Charles Bovary has the time of his life

Charles Bovary was once married to a much older wife, it was his first marriage but she was a widow, 45 years old with some money to support them (or so they thought). The short marriage ended abruptly when his wife died of a stroke after discovering that her fortune had vanished. He wasn't at all happy with her and his life changed for the better when he married young and pretty Emma.

For Emma the marriage was necessary, she had few other options, if any. Had she been of working class her life would, ironically, have been less restricted. But she was of a striving middle-class, the class that realistic novels in France were most interested in. She was a wealthy farmers daughter and her other options were waiting for  husband of som other wealthy farmer or staying with her parents to take care of them when they got old under the surveillance of one her brothers who would own the farm and sprinkle some of its incomes on her when she begged for it. 

Her poor education and social background prevented her from working as a governess or chambermaid. It seems as if she made a lucky catch when Charles Bovary fell in love with her, and Flaubert is convinced that she did. However, when you take a closer look, Emma seems to have reasons for her "malaise" which she feels even under the most perfect conditons. 

Emma is intended to be a person who becomes a victim of her own delusions. Emma is, like Don Quixjote (or in that case, Alma, herself), addicted to reading, or rather; Emma Bovary is addicted to stories. It all began when  she was a girl at a convent school run by nuns (in fact the only schools that would educate teenage girls at that time in France, public schools were for adolescent boys only). An old woman who did the laundry for the convent school, entertained her with stories and later on Emma discovered the library and sir Walter Scott.  She seems to be full of fantasy and creativity. The only use she will have of that fantasy and creativity for the rest of her life is to make the perfect home for her husband. 


When Charles comes home in the evenings after a full days work he is greeted with a fire burning on the hearth, a beautifully laid table and delicious food. If the food wasn't all that nice, Emma gave the course some interesting name. Emma herself was neatly dressed and smelled nicely, seemingly without any perfume. She took an orphaned girl to be her chamber maid and wait by the table. 

 

Charles had the time of his life. But Emma? Using all her creativity, intelligence, fantasy and energy to prepare a welcoming home for her husband? Is there any just cause for blaming novel reading for the coming tragedy?