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Watermarks
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall:
Where Is Flaubert in Emma Rouault?
by Stephanie A. Hopkins
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During the Nineteenth Century, Europe experienced a literary movement known
as Romanticism. This movement "valu[ed] emotion, intuition, and imagination"
(Rosenbaum 1075). Gustave Flaubert, born in 1821, grew up during
this innovative movement and became entranced by the romantics. Unfortunately,
Romanticism was a "passing affair in France," and young Flaubert realized
it consistently encouraged illusions it could not satisfy" (Bart 54).
His later disgust for the movement would lead Flaubert to writing his greatest
novels.
His most famous and widely renowned novel, Madame Bovary,
is largely an autobiography; however, it also contains partial biographies
of Flaubert's most intimate friends and mistresses. Flaubert and
Ernest Chevalier, a childhood friend, were inseparable youths, until Ernest
left for Paris to study law. When Flaubert visited his friend, he
discovered that Ernest "had set himself up with a mistress in the Latin
Quarter" and "knew of number of Paris brothels" (Bart 64). Later
when Flaubert wrote Madame Bovary, his friend Ernest became the
mature Leon who was determined to have Emma. "The time had at last
come . . . when he must firmly resolve to possess her (Flaubert 199).
As Ernest rose in the legal profession, his intimate friendship with Flaubert
waned and gave "up [his] imagination as too dangerous" (Bart 305).
Leon would also decide to give up certain follies which included Emma.
"He was about to be promoted to head clerk; it was time to settle down
and work hard. He therefore gave up . . . exalted sentiments and
flights of fancy" (Flaubert 251).
Flaubert also found inspiration for Madame Bovary in Louise
Colet, one of his numerous mistresses. She "was the first passion
of [Flaubert's] mature life" (Bart 145). Like Emma, Louise showered
gifts upon her lover. She gave Flaubert "a sachet, her handkerchief,
a lock of hair, and a pair of bedroom slippers" (Bart 146). She also
gave him a family "jewel . . . set in a cigar case with [the] motto: Amor
nel cor" inscribed on it (Bart 294). This gift would become the
signet ring that Emma gives to Rodolphe. Louise was also insistent
on receiving a letter a day from Flaubert. Like Emma's lovers, Flaubert
became tired of this routine and showed his aggressions more openly.
Rodolphe "began to treat [Emma] coarsely, without consideration" (Flaubert
165). Eventually, the affair waned and came to an end, after Flaubert
wrote Louise a goodbye letter. Rodolphe would come to write Emma
such a letter as well. He would not let himself ruin her life (Flaubert
174).
Through all of his affairs with women, Flaubert began to make "a
series of maxims about women" in general (Bart 258). He even tried
to explain these ideas to Louise. Flaubert believed all women "were
never frank with themselves, because they would never admit the purely
physical aspect of attraction and must always deny the existence of evil
or vice in their loved ones" (Bart 258). "In reality [women] longed
in everything for the eternal spouse and always dreamed of the great love
of a lifetime" (Bart 258). Eventually, Flaubert would make this "Emma's
confusion" (Bart 258). Emma imagined a man:
A phantom composed of her most ardent memories, her strongest desires
and the most beautiful things she had read. He finally became so
real, so accessible, that she was thrilled and amazed, even though she
was never able to imagine him clearly , for his form, like that of a god,
was lost in the abundance of his attributes. He lived in that nebulous
realm where silk ladders swing from balconies bathed in moonlight and the
fragrance of flowers. She felt him near her; he was about to come
and sweep her away entirely in a kiss. Then she would fall back to
earth, shattered. (Flaubert 251)
Flaubert also used his family for inspiration when writing Madame Bovary.
Dr. Achille-Cléophas Flaubert, Flaubert's father, became the catalyst
for Charles' father. He and Flaubert were often "set at each other's
throats" (Bart 8). Like Charles, Flaubert felt disconnected from
his father. When Dr. Flaubert died in 1846, Flaubert felt saddened
and discovered that he had always sought his father's council and approbation.
"Charles thought about his father and was surprised to feel so much affection
for him??up till now he had thought he loved him only very moderately"
(Flaubert 217-218).
Flaubert's mother was the inspiration for the elder Madame Bovary,
Charles' mother. Both women would be the central figures in their
sons' lives. Charles' mother "kept him tied to her apron strings... She dreamed of high positions, she saw him already grown up,
handsome and witty, making a successful career for himself" (Flaubert 5).
Many of Flaubert's mistresses, including Louise Colet, would become jealous
of the love Flaubert felt for his mother. This would be similar to
the jealousy felt by Heloise Dubuc-Bovary and Emma toward the elder Madame
Bovary.
