1. Breviary: a book of the prayers, hymns, psalms, and readings for the canonical hours. -Merriam-Webster Online
Page 80: "Under the spruce trees near the hedge the sculptured curé in the three-cornered hat reading his breviary had lost his right foot, and the plaster on his face peeling off from the frost had left white patches."
2. In chapters 6-9 of Madame Bovary, the personality of Emma is explored in great depth. Chapter 6 focuses on her life at the convent, where she developed her romantic and often overdone personality. She spent much of her time reading passionate novels and when her mother died she took pleasure in engulfing herself in grief. She moved home to the country where she quickly became bored. When she met Charles, Emma momentarily believed that she had finally found her "love", but she changed her mind after the wedding when she began to find him boring. Although Charles is crazy about her, he cannot provide the whirlwind romance she was expecting. A patient of Charles's, the Marquis d’Andervilliers, invites the Bovarys to a ball at his chateau, and Emma is thrilled with the great wealth and extravagance she sees displayed there. Emma dances with a viscount and decides that she was meant to live a life of affluence. Because of this, when she arrives back home with Charles she sinks into a depression that greatly concerns her husband.
3. Although this section made me pity Emma, it also made me angry at her. Her naivety and arrogance shine and her disregard for her husband becomes apparent. I feel that, once again, a major theme in this section is love, or lack of. Emma believed she loved her husband; she was ecstatic with their relationship until after the wedding. However, after married, she decided he wasn't good enough for her. The monotony of the life he provided was not full of the excitement she had come to expect from the novels she read. Charles absolutely worshipped his wife, but he did not do so in a way passionate enough for her. It became clear that Emma had not felt love for Charles; she had felt lust. It's ironic that Madame and Monsieur Bovary ended up in this situation, because Madame and Monsieur Bovary seniors had been in the reverse. As I quoted in my last entry, on page 30 it says that, "His wife loved him madly at first; she showed her love with a thousand gestures of servility, which estranged him even further from her." Charles Bovary, son of Madame and Monsieur Bovary seniors, was devoted to his wife. However, the more he tried to pull her near to him, the more she tried to push herself away. I think this makes a tremendous statement about "love", or the temporary nature of it. Also, Emma's expectations for love are entirely unrealistic. She put too much value on the fantasies she read and not enough on reality. This is demonstrated while Emma is at the ball. She feels like Cinderella, a commoner in a palace. However, unlike Cinderella, Emma is not grateful for her opportunity. She decides that this life of luxury is the life she deserves, and because of this she completely detaches herself from her husband and her life. When she returns to her home not only does she not love Charles, she despises him. She hates the life he has given her and the "love" she is lacking. She sulks around, daydreaming about her escape, but this just shows how little she knows about love. Emma believes she is looking for love, but really she's looking for lust. Page 76 says that, "In her yearnings she confused the sensualities of luxury with the joys of the heart, the elegance of convention with delicacy of sentiment." Instead of seeing the man in front of her who loves her deeply but mildly, she wants a man who will sweep her off her feet. Not only does this not happen in real life, but it is, in my opinion, not a characteristic of love. Love is when two people are so connected they view the needs of the other as more important than the needs of themselves. Love is not steamy trips to exotic places and secret meetings of desire. It's not Emma's fault that she views love this way - it's the way she was taught through her reading. However, I think this section makes a big point of her callowness and also seems to mock common perceptions of love. When Emma throws her bridal bouquet into the fire she demonstrates her immaturity and it is at this point I began to stop pitying her and start disliking her.
4. The first question I have regarding this section is whether Emma will find the viscount again. I get the impression Emma will at some point have an affair, and I find myself wondering if it will be with this mysterious man.
I also find myself wondering about Félicité, Emma's maid. Emma treats Félicité despicably and with a very snobbish demeanor. I wonder if Charles sees this, and if he does, why he has not done anything about it. This is not the behavior of the Emma he married, and I wonder why he has not stepped in. Granted, he has servilitude problems when it comes to women, but he is a grown man who should be able to consult his wife about her crude behavior.
