Composition

The genre of social and everyday novel has always been popular because it depicts ordinary human characters among familiar pictures of everyday life and raises social problems. But Flaubert, in his work “Madame Bovary,” slightly expanded the boundaries of the ordinary social novel. Showing the life and everyday life of residents of small provincial towns, the writer does not remain at the level of everyday life. The author generalizes and analyzes a certain social type. Flaubert portrays the life and suffering of Emma Bovary not as a purely isolated tragedy of a woman who dreamed only of love and did not find it. The author depicts the heroine's life against the backdrop of important social changes that remain in the behavior and characters of the main characters.

It is Emma who, to some extent, becomes a victim of the romantic illusions that society instilled in her. Nevertheless, her time passed, everything in the world changed. And romantic ideas about the world gradually become inappropriate and funny, although this sometimes leads to tragedy. Emma wants to see the beauty of the soul and high feelings in her surroundings. But none of the husbands she loved wanted to imitate the ideal image she had imagined. They are very everyday to understand a woman’s desire for holy love.

Thus, Emma's tragedy is depicted not as an everyday drama of a woman who has lost faith in her life, but as a social tragedy of a person who does not find protection in society. After all, social life itself gives rise to the problems with which Emma is imbued. Contemporary society seems to be programmed to be pragmatic, neglecting human feelings in the name of money and career. Therefore, Emma was destined for happiness.

So, Flaubert created a novel of a new type, in which he analyzed the foundations of society, its moral principles and paths of development. And Bovary’s everyday problems, depicted without exaggeration or aggravation, help to understand the importance of the influence of society on human life.

G. Flaubert wrote the novel “Madame Bovary” over four years. This is a novel about provincial characters,” as the subtitle says. Having told about the history of adultery in the family of Charles Bovary, about the infatuation of his wife Emma Bovary and about her suicide due to heartfelt and life disappointments, Flaubert described the real story of Doctor Delamare and his wife who lived near Chin. However, the novel represents a socio-philosophical understanding of reality. The mystical town of Yonville, where the events take place, symbolizes the whole of France.

Emma's spiritual drama is in the hopeless conflict between her dreams and reality, between Emma's future monastic upbringing, reading romantic literature and the bourgeois everyday life in which she lives.

Flaubert perfectly characterizes his heroine with these words: “She had to extract personal benefit from every event, and everything that did not give immediate food to her heart, she discarded as a nonentity. Her nature was not so much selfish as sentimental; she was looking not for pictures, but for emotions.”

At thirteen, Emma was raised in an Ursuline convent. Here she wrote down and read romance novels and believed that, like their heroines, sublime, beautiful love awaited her. Novels about love, which told about sobs and vows during the month, left an imprint on the impressionable and sensitive heart of the girl, “being the wife of Charles, Emma believed that in the end “the wonderful feeling that she had hitherto imagined in the form of a bird of paradise, which circles in the radiance of the beautiful sky, took off towards her.” But the man turned out to be gray and everyday, there was nothing knightly about him, behind Emma’s presentation: he could neither fence nor shoot, his tongue was “flat, like a panel.” Charles deified his wife: “The whole world was closed for him within the silky girth of cloth. More and more often, Emma thought that another person, more worthy and interesting, could have taken Charles’s place. Once the dullness of her life was touched by a man, he invited the Marquis d'Andervilliers to a ball at his parent's castle. This heartthrob left an indelible mark on Emma's soul. Luxurious halls, elegant ladies, exquisite dishes, the smell of flowers - everything is like in the novels! But my husband was not interested in all this. And Emma so wanted the name Bovary to become popular so that all of France would know him!