By the time Flaubert was ready to write Madame Bovary he already
had a basic plot in mind. He was going to use the story of Delphine
Delamare's life. Madame Delamare was the daughter of a provincial
farmer who marries an officier de santé. "She quickly came
to despise her husband, longed for a more vivid life, began to spend too
much money on clothes, her neighbours, took lovers, sank even more deeply
into debt, boredom, and nymphomania, and finally poisoned herself" (Steegmuller
219). During their marriage, Delamare had been completely unaware
of "his wife's extravagancies and infidelities" (Steegmuller 219).
Flaubert liked this basic plot; however, it lacked psychological
motivations. This problem was solved with the story of Louise Ludovica
Pradier's life. He obtained a lengthy memoir which "detailed the
amours and financial problems" of Ludovica (Bart 267). Like Emma
Bovary, "she was never able really to love; but equally, she was never
able to abandon the hope" (Bart 267). Ludovica fell into debt because
of her numerous affairs and finally began signing promissory notes.
She even "arranged to get a forged power of attorney, thus gaining control
over her husband's income" (Bart 267). Trapped in enormous debt,
Ludovica "turned to her lovers to rescue her . . . but in vain" (Bart 267).
After her house was sold, Ludovica's husband realized the extent of their
debts. The memoir ended noting a legal separation.
Although Flaubert had many resources , "his greatest single source
was himself" (Bart 271). Flaubert "always knew that Emma Bovary was
himself" (Bart 271) and publically stated, "Madame Bovary, c'est moi" (Tillett
13). During his adolescence, Flaubert was invited to a ball at Chateau
du Héron. Since he did not know how to dance, he simply listened
to the "noise of the shoes as they slid over the waxed floor" (Bart 37).
This swishing and tapping was given to Emma's delicate feet during her
ball at La Vaubyessard. In the midst of the festivities, Flaubert
noticed "the local peasants gathered at a window" looking in on how the
upper class lived (Bart 37). During Emma's ball she also noticed
the "peasants looking in from the garden, their faces pressed against the
glass" (Flaubert 44). This would remind Emma of her provincial life
and dreary husband. As the end of the ball approached, Flaubert and
Emma went to bed with "the music of the ball still throbbing in [their]
ears" (Flaubert 46). This experience would become, "for one brief
moment, a reality which Emma would mistake for her romantic dreams" (Bart
37).
In 1844 Flaubert was suddenly struck by apoplectic seizures.
At first the seizures would occur daily; "then they spaced out slowly,
and eventually seemed to have abated as almost to have disappeared.
But tension could always bring them back" (Bart 91). Emma would also
come to be struck with seizures and serious illnesses. These attacks
often occurred when Emma wanted to change their boring lifestyle or when
one of her lovers left her. Like Flaubert, "Emma's convalescence
was slow" (Flaubert 183) and they "did not know how [they] would ever manage
to pay . . . for all the medicaments" (Flaubert 182).
While still a young man, Flaubert often made trips to such places
as Paris and Rouen to see his numerous mistresses such as Louise Colet.
These places "provided easy access to prostitution" (Bart 41). Emma
would also travel to visit her two lovers. In order to see Rodolphe,
Emma would "walk swiftly across the meadow" to "go to La Huchette" (Flaubert
141). In order to see her second lover, Emma would take the Hirondelle
to Rouen. "It was on Thursdays that she made her trips" (Flaubert
225).
In his early adulthood, Flaubert went to see a play performed by
Madame Rachel in Rouen. She was a young tragedienne who was "proclaimed
as the greatest of her generation" (Bart 55). Flaubert had been entranced
by her performance and allowed Emma to live such an experience. After
recovering from one of her illnesses, Homias suggested that Emma and Charles
should see the opera Lucia di Lammermoor. During the opera,
Emma became enraptured by Lagardy, a famous opera tenor. Emma "recognized
all the ecstasy and anguish that had once nearly brought on her death"
(Flaubert 193).
By the time Madame Bovary was published in 1856 Flaubert had
poured "all of his loves and his hatreds into his book" (Bart 261).
He had learned not to count on happiness because such romantic notions
never fulfill their promises. Flaubert realized that "one should
live like a bourgeois and think like a demigod" (Bart 261). A man
should enjoy his dreams and hopes; however, he should never try to actualize
them. "This Emma would never know" (Bart 261).
Works Cited
Bart, Benjamin. Flaubert. Syracuse: Syracuse UP 1967.
Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Trans. Lowell
Bair. New York: Bantam 1972.
Rosenbaum, Robert A. "Romanticism." The New American
Desk Encyclopedia. New York: Signet 1989. 1075.
Steegmuller, Francis. Flaubert and Madame Bovary: A Double
Portrait. New York: Vintage 1939.
Tillet, Margaret G. On Reading Flaubert. London:
Oxford UP 1961. 13-36.
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