Question
: (1) : Discuss the major themes of the novel “Madame Bovary”
Answer: Theme is one of the most
important issues in a literary composition that conveys some universal ideas and
truth. Here in the novel titled “Madame Bovary”, written by a
French novelist, Gustave Flaubert, there are several dominating themes. The
themes, the inadequacy of expression, the powerlessness of women, the disease
of romanticism and the failure of Bourgeoisies, are recurring. They have been
elucidated one by one below.
In
“Madame Bovary” Gustave Flaubert shows how language is often an
inadequate medium for expressing emotions and ideas. The characters’ frequent
inability to communicate with one another is emblematic of the fact that words
do not perfectly describe what they signify. For example, in chapter one
Charles’ teacher thinks that he says his name ‘Charbovari’. Again the
inadequacy is expressed through Emma repeatedly in the novel. For example, when
she tries to express her love to Rodolphe or when she wants her distress known
to the priest.
Emma Bovary always hopes for a baby
boy as ‘a woman is always hampered’. Throughout “Madame Bovary”
Emma’s male companions possess the power to change her life for better or worse
- a power she herself lacks. Even Charles contributes to Emma’s powerlessness.
His laziness prevents him from becoming a good doctor and his incompetence
prevents him from advancing into a higher social class that might satisfy
Emma’s yearnings. As a result, Emma is stuck in a country town without much
money and fantasy. Again Rodolphe possesses the financial power to take Emma
away from her life with Charles but Emma, as a woman, is incapable of fleeing on
her own. When Leon Dupuis being discontent, moved to a city, Emma is shackled
to a husband or a child.
Flaubert in the novel shows that Emma’s
disappointments are the result of the failure of French Bourgeoisies society
and she aspires to have the taste more refined and sophisticated than that of
her class. This frustration reflects a rising social and historical trend of
the last half of the 19th Century. The time when Flaubert wrote this
novel, the word ‘Bourgeoisies’ referred to the middle class, people who
lacked independent wealth and ancestry of the
novelty but whose professions did not require them to perform physical
labour to earn their living. Their tastes were characterised as gaudily
materialistic. For example, in the pharmacist Homais’ long-winded, know-it-all
speeches shows the Bourgeoisies classes’ pretension to knowledge and learning
and its failure of the new ideals that this class does not completely
understand.
In the novel, Emma is the result of
reading romantic novels that she has found at the convent. These books have reflected
the more exuberant aspects of Romanticism, a literary and artistic movement
that focused on the expression of an individual. Emma fixes herself on the
typical ideas of romantic novels and creates an illusory world of her own
but as fantasy is rarely like reality she creates chaos all around her. She
actually becomes physically ill after each of her romantic episodes in her
life. In this sense, romantic ideas are depicted as a disease by the author. When
Neon departs from her sensing the impossibility of his marriage with her, she
becomes physically and psychologically unwell.
In conclusion, it is apparent in the
analysis that the middle class people are beset with a number of crises that
have been illuminated beautifully by Flaubert in the excellent novel “Madame
Bovary” through the aforesaid recurring themes.
Md. Saiful Alam
B. A. Honours and M. A. in English
Lecturer of English
Queen’s College, Dhaka
E-mail: suman64924@gmail.com
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