The provincial town of Yonville, where the Bovary couple moved, was not for Emma: there was gossip about everyone there, and no one’s life was a secret. The main outstanding monument of the city was the pharmacy of Mr. Homais, whose face reflected nothing but narcissism, the textile merchant Leray, the local priest and several other people. Against this background, the young assistant notary Leon Dupuis stood out comfortably, not devoid of “high interests.” Emma and Leon immediately felt a kindred spirit in each other. Leon's company brightened up Emma's loneliness. After Leon left for Rouen, Madame Bovary was overcome by boredom; nothing made her happy in this gray life, where there are no holidays. Even her little daughter infuriated her. And now another man has appeared in her life - a rich landowner, 34-year-old bachelor Rodolphe Boulanger. An experienced womanizer, he quickly won Emma’s love, and soon “hiding her face, all in tears, she limply surrendered to him. Now her life acquired content, and this content was in her dates with Rodolphe. But Rodolphe was already beginning to get tired of their relationship, he was worried about Emma’s carelessness, and was infuriated by her whimsicality and sentimentality. And in addition, Emma had an obsession with leaving Yonville with him forever. However, a blow awaited her: Rodolphe was not going to take on such a burden. All Emma's hopes were crushed in an instant! Another blow was dealt to her by Leon, whom she met three years after separation. This was no longer the fearful, shy boy she knew. Things were going well for Leon, he behaved confidently and knew in advance that he would seduce Emma. But a relationship with a married woman could harm his career, and Leon began to think about breaking up with Emma. The opportunity came when Emma approached him for financial help. Things were going very badly for the Bovary family. Charles was in debt, and all his property was put up for sale. Emma rushed to Rodolphe for help, but he coldly declared: “I don’t have that kind of money, madam.” In despair, tired of deception, having experienced difficult disappointments, Emma poisoned herself, solving all her life problems in this way.

But the tragedy of Emma Bovary goes beyond her personal drama. Is Emma Bovary per se vicious? I think no. “All crimes and all betrayals are due to weakness. And therefore they deserve pity." Does this apply to Emma Bovary? I think so, especially since the human qualities of her beloved men were not the highest. And Emma herself did not have immunity against vulgarity, about which V. Nabokov said: “Vulgarity is not something that is frankly bad, but something that is feigned, falsely important, falsely good, falsely smart, falsely beautiful.”

The tragedy of this woman is that she does not strive to escape from this life, like, for example, Nora G. Ibsen. Madame Bovary passed away and was buried... Charles's grief was great and sincere. Soon, without hoping for anything, he died, clutching a strand of Emma's black hair in his hand... Rodolphe, who, just to pass the time, wandered around the forest all day, slept peacefully in his castle; Leon was also asleep. Thus ended the romantic and tragic story of Emma Bovary, a story that often happens when romantic ideas about life come into conflict with unattractive everyday life.

The post was inspired by reading Gustave Flaubert’s novel “Madame Bovary” (or “Madame Bovary” in some translations) (Gustave Flaubert " Madame Bovary" ).

Summary of Gustave Flaubert's novel "Madame Bovary"
Gustave Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary takes place in the mid-19th century in France.

Main characters:
- Charles Bovary is a provincial doctor, a good but unremarkable person.
- Emma Bovary is Charles's second wife.
- Rodolphe Boulanger is a wealthy man who lives not far from the Bovary couple, Emma’s lover.
- Leon Dupuis is a young notary's assistant, Emma's lover.
- Mister Leray is a businessman and moneylender who has entangled the Bovary family with his shackles.

Charles Bovary, an unremarkable young man, received a medical education and became a doctor in the small French town of Tost. He marries a wealthy widow of a bailiff, a woman older than him, but who had a good annual income. Charles began to work well and earned fame in the area as a good doctor. One day he was called to the landowner Ruo, who had broken his leg. He cured Mr. Rouault and began to visit him from time to time. In addition to his good relationship with Ruo, he began to be attracted to Emma Ruo, the daughter of Father Ruo.

Charles's wife, who doted on him, unexpectedly dies. Charles, a little later, asks Emma's hand from her father. Father didn't mind, and Emma didn't mind either. This is how the wedding of the young people took place. Emma, ​​infatuated with Charles, quickly realizes that Charles, despite all his good sides, is a colorless and uninteresting person. Family life with him is just as uninteresting. Madame Bovary passionately desires luxury, life in the capital, balls and dresses, but instead, a rather modest existence in the provinces. Charles, on the contrary, is happy and peaceful: he loves his wife and thinks that she is happy with him.

