7 Madame Bovary, Ch 1-5

1. Dimity: a sheer usually corded cotton fabric of plain weave in checks or stripes. -Merriam-Webster Online

"Emma, dressed in a dimity dressing gown, was leaning her head against the back of the old armchair." -Page 224


2. In these chapters, Emma and Leon finally begin their affair. Emma tries to be virtuous and writes a letter to Leon explaining why she can't love him, but when she goes to deliver it to him one thing leads to another and they end up making love in the back of a cab. From there the relationship escalates, with Emma finding excuses to visit him. Eventually Emma starts taking "piano lessons," which are really just an excuse for her to go to the city and see her lover. While doing so, Emma sinks very deeply into debt. Also in this section Charles's father dies. While Charles is absolutely broken-hearted, Emma is not really affected.


3. The begger Emma encounters on her trips back to Yonville was both terrifying and mesmorizing to me. I think that he will play a larger role in the book than is evident at this time. He also seems to be a symbol for Emma's moral decay. While he is physically rotting, with skin rotting away and scabs appearing, she is spoiling internally from her adulterous behavior. Where she was once innocent she is now much too experienced and past a point from which she will ever return. This is mirrored in the beggar, although in a different way. Emma's moral lacking is also mirrored with her mounting debts. While she is rapidly receding into financial ruin, she is also losing any morals she had left. It's a very intelligent and interesting way to emphasize her deterioration without coming right out and pointing it out.


4. My first question is why Flaubert included the section where Justin is yelled at by Homais because of the pan. I assume it's foreshadowing but I'm not entirely sure. It seems out of place and is never mentioned again.

My section question is why Lheureux keeps trying to get Emma more into debt. He seems like an evil man, but I'm not sure what his intentions are.

My final question is regarding what Emma will do. Obviously it will not be easy to get herself out of her financial situation, but will she confess to Charles or will she continue to try to find a way out by herself?