lofty Dreams, Her Too Narrow House:

The Everyman’s Tragedy

Gustave Flaubert once said of his character from Madame Bovary, “Emma Bovary, c’est

moi”—Emma Bovary, is me. The similarity between Flaubert and Emma is difficult to distil at

first. After all, he is a renowned French writer and pillar of literary realism, and she, an ordinary

house wife whose life is consumed by adulterous affairs. However, when the depths of Emma’s

tragedy and character are explored, Emma’s characteristics seem almost universal. Her romantic

idealism is one that has surely plagued, and still plagues many. For who have not ever

disillusioned themselves with fantastical ideals, as Emma had? And felt disappointed with reality

afterwards, as Emma had? Emma’s tragedy is a universal one: when Flaubert writes of Emma,

he writes not of the story of a single woman, but all the others who have allowed naïve ideals to

disillusion them. Perhaps what Flaubert had initially meant when he commented on Emma, was

“Emma Bovary, c’est tout le monde”—Emma Bovary, is everyone.

Emma’s story begins in a convent school, where the seeds of her romantic ideals, and her

downfall, are first sowed. There, behind the nuns’ backs, Emma “soiled her hands” with novels

filled with romantic fantasies: “love affairs, lovers, mistresses, persecuted ladies fainting in

lonely country houses […] sobs, tears and kisses[...]” (36). These were petty and repetitive

novels, overflowing with emotion but empty otherwise. However, they gave Emma a raison

d’etre: the heroes of her novels became her idea of perfection and the passion, romance and

adventure they experienced became her goals for life. The influence of these novels on young

Emma is dramatic, evident by her change in character before and after. The once docile favourite

of the nuns became a rebel who was “increasingly irritated by [their] discipline” (38). In one

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instance, she invented sins at the confessional, for the sake of “stirr[ing] previously unknown

depths of sweet emotion” (35). Here, Emma forgoes authority and morality for mere thrills; she

truly “rejected as useless anything which did not contribute to the immediate gratification of her

heart” (35). The romantic nature that Emma develops not only expels her from the convent

school, but allows the very object of her desires to elude her time and time again in later years.

Indeed, her romantic tendencies are ironically the downfall of her romantic life.

This truth is seen in cyclic nature, for Emma Bovary’s life story embodied in the novel is

a cycle of failed romance to failed romance. Her relationship with the three chief loves of her

life: Charles Bovary, Rodolphe Boulanger and Leon Depuis all result in heartbreak and despair

for always the same reason: the romance always ends when Emma realizes the disparities

between her romantic ideals and the realities of the romance. Through the examples of her

romances with Charles, Rodolphe and Leon, Emma’s tragic flaw—her romantic nature—can be

identified.

The cycle begins with Emma’s marriage to Charles. It is her romantic sentiments that

propel her into the marriage, for to her, he represents an escape from the dullness of life on her

father’s farm. While at her father’s house, she felt herself as “extremely disillusioned” and as “a

woman with nothing more to learn and no more emotions to experience” (38). However, an

opportunity to shed this crestfallen outlook seems to present itself, for she says that “The

stimulation of this man’s presence, had been enough to make her believe that she at last

possessed that marvellous passion” (39) that she had read about in books. Awash with

expectancy and rekindled romantic ideals, Emma marries Charles. However, the marriage begins

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to crumble as Emma realizes how far from her ideals her marriage with Charles compares. She

holds onto her ideals of the perfect man with a tenacious clasp, never ceasing to compare her

husband with the heroes of her novels and never ceasing to despair over the great disparity

between them. Unlike the heroes of her romance novels, “[Charles] did not know how to swim,

fence or shoot a pistol” (40). This facet of his ineptitude is a source of much resentment from

Emma who cries “shouldn’t a man know everything, excel at all sorts of activities, initiate you

into the turbulence of passion, the refinements and mysteries of life?” (40). Her words show how

disillusioned she is with the idea of love and how ludicrously high her ideals are held. Her

marriage is set for failure for her displeasure will not end until Charles meets her ideals—that is

until he learns to swim, fence, shoot a pistol, know everything and fulfill myriad other traits of

the perfect man.

It is not surprising then, that Emma never regains that initial sense of satisfaction that

characterized her first days of marriage. Almost as soon as the romance begins, it ends. Emma’s

sense of romance only embitters her further as “her unfulfilled passion merged into one vast

anguish” under the Bovary roof. “She concentrated her attention on it, stirring up her pain and

always look[ed] for a chance to suffer.”: “She complained bitterly about a badly served dish or a

door left ajar […]” (105). Married life is a huge disappointment to Emma, but only because they

do not compare with her ideals. Charles’ love and devotion to her is unwavering. He idolizes her

like a goddess. Yet she is unsatisfied and resents “the very happiness she [gives] him”. (40)

While she has multiple servants under her and the power to rearrange the household as she sees

fit, she only “lament[s] the velvet she did not own” (40). The fall out of Emma’s marriage is—in

the words of Charles’ mother—“from the silly ideas she fills her head with” (123).