Having attended a luxurious ball, Emma clearly understands the difference between that life and her existence. They soon move to another city in the hope that it will shake up Emma, ​​but this does not happen. The birth of her daughter Bertha also does not awaken any special feelings in Emma.

In the new city of Yonville, the Bovarys become acquainted with local society. The notary's assistant Leon falls in love with Emma and they begin to communicate. Emma loves him too, but they never admit it to each other. Leon leaves for Paris to finish his education, and Emma begins to waste away again. Soon the wealthy landowner Rodolphe Boulanger appears on Emma's path. He decided to have Emma at all costs and achieved this. They become lovers. Emma begins to become entangled in matters of the heart and money, owing money to the local moneylender Leray. The lovers are so passionate about each other that they decide to elope and plan an escape. On the day of the supposed escape, Rodolphe's common sense (and some weariness with Emma) prevailed, and he decides to abandon the escape and break off the connection with Emma. Emma falls ill after receiving his letter. She has been sick for many months. Caring for her costs a lot of money, Charles also borrows money from the same Leray.

Emma finally gets better and tries to find solace in church. She thinks she finds him, but in fact she only drives her feelings and passions deeper. One day the Bovarys go to the theater and meet Leon there, who has returned after finishing his education. Emma and Leon were once again inflamed with passion for each other. They become lovers. Emma comes up with more and more new tricks to date Leon, she spends a lot of money on him, getting more and more entangled in Leray’s web. Lera, tired of waiting for money, protests the bills through a figurehead, the court seizes the property of the spouses and schedules an auction for its sale.

Emma is trying to find money to pay off her huge debts, turning to her acquaintances and former lovers, but everyone refuses her. In desperation and madness, she swallows arsenic. Charles unsuccessfully tries to save her, resorting to the help of the best doctors in the area. Nevertheless, Emma dies in great agony. Heartbroken, Charles gradually learns the truth about Emma's financial and heartfelt affairs, but still loves her and honors her memory, not allowing her things to be sold. One day he meets with Rodolphe and tells him that he is not angry with him. On the same day he dies in his garden. Charles's mother takes her daughter Bertha, but she also dies quickly. Bertha is taken in by her aunt, they are in great need, so Bertha is forced to go to work at a spinning mill.

The novel “Madame Bovary” ends like this: the rest of the characters in the story very quickly forget Bovary and arrange their lives in the best possible way: Leon marries, Rodolphe lives as before, the pharmacist Homais prospers, Leray prospers. And Bovary is no more.

Meaning
The desire for intense feelings and strong passions and rejection of simple provincial life led the Bovary family to a sad ending: Emma was poisoned, Charles died early, and daughter Bertha had a harsh future ahead of her. Ordinary life, which completely suited Charles, killed Emma, ​​who wanted a bright and luxurious life. Attempts to escape from ordinary life led to a tragic ending.

Conclusion
The narration is very naturalistic and very difficult. The drama is off the charts, so it’s hard to read the denouement, which, without a doubt, should be tragic. I, as a reader, only wish that such stories happened in novels, and not in real life. The product is magnificent!Madame Bovary is a must read!

Finally, I was able to post the long-promised review of five film adaptations of the novel. Everything is as always: the pictures are arranged in order from worst to best. But I must warn you right away: I did not like any of these films enough to keep them in my home collection. So “the best film adaptation” is just a comparative characteristic. In fact, they are all boring, it’s just that some are well made, and some are just crap.

1933 film directed by Jean Renoir

First, let's determine the time of action and the age of the characters. The main events of the novel begin with the move of the Bovary couple to Yonville and end with the death of Emma. These two events are separated by five years. Flaubert does not have an exact dating, but details allow us to approximately determine the time of the move: Madame Bovary in Yonville likes to read the magazine Illustration, founded in 1843, and during the agricultural exhibition the reigning king is mentioned. This can only be Louis Philippe, who ruled from 1830 to 1848 (then the Second Republic began). As a result, we get that Madame Bovary settled in Yonville between 1843 and 1848.

At the time the doctor's family moved to Yonville, Emma Bovary and Léon Dupuis were 20 years old, Charles Bovary was approximately 26 years old, Rodolphe Boulanger was 33 years old, and Justin was 9 years old. At the time of Emma's death, everyone is correspondingly five years older.

