Charles was married to a young woman. She was his second wife. The first one died. His first wife was a widower. Charles married her because he was unsure of himself. In fact, his own mother was unsure if Charles could survive on his own. Even with impressive credentials and with the title of doctor attached to his name, Charles’ mother had good reasons to worry about his son’s future. Therefore, she initiated the arranged marriage between his son and a widower who was very much older than Charles. When he married Emma, she inherited Flaubert’s moniker given to Charles’ wife (Flaubert 18). Emma is now known as Madame Bovary junior to distinguish her from the elder Bovary. The same moniker was given to Charles’ former wife. However, the story will immortalize Emma as Madame Bovary. A few years after his marriage to Charles, she committed adultery. It is therefore important to ask the question if the reader should sympathize with Emma or go the other route and be revolted by her actions. It is the humble opinion of this commentary that readers should sympathize with Madame Bovary; however, they must never condone her actions.
The Meaning of Adultery
The world may scoff at the concept of adultery as an outdated relic from Medieval past. But adultery does not go out of style. Fidelity in marriage is as important today as it was in ancient times when the concept was first invented. Faithfulness towards one spouse goes beyond the idea of fairness. In modern times the discussion is sometimes simplified to adhere to a shallow moral system. The discussion sometimes ends in the analysis of fairness of a certain action. It is not fair to cheat on someone, especially if he is the husband or she is the wife.
Readers must understand that the debate concerning the importance of faithfulness must exceed the expectation of fairness. If the standard has been lowered to the most basic requirement of fairness, then, it is easier for husbands and wives to cheat on each other. The only thing needed is the mutual understanding that if one has committed adultery, then, he or she has been given the go signal to do the same in the name of fairness. It is interesting to note that Charles’ mother knew of her husband’s infidelity. However, she did not use that knowledge as a license to commit adultery with another person. In the same manner, Charles’ had an idea of his wife’s infidelity. He discovered the note that she had received from the slick con artist Mr. Boulanger. Nevertheless, he turned a blind eye because he loved her wife.
Madame Bovary’s adulterous affair with the playboy Boulanger must never receive the acceptance of a forgiving public. It is an acceptable proposition to sympathize with her, but it is not prudent to condone her actions. The strong disagreement leveled at her actions can be explained by the careful examination of the circumstances surrounding her adulterous affair.
First of all, Madame Bovary had no justification for her actions. Charles was a faithful husband to her. Charles was not a mean drunk who came in at night like a Tasmanian devil devouring everything in his path. He was not lazy. In fact, in the latter part of the story, Charles had the capacity buy her a gift. Due to his hard work he was able to provide for their basic needs. At the end, Charles realized that he had to do more, and so, he indulged her with trips to the city so that she could watch opera.
The world cannot afford to condone her actions because she used deception to carry out an illicit affair with Mr. Boulanger. One can assume that she continues to have sexual relations with her husband. At the same time she continues to make love with Mr. Boulanger on a regular basis for a span of several weeks. Therefore, there was a high probability that she could be pregnant. It was the chance of getting pregnant while still living with Charles that drew the greatest criticism against her adulterous affair with Mr. Boulanger.
If she was pregnant during the numerous times that she visited Mr. Boulanger’s home and the various times they met secretly to continue with their adulterous acts, she would have covered it up to avoid a scandal that could have made her life miserable. In a desperate attempt to cover the illicit affair, she could easily pretend to love Charles so that her husband will unknowingly accept the baby that she is carrying in her womb as his own child.
Sympathy for Madame Bovary
The world cannot afford to condone the actions of Madame Bovary. However, the world can offer a sympathetic shoulder to cry on. There are two reasons why readers must sympathize with Madame Bovary. First, she was a victim of a full-time playboy and part-time con artist in the person of Mr. Boulanger. She was an idealist who had no idea how the world works beyond the confines of the convent and the romance novels that she read while she was a teenager. It was not her fault that she lacked the sophistication to separate fact from fiction. She thought that the characters in the novel were real. She did not realize that the emotions of the characters in the novels were the byproduct of a writer’s imagination. Therefore, she was convinced that every woman must have the opportunity to experience bliss, in the same way that the heroines in the story were able to have a chance to experience ecstasy in the arms of their lovers.
It was not her fault that she would become the target of a manipulator, and a scum of the earth in the name of Mr. Boulanger. His future lover and the person that will eventually break her heart could never claim love at first sight. In fact, he eyed her like a raptor studied his prey. This is what he said after he lusted after her:
I think he is very stupid. She is tired of him, no doubt. He has dirty nails, and hasn’t shaved for three days. While he is trotting after his patients, she sits there botching socks. And she gets bored! She would like to live in town and dance polkas every evening. Poor little woman (Flaubert 214).
There was not a hint of true love in that voice. He was looking at the angles in the same way that a bank robber tries to analyze the weakness of a bank vault. He was a playboy, and that was the reason why he hesitated at first to set the trap. He hesitated not because of any moral reason that made him uncomfortable. He was afraid to lose his freedom to pursue other women. This was Mr. Boulanger’s thought process when he was setting in motion an elaborate plan to seduce the hapless Madame Bovary:
With three words of gallantry she’d adore one, I’m sure of it. She’d be tender, charming. Yes; but how to get rid of her afterwards?’ Then the difficulties of lovemaking seen in the distance made him by contrast think of his mistress. She was an actress at Rouen, whom he kept (Flaubert 215).
It can be argued that Madame Bovary was no match to an expert manipulator like Mr. Boulanger. Her lover was a master puppeteer and he knew how to pull the strings. There is however a second reason why the world needs to offer a sympathetic shoulder to cry on. Madame Bovary deserved the love of a husband who is wise and mature enough to understand her needs.
There is perhaps a reason why the author spent a great deal of space trying to retrace the development of Charles’ character (Flaubert 3). A painstaking reconstruction of the family’s history was made to illustrate the character of Monsieur Bovary (Flaubert 10). At the same time, the author also devoted considerable space to describe Charles’ propensity to be attracted to mediocre living. It was perhaps the reason why Madame Bovary was unhappy in her marriage.
Conclusion
The world cannot condone Madame Bovary’s actions especially if one will consider the consequences of her actions. She was aided by an expert manipulator, therefore, she was able to hide her extra-marital affair from her husband. If she gets pregnant she could have covered it up by the use of clever deception. Charles’ will never know that the baby she is carrying is not his. Furthermore, Madame Bovary had no justification that gives her the right to deceive her husband. Nevertheless, she deserves a sympathetic shoulder to cry on, because she was a victim of an expert manipulator, and heartless playboy in the name of Mr. Boulanger. She deserves sympathy because she was driven to despair by a husband who was not wise enough to discern that she had unfulfilled needs.
Works Cited
Flaubert, Gustav. Madame Bovary. Free eBooks for All, 2007. Web.