My third question revolves around the ball. On page 70 there is a paragraph where, "The gentleman kneeled down, and as he reached out, Emma saw the young woman's hand throw something white, folded into a triangle, into his hat." I assumed that this white object was a piece of paper, presumably a calling card, but now I'm not so sure. What was the object thrown into his hat, and what was the purpose? It seems very strange to me to throw one's contact information into a person of interest's hat, but maybe I'm missing something.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
1 Madame Bovary, Ch 1-5
1. Poultices: a soft usually heated and sometimes medicated mass spread on cloth and applied to sores or other lesions. -Merriam-Webster Online
Page 36: "The warm smell of poultices blended in his head with the fresh odor of dew; he heard the iron rings tinkling on the curtain rods of the ward beds and saw his wife sleeping."
2. We are first introduced to Charles Bovary as an unremarkable schoolboy, who, while pleasant, is not particularly intelligent or diligent. He is teased mercilessly in school and then fails medical school, only to get his degree with the help of his mother. His mother then proceeds to secure a marriage between Charles and Heloise Dubac, an ill-tempered widow. Charles's life changes dramatically when he is called to help Rouault, a wealthy farmer who has broken his leg. Charles falls in love with Emma, Rouault's daughter, but because Heloise realizes that Charles has feelings for Emma she forbids him to see her. After his first wife's untimely death, however, Charles is free to do as he likes. He goes on to propose to Emma and they are married shortly after his mourning period is over.
3. I feel that a major theme in this section of Madame Bovary is love. There are two main types of love demonstrated in the first five chapters, familiar love and romantic love. Lust is also shown. The first mention of love appears on page 29, when Charles's mother is reported to have "fallen in love" with his father's good looks, leading to their marriage. However, I believe in this situation a point is being made about lust versus love. Monsieur and Madame Bovary seniors were certainly not in love during Charles's childhood. On page 30 it is said that, "His wife loved him madly at first; she showed her love with a thousand gestures of servility, which estranged him even further from her." They were not married on account of incredible romantic chemistry; rather, they were married because of physical attraction and impressive dowries. The second time love is shown is when the relationship between Charles and his mother is explained. His mother is said to have spoiled Charles tremendously and is extremely over-protective in multiple situations, namely when Charles fails medical school and in arranging his marriage, also demonstrating her love for her child. The relationship between Charles and his first wife, Heloise, is an example of a different sort of feelings. While Heloise loves her husband, she constantly nags him and does not demonstrate her love well at all. Charles has no love for his wife. Instead, he feels almost bitter toward her. When he meets Emma, however, he seems to experience true romantic love for the first time. On page 38, the night he meets Emma, Charles noticed that, "Her real beauty was in her eyes; although they were brown, they seemed black because of the lashes, and she would look at you frankly, with bold candor." While this is not a statement of love it is certainly one of lust, and Charles's feelings only grow from there. He begins to visit the Rouault farm unnecessarily just to see Emma. When Heloise forbids him from visiting anymore, he "concluded that his being forbidden to see her gave him the right to love her," (page 41). After Heloise dies Charles goes through a mourning period, but not with nearly the intensity that would have occurred had he loved her. He soon moves on entirely and begins spending all of his time around Emma, who seems to love him back. All goes well and it seems that Emma and Charles truly have mutual love until after their wedding, when Emma's discontent is foreshadowed. On page 55 it is made clear that Emma was not in love with Charles, especially in the last paragraph which says that, "...the happiness that should have resulted from this love had not come; she must have deceived herself, she thought." This upset me greatly because the paragraph went on to hint that Emma will be unfaithful to Charles, who has nothing but adoration for his new bride. I wanted Emma and Charles to be happy together and be the first example of lasting love in the story, but I don't think that's going to happen anymore.
4. My first question is regarding Emma. Will she actually stray from Charles? It pains me to see her question her love for him. I thought they were adorable and hoped that they would be a demonstration of love, since much of the first five chapters seems to imply that romantic love is not lasting.
Another question I have is in reference to Charles and Heloise. How old was Charles when he married his first wife? It says in the reading that she is a widow of forty-five, but Charles has just graduated medical school, so I doubt he is even nearly her age. Was it common for men to marry women so greatly their senior?