The film itself is absolutely nothing, I don’t even know how to characterize it as a whole, so I’ll go straight to the details.

The action of the picture is slightly shifted in time relative to the original source - Charles and Emma meet in 1839, and the main events begin in 1841. The costumes are fantasy, from “curtains”.

Oddly enough, not a single film cast a truly attractive actress for the role of Emma. Absolutely all the performers have an appearance that is not only controversial, but also inappropriate for the image of Madame Bovary. And Valentine Tessier looks the strangest in this role. The actress is 41 years old, she has a hefty cob, a swollen oval face, a tired look, a sagging figure (and the costume designers saved on corsets) and red hair. With such initial data, it is simply ridiculous to depict an eighteen-year-old girl who drives men crazy with her truly “brunette” temperament and the combination of strikingly white skin with black hair and eyes. And when Madame Bovary lies in bed with Leon, smoking a cigarette, the actress has such a look that the only association that comes to mind is a cynical, tired whore with a client. For all her shortcomings, Madame Bovary was definitely not a whore.

With Charles Bovary performed by Pierre Renoir it’s even more fun: (No, I, of course, understand that “Kazimir Almazov is a name, a poster, a box office” and a significant part of the audience will rush to the cinema for the opportunity to gawk at the son of that same Renoir, and the family contract is very profitable in financial terms (the director of the film, Jean Renoir, and Pierre Renoir are brothers), but the actor is 48 years old - he is fit to play Father Rouault, not a young doctor. However, Monsieur Bovary has no luck with his incarnations at all, he is always playing! They're trying to make him seem like an old man. It seems like the filmmakers haven't read the book.

But Elena Munson, who plays the doctor’s first wife, is unexpectedly ten years younger than her heroine (she is 35). However, her role is episodic, her face is not shown closely, and the quality of the film leaves much to be desired, so in this case the age of the actress is not particularly important: she is thin, ugly, and you can’t see the rest. By the way, this is the only film adaptation in which the first Madame Bovary was shown on camera.

The age of the actor Fernand Fabre completely coincides with the age of Rodolphe - he was 34 years old at the time of his acquaintance with Emma. The heroine's first lover in this production is very specific: a kind of pretentious whip with the manners of a card sharper. When I read the book, I imagined Boulanger completely differently. But I must admit that this is the kind of person who could kill “a creature with the imagination of a woodpecker.” So this Rodolphe turned out to be closer to the book image than my fantasies. Yes, perhaps this is the best Rodolphe of all.

Leon here has black hair, although he is not bad-looking, and is much older than he should be (Daniel Lecourtois is 31 years old). However, compared to the leading actors, this is a trifle.

The Viscount, Madame Bovary's main erotic dream, has turned into a bald, bearded old man.

The role of Justin is completely passable, and his boyfriend of about 20 years is playing.

1949 film directed by Vincente Minnelli

The main outline of the work was preserved, but the characters changed almost everything, as well as the motivation of the heroes. This is the only option in which I feel sorry for at least someone other than little Bertha: here Charles Bovary deserves a certain respect and even sympathy.

Costumes in the “Hollywood Chic” style have nothing to do with history or logic. Particularly impressive is the mink coat that Emma carries on herself, although the original source clearly states that the temperature in Normandy does not drop below zero.

Jennifer Jones is another actress who is haunted by the fact that she did not play Scarlett. I don’t care that the country is different, I don’t care that the time is different, that the character is different and the proposed circumstances are also different - we will still copy Vivien Leigh’s facial expressions and gestures. The actress is 30 years old (in my opinion, five years difference from the heroine is still too much, but at least not twenty is already good), she is dark-haired and dark-eyed, but her appearance is somehow rude and unattractive.

Charles Bovary, at almost forty (Van Heflin is 39, but he looks forty-something) has not yet been married, and Emma becomes his first wife. He is a very decent and noble person. That's probably why the screenwriter saved his life.

Rodolphe is played by the handsome Louis Jourdan - how wonderful he is! - he is only 28 years old, but the actor looks a little older, about 35 years old.

