The Self Destruction Of Characters In Madame — страница 2

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bone dry; her daughter and husbanddo not get any of it. Despite all of this, she begins to swindle money out ofher husband’s accounts and put him into debt. She even confronts patients ofhis claiming to speak on his behalf. She collects overdue payments from themwithout giving any of it to her husband. Her blinded husband can not figureout where all of his money has gone until it is too late. He loses his medicalpractice as well as his house due to the financial burdens Emma is causing. Emma inflicts a lot of pain on her husband and her friends because of herearthly desires. Emma on many occasions even uses good works to benefit herself. Shebecomes a serious Christian for a while to improve her image. One wouldassume that this did not work out for her, because the lifestyle she

would haveto lead would be, to her, a deprived lifestyle. Emma always views her husbandas a good for nothing doctor who could not do anything right. When herhusband is preparing to perform a rare operation, one in which a successfuloutcome would make him, as well as her, famous, she all of a sudden becomesextremely supportive and helpful. These incidents exemplify Emma Bovary’slust for fame, fortune, and a good reputation. She will do whatever isnecessary to get her way. When Charles and Emma have a baby they were both excited at first. Soon Emma grows to hate the “ugly” and “burdensome” toddler. She oftenleaves the baby unattended for hours while she runs off on her romanticescapades. The baby often is deprived of necessities due to the fact thatEmma has dug Charles so

deep in debt. She also likes to blame the child forher problems and carelessly look after it. She shows no love toward the childmost likely because it requires too much effort and provides little pleasure. Emma Bovary ends her life in the most selfish of ways. She commitssuicide. In doing so she leaves a husband with no money and a baby with noone to care for it. Berthe, the baby, ends up living with an impoverished auntand working in a cotton mill. Her mother leaves her with no dowry and nofuture. Gustave Flaubert, the author of Madame Bovary, switched fromsympathetic to not so sympathetic throughout the novel. As Emma becomesmore vile and greedy, Flaubert appropriately portrayed her as being worse andworse. By the end of the novel the reader finds that he or she can not

standEmma. Her materialistic thoughts and her selfish actions are unimaginable. Flaubert modeled Emma’s character most likely after himself. He was oftenbitter and unhappy due to the desparity that existed between his unattainabledreams and fantasies and the realities of life. He was often quoted saying,”Madame Bovary, c’est moi!”. He felt that he was one in the same withMadame Bovary. Many comparisons can be drawn between Madame Bovary and Crimeand Punishment. Both in Madame Bovary and Crime and Punishment thereare characters that self-destruct due to indulgence of material things. A fewcomparisons between the two characters of these novels, Emma andMarmeladov, include the worshipping of material things; careless actions; andthe harming of those they love. As you can see

these characters are verycomparable. Anyone opposing this idea would argue that Emma andMarmeladov meant well, but the facts state that the majority of their actionswere of a selfish intent. They do everything without regard to anyone else’swell being. The intentions of Flaubert and Dostoevsky were to surreptitiouslyridicule these selfish character flaws. Through these characters they were alsoable to lift up other characters such as Sonia, Marmeladov’s daughter. Experiences of their past affected the tone of language and the use ofdescriptive writing in their novels. Flaubert used Emma to represent his owncharacter flaws, while Dostoevsky was trying to get political points across. One knows that these views are widely accepted, though often poorlyexpressed.