Charles's love for Emma in Madame Bovary and its destructive consequences

Madame Bovary

Charles Bovary and his fictional life are a trite example of the old saying, "love is blind." His life and deeds, relationship with Emma and failure on multiple counts to be aware of her transgressions and those against his family lead to his complete social, emotional and financial destruction. His blindness may be an innate character flaw, which is characterized by his obliviousness when it comes to choosing friends and associates but it is his blindness in his relationship with Emma that sows the seeds of his ultimate self-destruction. His blindness goes so far as to create a legacy of ruin, carried even by his daughter, who uncharacteristic of any desire of a father is left penniless and at the mercy of relatives when Charles succumbs to his own folly and dies, indebted by his own blindness and the frivolity and contempt of his late wife Emma. Even in death Emma exercises her power over him, and her resentment for his inability to provide her with the exciting life she had dreamed of as a child, through literature.

The work as a whole demonstrates a few key points associated with the period in which it was based and written, one that a simple man (seeking to achieve only the best he can) should not entangle himself with a woman who wants much more (due to fantasies associated with reading (188) and two that being blind to love is dangerous and should therefore be avoided. It was this very didactic that let Charles' life turn to ruin as time went by.

Though initially Charles is dubbed as a loyal and good man, his ignorance to Emma's disloyal behavior as well as the unfortunate manner in which he is coerced into doing and not seeing things that he should builds a case for the reader to dislike him and therefore presume that his end will not be good. So, as the narrative progresses simultaneously with Charles' life and love for Emma the reader likes him less and his life becomes worthy of less and less. Finally spiraling out of control and ending in his own death, presumably of a broken heart after finally coming to terms with how blind he had been regarding Emma. The most consequential occurrence in Charles' life, his utter failure at surgical intervention on a clubbed foot, that results in amputation for the patient by another doctor, is in fact highly motivated by Emma's greed and hope for greater than Charles could ever provide. Knowing that Bovary, being of relatively sound mind and knowing his own limitations as a doctor would never agree to perform such a surgery Homais first went to Emma, convinced her of the sure success of the plot so she, as expected would convince Charles, with her womanly ways to accept the challenge. If anyone wished to contrive to convince Charles of anything, they knew how to reach him, through his devotion to Emma.

Homais] had recently read an article praising a new method of curing clubfoot, and...'After all'-- he said to Emma -- what's there to lose? And look at what's to be gained,... "Almost certain success, cure and improved appearance for the patient, swift fame for the surgioun. Why shouldn't it be your husband, for example...(Homais lowered his voice and looked around) "what's to stop me from sending a little article about it to the newspaper?...."..Emma was convinced: Charles had a good chance of succeeding:,...and what a satisfaction it would be for her to have persuaded him to take a step that would enhance his reputation and add to his fortune! She was eager to have something more solid than love to lean on. Urged on by the apothecary and Emma, Charles agreed to go through with it.

Flaubert 169-170)

Because Charles believe Emma to be flawless in nearly every way he then went about convincing himself of his own ability to successfully complete the very complicated surgery which ended in an blood intervention, and certain death for the patient without the amputation of his leg. The whole of the sequence leads one to believe that Charles is so daft that he would put his own life, not only his reputation on the line if Emma believed that it should be so. Charles from this point forward in the work becomes a piteous example of a spineless fool, and Emma likes him even less for it and therefore becomes even more distant.

When Emma begins her infatuation with Leon, at first she is able to control her desire to become his lover, though others clearly notice her favoritism of him and assume that such is the case. Charles ignores many of his wife's detractors in the community and even goes without questioning her extravagant gift giving to Leon, he sees no real danger just an innocent infatuation. After Leon leaves unrequited, Emma is seduced by the cad Rudolphe and proceeds to have a long sordid affair with him, she is then able to respond to Leon when she meets him later. After Rudolphe abandons her and Leon proves an unsatisfactory replacement Emma shows all the signs of a woman scorned. All the while Charles sees all that everyone else sees, her fondness for Leon and her time away with Rudolphe and still believes his wife to be virtuous, even when many around them do not. (97)

Even after many years of watching his wife travel through the throws of love and rejection with other men, Charles still defends her after she has died and he finds love letters from Rudolphe. (336) Charles is hopelessly blinded by his love for Emma and his complete faith and trust in her. He gives little thought to the faded letters and the unpaid bills and allows his life to slip completely out of his own grasp.