Leon has fair hair and light eyes, but looks about 40 years old. I was very surprised to learn that Alf Chellin is only 29 here.

The role of the Viscount was combined with the role of Rodolphe, but Justin was chosen well - Larry Sims is only 15.

2000 film directed by Tim Fywell

This film has two (besides boredom, but I already talked about that) huge flaws: gags and sex. It’s pointless to talk about why it’s unclear why the gag was inserted - I’ll have to retell half the film, it’s better I’ll tell you why I didn’t like the “bed” scenes.

It would seem that the material fully justifies the use of intimate scenes: this is not “Jane Eyre” with Victorian morality, this is a story about the love affairs of a passionate French woman. But here lies an ambush: sexual experiences are the same expressive means as any other, and therefore a director who includes sexual scenes in a non-specialized film must be aware of why he is doing this and what he wants to express with their help. And when a sex scene has the character of an inserted musical number, and its exclusion from the video sequence does not change anything in the perception of the picture, the expressive means loses its meaning, because it gives nothing to either the mind or the heart. Simulating sexual intercourse is a piece of cake, but playing it up and making it an indispensable part of the story is not an easy task. However, the director made some progress in this direction: he tried to play up sex in the carriage and even used interesting finds for this, but by that time the film crew had already completely discredited themselves, clearly demonstrating that the audience was being treated as idiots - when Madame Bovary appears naked on screen for the first time, traces of her swimsuit are clearly visible on her body... This hack put an end to all the efforts of costume designers and decorators to create the appearance of the 19th century (and the costumes, by the way, are quite high quality). After such a mess, any attempts to give a stupid hookup a highly artistic look are doomed to failure.

However, this picture also has certain advantages besides the costumes: its creators, at least, read Flaubert’s novel. At least they tried to bring the actors into line with the original source. True, this did not save Emma: she is ugly, eerily similar to the slave Isaura, a bit old (Francis O’Connor is 33 years old), with wrinkles around her eyes and withered breasts.

But Charles Bovary looks quite fresh, although Hugh Bonneville is 37 years old. They covered the lower part of his face with a curly beard, he is plump, as he should be according to the book, he looks at his wife and daughter good-naturedly and with great love. Yes, Doctor Bovary could very well be like that.

Charles's first wife died of consumption before he met Emma.

Greg Wise, in appearance, is quite suitable for the role of Rodolphe: interesting, dark-haired, even he is exactly the right age, but in terms of acting qualities, alas, he is not suitable for this role - there is absolutely no Boulanger in his performance, even his facial expression practically does not change .

Hugh Dancy, who plays Leon, is 25 years old, fair, handsome and has something of a puppy about his face. This is the best Leon of them all, almost by the book.

The Viscount here is simply wonderful: tall, slender, dignified, with a fiery gaze and aristocratic manners. He is played by professional dancer Adam Cooper. What a pleasure it is to watch him waltz with Madame Bovary. In my opinion, this is the best scene in the entire film!

Justin is played here by Joe Roberts, a 16-year-old boy. However, the video is again passable.

Mistress Maya, directed by Ketan Mehta

Oddly enough, the filmmakers, being very liberal with the letter of the novel, managed to preserve the spirit of the work. Even the eternal Indian affection for musical numbers played a positive role in this case.

India. Judging by the costumes - the very beginning of the 80s. Forty-year-old married doctor Charu Daz arrives on call to a huge, once luxurious, but now neglected and gradually collapsing palace. Maya, who received a European education, lives there with her old father.

The doctor became interested in Maya's unusual behavior, and soon fell in love. Just in time, the doctor's wife died and he married Maya.

The girl turned out to be schizophrenic. She constantly needed new thrills. For their sake, Maya first contacted her rich neighbor Rudra,

and then with a young guy from a neighboring city - Lalit.

There are no analogues to the Viscount in this production, but there is the theme of a teenager’s first love for his neighbor’s gorgeous wife, which was missed in other film adaptations.