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 As Emma resigns herself to a marriage of disappointment and dissatisfaction, a

surprising, new outlet opens up before her. Rodolphe Boulanger, a charming and womanizing

landowner, meets Emma on a chance visit to Charles. He sees the displeasure of married life in

her countenance, for he says “She’s gasping for love like a carp on a kitchen table gasping for

water.” (147) Revealing his treacherous nature, he immediately forms plans to seduce her and

“get rid of her later” (147). To this end, he feeds her empty words of love and devotion. Having

only met her twice, he professes to her “The thought of you drives me mad” (151), calling their

relationship “fate” and her smile “the smile of an angel”—all empty words in an attempt to

seduce her for his entertainment. Emma, however, being the romantic that she is, devours his

every word faithfully. She felt that “at last she was going to possess the joys of love, the fever of

happiness she has despaired of ever knowing.” (158) Her romantic nature impels her to naively

expect their romance to be a “marvellous realm in which everything would be passion, ecstasy

and rapture.” (158) She eagerly welcomes Rodolphe’s advances without a care for the

consequences because she lived “totally immersed” in the passion and novelty of romance. Once

again, Emma allows her romantic nature to erode her reason. This in turn leads to much despair.

Just like her disillusionment with Charles, the passion and novelty of her affair with

Rodolphe soon wears off and the foolishness of her decision to love him becomes apparent. For

Rodolphe never truly loved Emma as she thought he did: “eventually, sure of her love, he

stopped making any special effort to please her, and little by little his manner changed.” (166)

When finally, he stopped paying attention to her— her “melancholy sighs or the handkerchief

she kept taking out” (166)—Emma recognized her foolishness. She regretted her relationship

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with Rodolphe, wondering, “why she detested Charles, and whether it might not be better if she

could love him” (166). But it is too late, the relationship is already over and Emma’s ill fate is

imminent. For, soon, Rodolphe secretly flees from the town fearing the commitment Emma

seeks, abandoning her and their love altogether. Emma’s romance once again culminates in

despair and anguish because of her romantic ideals.

More tragic is that the anguish and despair that Emma experiences after her second

romantic encounter were avoidable. Had Emma only taken care to treat Rodolphe’s professions

of love with thought and sensibility, rather than acting on the “delicious thrill” (158) that it gave

her, she would have saved herself from the despair of a troubled relationship. However, Emma’s

romantic nature overpowers any thought or sense and hurdles her headlong from one foolish

romance to the next.

The cycle repeats itself with Leon Dupuis, a young lawyer, who lives only doors away.

This is Emma’s final romance. It seems that the despair and anguish of two previous romances

have instilled in Emma a permanent sense of dissatisfaction. For, this time around, there is an

urgency and desperation in her desire to be with him. Her days were “always horrible” made

“more unbearable because of her impatience to seize her happiness again; it was a fierce desire

[…] burst[ing] freely under Leon’s caresses.” (264) Here, one sees an image of a frenzied,

disoriented Emma doing anything to maintain a hold on romantic passion. Her romantic nature

seems to take a life of its own. Though there is a sense of urgency in her romantic desires, Emma

is no more reasonable and no less foolish than pages past. Never letting go of old romantic

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principles, she would write love letters to Leon, letters “concerned with flowers, poetry, the

moon and the stars” (277), even when the act made her feel “nothing extraordinary” (278).

Along with writing Leon pointless letters, she would also meet him at expensive hotels

and buy him gifts. This was her way of rejuvenating the romance in her life, through “external

means” (278), that is, through the association of beautiful things. No doubt, her desire for

romantic passion has propelled her to a high degree of desperation, and dangerous spending

habits. As a result of her lavish spending, she is soon consumed by an insurmountable debt that

jeopardizes all her and her husband’s property: their land, the house they live in, and the very

clothes on their back.

Even the romance begins to fall apart as Emma’s desperation impels her to act

capriciously. In one incident, when Leon missed a scheduled meeting, she “left in a fury” and

decided that “she now hated him”. (277) The realities of her feelings for him rose to the surface

in that sudden fury, for in the heat of the moment she calls him “weak, commonplace, spineless

as a woman and stingy” (277). The sudden fury erodes their already wavering romance for

“disparaging those we love always detaches us from them to some extent” (277).

Emma’s romantic nature and her desire for it, damages her romance with Leon. Not only,

it results in an insurmountable debt and a neglected house, husband and child. The failure of

Emma’s final romance and the consequences of it dissolve all value she sees in her life. Not

surprisingly, she ends her life with suicide, consumed by the desperation, disappointment and

anguish that resulted from three failed romances. In death, Emma Bovary’s romantic nature is

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finally satisfied. In her dreams, “she saw another man, a phantom composed of her most ardent

memories, her strongest desires and the most beautiful things she had read.” This elusive, perfect

lover “finally became so real, so accessible that she was thrilled and amazed” (286).

The tragedy of Emma’s life is all the more tragic because it is one that every man and

woman can relate to. Emma’s desire for romance and her naïve romantic ideals are subjects that

most, if not all, have experienced sometime in their life. Fortunately for many, the foolishness of

such sentiments is often realized, or at least, never acted upon. For Emma, however, her romantic

desires and ideals consume her life by influencing her satisfaction with her marriage, her choices

in lovers and how she handles her romances. Ultimately, her romantic nature becomes a source

of foolishness, anguish and desperation that consummates in debt and suicide. Truly, Emma’s

downfall is a result of her romantic ideals.