There are many characters that fall in love with Emma in the novel Madame Bovary. Out of all these characters, the most jealous one is Rodolphe. The least jealous is the naïve and foolish Charles, Emma’s husband. However, it seems that Charles, who happens to be the least jealous one is also most in love with Emma. This is shown by the fact that he goes to great lengths to please Emma and make her happy at his own expense, regardless of Emma’s cold and destructive demeanor towards Charles. Indeed, the decaying economic situation that Charles was in towards the end of the novel was all due to Emma’s reckless, inconsiderate borrowing of money for the purpose of using it to maintain her affairs. On the other hand, Rodolphe is a completely different
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Flaubert associates this incompetence of Charles with the foolishness of his love for Emma. Thus, in a certain way, the foolishness is used by Flaubert to prove Charles’ blind love for Emma. In fact, Charles is so in love and foolish that he decides to give Emma power of attorney even though she had been slowly decaying the family financial situation. Emma is aware of this weakness, and takes advantage of it: “one day she showed him the rough draft of a power of attorney to manage and administer his business, arrange all loans, sign and endorse all bills, pay all sums, etc. She had profited by Lheureux 's lessons.” Signs such as when Emma insists on visiting Leon right after being granted power of attorney over Bovary’s finances and ends up spending three days in Rouen with Leon, aren’t subtle at all. Charles should have picked up on these signs. In fact, Emma’s waste of money as well wasn’t subtle at all: “They were at the Hotel-de-Boulogne, on the harbour; and they lived there, with drawn blinds and closed doors, with flowers on the floor…“They sat down in the low-ceilinged room of a tavern, at whose door hung black nets. They ate fried smelts, cream and cherries.” Even for a man as foolish and incompetent as Charles, it is impossible for these little details to slip the attention, so it must have been the case that Charles tolerated Emma because he loved her so much and put so much trust in her that there …show more content…
While it is true that he is aggressive in his approach towards Emma Bovary, and in his romance with her, Rodolphe fakes tears on a letter sent to keep Emma away. He does this just because he doesn’t want to deal with the hassle of her child. Upon closer inspection of the contrasting behaviors between Charles and Rodolphe, the intensity of love that Rodolphe has for Emma seems to fade away in comparison to that of Charles. To further support this point, I will bring the following quotation that shows how unwilling Rodolphe was when it came to helping Emma in such a critical situation as borrowing money to prevent her property from being seized. “Well, I am ruined, Rodolphe! You must lend me three thousand francs.” To which Rodolphe replies: “Dear madame, I have not got them.” If Rodolphe doesn’t care or even make an effort to help Emma when she risks homelessness, or worse such as risking Charles finding out about the affairs, then truly he couldn’t have been that in love with Emma. Yet, he was passionate in his love. Thus, truly jealousy is not a defining trait of
Flaubert associates this incompetence of Charles with the foolishness of his love for Emma. Thus, in a certain way, the foolishness is used by Flaubert to prove Charles’ blind love for Emma. In fact, Charles is so in love and foolish that he decides to give Emma power of attorney even though she had been slowly decaying the family financial situation. Emma is aware of this weakness, and takes advantage of it: “one day she showed him the rough draft of a power of attorney to manage and administer his business, arrange all loans, sign and endorse all bills, pay all sums, etc. She had profited by Lheureux 's lessons.” Signs such as when Emma insists on visiting Leon right after being granted power of attorney over Bovary’s finances and ends up spending three days in Rouen with Leon, aren’t subtle at all. Charles should have picked up on these signs. In fact, Emma’s waste of money as well wasn’t subtle at all: “They were at the Hotel-de-Boulogne, on the harbour; and they lived there, with drawn blinds and closed doors, with flowers on the floor…“They sat down in the low-ceilinged room of a tavern, at whose door hung black nets. They ate fried smelts, cream and cherries.” Even for a man as foolish and incompetent as Charles, it is impossible for these little details to slip the attention, so it must have been the case that Charles tolerated Emma because he loved her so much and put so much trust in her that there …show more content…
While it is true that he is aggressive in his approach towards Emma Bovary, and in his romance with her, Rodolphe fakes tears on a letter sent to keep Emma away. He does this just because he doesn’t want to deal with the hassle of her child. Upon closer inspection of the contrasting behaviors between Charles and Rodolphe, the intensity of love that Rodolphe has for Emma seems to fade away in comparison to that of Charles. To further support this point, I will bring the following quotation that shows how unwilling Rodolphe was when it came to helping Emma in such a critical situation as borrowing money to prevent her property from being seized. “Well, I am ruined, Rodolphe! You must lend me three thousand francs.” To which Rodolphe replies: “Dear madame, I have not got them.” If Rodolphe doesn’t care or even make an effort to help Emma when she risks homelessness, or worse such as risking Charles finding out about the affairs, then truly he couldn’t have been that in love with Emma. Yet, he was passionate in his love. Thus, truly jealousy is not a defining trait of