The ending was changed into a mystical fairy tale. By the way, I was very surprised that a naked woman was shown in the film: it seemed to me that this was not accepted in India. Yes, unlike the 2000 version, an intimate scene is quite appropriate here.

1991 film directed by Claude Chabrol

This is the closest version to the original source with excellent actors, although chosen thoughtlessly.

The costumes are mixed: some are quite historical, and some are fantasy.

Isabelle Huppert is 38 years old, too old for the role of Emma, ​​with red hair and light eyes. The actress's appearance allows her to be either a beauty or a monster; the director chose to disfigure her - Emma walks around with shadows under her eyes, highlighted eyebrows and eyelashes, with the exception of a few moments when the actress's eyes are tinted and Madame Bovary instantly becomes pretty.

Charles Bovary is played by Jean-François Balmet. He is a very subtle actor and plays beautifully, but he is 45 years old. That says it all.

Christophe Malavois is almost forty. He has a specific, slightly amorphous appearance, reminiscent of Anatoly Vasilyev in the film “Crew”. This type does not fit at all with the image of Rodolphe.

Luc Belliveau is thirty, and looks a little shabby for Leon Dupuis.

Claude Chabrol cast his son Thomas in the role of the Viscount. As a result, the erotic dream took the form of a little bespectacled man.

The role of Justin is played by thirty-year-old Yves Verhoeven. Needless to say, this character has almost nothing to do with the novel.

Charles, Emma, ​​Rodolphe, Justin

Despite the miscasting, this is still the most intelligent and good film adaptation of Madame Bovary.

"Madame Bovary", or "Madame Bovary"(French: Madame Bovary) is a novel by Gustave Flaubert, first published in 1856. Considered one of the masterpieces of world literature.

The main character of the novel is Emma Bovary, a doctor's wife who lives beyond her means and starts extramarital affairs in the hope of getting rid of the emptiness and ordinariness of provincial life. Although the plot of the novel is quite simple and even banal, the true value of the novel lies in the details and forms of presentation of the plot. Flaubert as a writer was known for his desire to bring each work to perfection, always trying to find the right words.

Publication history, ratings

The novel was published in the Parisian literary magazine Revue de Paris from October 1 to December 15, 1856. After the publication of the novel, the author (as well as two other publishers of the novel) was accused of insulting morality and, together with the editor of the magazine, was brought to trial in January 1857. The scandalous fame of the work made it popular, and the acquittal on February 7, 1857 made it possible for the novel to be published as a separate book that same year. It is now considered not only one of the key works of realism, but also one of the works that had the greatest influence on literature in general. The novel contains features of literary naturalism. Flaubert's skepticism towards man manifested itself in the absence of positive heroes typical of a traditional novel. Careful portrayal of the characters also led to a very long exposition of the novel, which allows us to better understand the character of the main character and, accordingly, the motivation for her actions (in contrast to voluntarism in the actions of heroes of sentimentalist and romantic literature). Strict determinism in the actions of heroes became a mandatory feature of the French novel in the first half of the 19th century.

Flaubert dissecting Madame Bovary. Caricature from 1869

The thoroughness of the portrayal of characters, the mercilessly accurate depiction of details (the novel accurately and naturalistically shows death from arsenic poisoning, the efforts of preparing a corpse for burial, when a dirty liquid pours out of the mouth of the deceased Emma, ​​etc.) were noted by critics as a feature of the writer's style Flaubert. This was reflected in the cartoon, where Flaubert is depicted in an anatomist's apron dissecting the body of Emma Bovary.

According to a 2007 survey of contemporary popular authors, Madame Bovary is one of the two greatest novels of all time (right after Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina). Turgenev at one time spoke of this novel as the best work “in the entire literary world.”

According to literary critic Alexei Mashevsky, there are no positive characters in the novel: there is no hero who could be perceived by the reader as a hero. We can say that the “death of a hero,” heralded by Richard Aldington’s novel of the same name, occurred back in the 19th century - in Madame Bovary.

Plot

Emma and Charles's wedding

I sat on one page for five days...

In another letter he actually complains:

I struggle with every sentence, but it just doesn’t work out. What a heavy oar my pen is!