A final question I have has to do with the description of the food at the wedding. There was a lot of detail put into the food and I was wondering about the significance of it. I would guess that it has to do with showing the extravagence of the affair, but I'm not entirely grasping why such importance was placed on the feast.
Page 36: "The warm smell of poultices blended in his head with the fresh odor of dew; he heard the iron rings tinkling on the curtain rods of the ward beds and saw his wife sleeping."
2. We are first introduced to Charles Bovary as an unremarkable schoolboy, who, while pleasant, is not particularly intelligent or diligent. He is teased mercilessly in school and then fails medical school, only to get his degree with the help of his mother. His mother then proceeds to secure a marriage between Charles and Heloise Dubac, an ill-tempered widow. Charles's life changes dramatically when he is called to help Rouault, a wealthy farmer who has broken his leg. Charles falls in love with Emma, Rouault's daughter, but because Heloise realizes that Charles has feelings for Emma she forbids him to see her. After his first wife's untimely death, however, Charles is free to do as he likes. He goes on to propose to Emma and they are married shortly after his mourning period is over.
3. I feel that a major theme in this section of Madame Bovary is love. There are two main types of love demonstrated in the first five chapters, familiar love and romantic love. Lust is also shown. The first mention of love appears on page 29, when Charles's mother is reported to have "fallen in love" with his father's good looks, leading to their marriage. However, I believe in this situation a point is being made about lust versus love. Monsieur and Madame Bovary seniors were certainly not in love during Charles's childhood. On page 30 it is said that, "His wife loved him madly at first; she showed her love with a thousand gestures of servility, which estranged him even further from her." They were not married on account of incredible romantic chemistry; rather, they were married because of physical attraction and impressive dowries. The second time love is shown is when the relationship between Charles and his mother is explained. His mother is said to have spoiled Charles tremendously and is extremely over-protective in multiple situations, namely when Charles fails medical school and in arranging his marriage, also demonstrating her love for her child. The relationship between Charles and his first wife, Heloise, is an example of a different sort of feelings. While Heloise loves her husband, she constantly nags him and does not demonstrate her love well at all. Charles has no love for his wife. Instead, he feels almost bitter toward her. When he meets Emma, however, he seems to experience true romantic love for the first time. On page 38, the night he meets Emma, Charles noticed that, "Her real beauty was in her eyes; although they were brown, they seemed black because of the lashes, and she would look at you frankly, with bold candor." While this is not a statement of love it is certainly one of lust, and Charles's feelings only grow from there. He begins to visit the Rouault farm unnecessarily just to see Emma. When Heloise forbids him from visiting anymore, he "concluded that his being forbidden to see her gave him the right to love her," (page 41). After Heloise dies Charles goes through a mourning period, but not with nearly the intensity that would have occurred had he loved her. He soon moves on entirely and begins spending all of his time around Emma, who seems to love him back. All goes well and it seems that Emma and Charles truly have mutual love until after their wedding, when Emma's discontent is foreshadowed. On page 55 it is made clear that Emma was not in love with Charles, especially in the last paragraph which says that, "...the happiness that should have resulted from this love had not come; she must have deceived herself, she thought." This upset me greatly because the paragraph went on to hint that Emma will be unfaithful to Charles, who has nothing but adoration for his new bride. I wanted Emma and Charles to be happy together and be the first example of lasting love in the story, but I don't think that's going to happen anymore.
4. My first question is regarding Emma. Will she actually stray from Charles? It pains me to see her question her love for him. I thought they were adorable and hoped that they would be a demonstration of love, since much of the first five chapters seems to imply that romantic love is not lasting.
Another question I have is in reference to Charles and Heloise. How old was Charles when he married his first wife? It says in the reading that she is a widow of forty-five, but Charles has just graduated medical school, so I doubt he is even nearly her age. Was it common for men to marry women so greatly their senior?
A final question I have has to do with the description of the food at the wedding. There was a lot of detail put into the food and I was wondering about the significance of it. I would guess that it has to do with showing the extravagence of the affair, but I'm not entirely grasping why such importance was placed on the feast.
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