Already in the process of work, Flaubert continued to collect material. He himself read the novels that Emma Bovary loved to read, and studied the symptoms and consequences of arsenic poisoning. It is widely known that he himself felt bad while describing the scene of the heroine’s poisoning. That's how he remembered it.

EMMA BOVARRY

EMMA BOVARY (French Bovary Emme) is the heroine of G. Flaubert’s novel “Madame Bovary” (1856). The real prototype is Delphine Dela Mar, the wife of a doctor from the city of Ry near Rouen, who died at the age of 26 from arsenic poisoning. However, the writer himself assured that “all the characters in his book are fictional.” The theme of a woman becoming bored in her marriage and discovering "romantic" longings appears in Flaubert's early story "Passion and Virtue" (1837), then in his first novel, entitled "Sentimental Education." Among the literary prototypes of E.B. They call the heroines of George Sand, most often Indiana. E.B. is a classic romantic heroine, seeking the “authenticity” of existence and striving to realize the “rights of the heart” in the world of real social structures. A young girl, the daughter of a farmer, brought up in a monastery boarding school, then the wife of a provincial doctor, E.B. from his youth to sad maturity, he lives with illusory ideas about the feasibility of a romantic dream. From time to time she makes attempts to find the desired ideal in real existence, so alien to the divine beauties that appeared to her in the pages of Walter Scott, Lamartine and other romantic authors. The image of an imaginary world, the literary and religious ghosts of which so attract young lady Rouault (all these “lovers, mistresses, heart troubles, dense forests, nightingales singing in the groves, heroes brave like lions, meek like lambs”, “sounds of a harp on lakes, swan songs, the voice of the Eternal"), is ironically interpreted by the author as obviously “untrue”, not only unrelated to real life, but, more importantly, distracting the soul from the knowledge of true beauty. However, reality is presented in the novel in a very unattractive form; in any case, this is the social reality of the province where E.B.’s drama unfolds. (“They think that I am in love with the real, and yet I hate it; it is only out of hatred for realism that I took up this novel,” writes Flaubert, explaining his plan to “recreate the gray color of the moldy existence of woodlice” and the story of a woman whose “ feelings and poetry are false.") Thus, if you believe the author, who has commented on his creation many times, before the readers is a story about the hopeless “prose of life” and about a helpless, vulgar attempt to free oneself from its pressure, contrasting the latter with a “costumed” love affair and a far-fetched ideal . B. and admired her “closeness to the ideal of humanity”; our compatriot B.G. Reizov finds in E.B. "Faustian restlessness" and even sees "paths leading from Prometheus and Cain to Emma Bovary." Attempts to read the image without ignoring the contradictory properties of the heroine led to the recognition of her “perverted consciousness” and “living, suffering” soul, “open to both our ridicule and our compassion at the same time” (A.V. Karelsky).

The heir to the “funny primps” and Mr. Jourdain created by Moliere, Flaubert’s heroine does not cause laughter. Her portraits, of which there are so many in the book, are very interesting. We can talk about the game with angles of perception, which the author undertakes, now drawing a beautiful woman under the gaze of an admiring and timid Charles, now describing the languid poses of E.B., her look and dress as they appear to Rodolphe, now showing her reflection in the eyes of the young man Leona. But the image of the heroine is imprinted in the reader’s memory, capable of causing not so much admiration as puzzlement of this pretentious wife of a provincial doctor: black hair falling in rings below the knees, white skin on a purple background, a pale face like a sheet with huge eyes, drooping corners of the lips. The noble monumentality of the appearance of E.B. serves to characterize her no less than a description of her “falls”, a list of her mistakes and debts. E.B., according to the simple-minded Charles, who fell victim to fate, may indeed seem like an ancient heroine, miraculously reborn in the French province in order to fully recognize the scale of the deeds by which the new society lives. “Disproportionality” by E.B. the world in which she was born and decided to oppose the “laws of the heart” to the power of the “world without gods”, embodied primarily in the appearance of Flaubert’s heroine - one of the motives that accompanies the image throughout its development. This motive performs a kind of “fundamental” function, preventing one from treating Madame’s story as a vulgar everyday episode, the heroine of which is worthy of disgusting regret or, in extreme cases, cautious sympathy. The “ancient complex” of E.B.’s image, which contains her rebellion against society (Antigone), forbidden irrational passions leading to mental disintegration (Phaedra) and suicide, of course, cannot unconditionally glorify and justify Madame Bovary, just as it cannot completely explain. Her undoubted “guilt” lies in deep inorganicity, arrogant contempt for that nondescript appearance of the “world’s secret”, which was revealed to her in the touching and, despite its modest appearance, very spiritual love of Charles, in the past almost unnoticed birth of her daughter. Its fault and misfortune lies in the deeply inherent human habit of trusting something that has already been “formulated” more than striving to see the harmony diffused in the world through one’s own spiritual effort. So, E.B. enchantedly observes “paintings painted in faded colors, in which we see palm trees and right next to spruce trees, to the right - a tiger, to the left - a lion, in the distance a Tatar minaret, in the foreground - the ruins of ancient Rome. .. framed by a virgin, carefully swept forest.” This image of violent harmony that has enslaved the heroine’s consciousness is truly what is now called “kitsch,” with the aggressive and simple-minded conviction inherent in this phenomenon that beauty is always “ready for use,” that all symbols and signs hide behind themselves accessible and easily digestible beauty. reality.

"Utopia" by E.B. and its downfall hardly needs debunking. Flaubert's famous phrase: “Madame Bovary is me” can stop those who like to castigate literary heroes. At the same time, the “kiss consciousness” of the novel’s heroine is a problem for critics that still needs to be resolved. Perhaps the whole point is in E.B.’s “disbelief,” which prevents him from coming to harmony with “existing existence,” perhaps the problem is in “male nature,” which resists long-term, debilitating passions, as researchers of the novel also wrote about. One thing is clear: the unfaithful and wasteful wife of the Yonville doctor, the dreamer of the impossible, prone to beautiful poses, belongs to the most “captivating” and “heartbreaking” literary heroines.

Image of E.B. entered world culture as one of the most accurate and comprehensive statements about the problem of women and society. Traits of E.B. can be found in many passionate and fallen heroines of subsequent times, including Anna Karenina and even Chekhov's Jumping Girl.

Image of E.B. was embodied on stage and in cinema. Film adaptations of the novel were carried out by J. Renoir (1934), G. Lamprecht (1937); V. Minnelli (1949). The most famous dramatization is the play by A.Ya. Tairov with A.G. Koonen in the title role (1940).

Lit.: Fried Ya. Postav Flaubert

//Flaubert G. Collection. op. M., 1983. T.1; Nauman Manfred. Literary work and literary history. M., 1984; Karelsky A.V. From hero to person. M., 1990.

L.E. Bazhenova

Literary heroes. - Academician. 2009 .

See what "EMMA BOVARRY" is in other dictionaries:

Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary French Madame Bovary

Gustave (1821 1880) French writer, one of the classics of bourgeois realism. R. in Rouen, in the family of the chief physician of the city hospital, who was also a landowner. In 1840 he passed the bachelor's exam, then moved to Paris to study... Literary encyclopedia

A detailed narrative that tends to give the impression of being about real people and events that are not. No matter how long it may be, the novel always offers the reader a comprehensive... ... Collier's Encyclopedia

Flaubert Gustave (12/12/1821, Rouen, √ 5/8/1880, Croisset, near Rouen), French writer. Born into a doctor's family. After graduating from the Rouen Lyceum, he entered the Faculty of Law at the University of Paris, but the nervous system that developed in 1844... ...

- (Flaubert) Gustave (12.12.1821, Rouen, – 8.5.1880, Croisset, near Rouen), French writer. Born into a doctor's family. After graduating from the Rouen Lyceum, he entered the Faculty of Law at the University of Paris, but the nervous system that developed in 1844... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (Flaubert) (1821 1880), French writer. In the novels “Madame Bavari” (1857), “Education of Sentiments” (1869) he gave a harsh psychological analysis of heroes from among the provincial and Parisian bourgeoisie, unable to resist vulgarity and cruelty... ... encyclopedic Dictionary