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Madame Bovary Theme of Love and Romance
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Madame Bovary: Theme of Love and Romance
Introduction
Madame Bovary depicts love and romance in a different perspective from the moralists’ angle that would instead present the pair as pleasant social tools creating cohesion and unity in the family and the community. Perhaps the most logical criticism gains ground for the presentation of love within the family set up as an insignificant force that easily loses the battle to division, withdrawal and loss of direction. Painting romance as an attractive force disguised in an appealing package to destroy the family cannot only go unmentioned but form the fundamental theme of mistrust and infidelity within the family. The tone used by the author has come under intense criticism due to the openness and plain expression of extremes of love and passion in a way that moralists easily find offensive and obscene.
Love between parents and sons is however illustrated as a cause of concern for the contemporary parent who pays little attention to the development of the child due to the intense pressure experienced from outside the family. Keen interest for the parents enables the enumeration of the importance that love plays in molding children and sustaining the family as a moral building unit of the society that cannot be replaced by the best of training offered to the children. In the end, the tragic conclusion of the romantic story only achieves the best ever irony that opposing forces as good and evil can present as represented by a painful death as opposed to a life full of loving happiness (Byatt, para.3).
Love and Romance in the Novel
The novel rotates around the main characters of a family composed of the Bovary(ies), Dr. Bovary (father), Emma Bovary (mother) and Charles Bovary (son) joined early in the plot by Monsieur and Madame Homaise as well as later by Leon Dupuis, Rodolphe Boulanger and Monsieur Lheureux. The presentation of the young Bovary family in the beginning of the novel presents a naïve son arriving newly at school at a tender age within a backdrop of a father figure struggling with managing the meager family resources. Despite being a former army surgeon, the father is represented as an insensitive family man for having been unable to improve the living status of his family, partly due to the fact that they reside on a small farm and partly due to the fact that the son enrolls in a village school. Love for the family from a man with a relatively better financial background is remotely presented as everyone would imagine such a family to be living in a better environment and the children attending better schooling facilities (Flaubert, para.1). Such suspicion is confirmed in the mother-son conspiracy to black out the father from irresponsible behavior and episodes that the son experiences. As an illustration, Charles’ failure at the medical school goes unreported to the father but the mother’s input to save him from his laziness is projected even in arranging for a practice chance at village facility in Tostes.
In dealing with love and romance theme in a novel, Madame Bovary is a perfect representation of the way the (three main) women in the family handle love and romance issues to their advantage and most certainly to the downfall of the family and that of their own. The first Madame Bovary is Charles’ mother whose love for son gets blown out of proportion resulting to a spoilt son who, although looks presentable and sensible in many aspects, terribly fails where men of his age are supposed to clearly stand out. As a mother and a family woman, it is expected that a balance of love between the husband and sons would eventually lead to a happy family but she fails to bring up a good family due to her biased attention to self love and that of the son. Her family is depicted as a cold union which only presents a chain of disasters to the larger community than it would have been if she applied love to bond the family together in love related virtues. She takes over the role of parenting and her poor performance leads to frustrations of their only son in his encounters with romantic mismatches.
The second Madame Bovary is Heloise Dubuc whose tough stance on her husband only contributes to a difficult life for Charles as he comes to terms with a controlled life at the hands of his first young wife and the mother. Women are illustrated as controlling figures in various aspects as far as motherly love and romantic love is concerned before young men’s freedoms. Though short live, the romantic relationship presents a fair share of frustration of the young man’s life as he progresses to discovery of his love life and career. The third and most dominant Madame Bovary in the novel is Emma, an idealist, dreamer and perfectionist woman trapped in her confused perceptions of a romantic life from her marriage with Charles in his second marriage after the death of Heloise (Middletown, para.3). Her complete disorientation with the appropriate approach to love and romance results to further tribulations in her husband’s life through terrible encounters with extremes of experimentation with romance in the unforgiving external world. Minor characters are mainly men who crisscross Madame Bovary’s development of the plot translating to abuse of romance and love that ought to spell success of the family. The disjunction of love and family life is presented in a way that many novelists would love to capture, despite the inevitable moral issues found in the way of the best presentation as critics of the novel rush to point out.
The author depicts the relationship between the father and son obscured by the mother’s undivided attention to assist him come out of his improper bringing up. As a consequence of the imbalanced love relationship in the family, improper upbringing can be isolated in the behavior and attitudes that Charles develops in his school and after-school life. It is clear that the failure in the exam was as a result of a lazy approach to studies, skipping classes as well as improper prioritization of leisure time over study time while at school. A poor social life formation is illustrated after he leaves schools and is incapable of making his own choice of a wife, a role played for him by the mother who recommends Heloise Dubuc. The author depicts the role of the woman in the 19th century as reserved for lowly functions of the society such as finding a husband for sons as illustrated in the novel. Women social status had withdrawn them from other important roles of the society which makes romance as a strong area of their command in men’s lives (madamebovary.com, para.4).
Charles’ real encounters with romance and love intrigues begin when he encounters an old man (Rouault) as a fracture patient in the village in his practice as a doctor where he meets his lovely daughter, Emma. Frequenting the patient’s home is partly contributed by his job and partly by the admiration of Emma and he shifts his attention to her until his wife notices and a confrontation ensues (Flaubert and MacKenzie, 20). The author represents the scene as an irresponsible love attribute that Charles adopts early in his life, perhaps due to the upbringing and observation of love life embraced by his parents. It is clear that the romantic passions facing him could be as a result of the factors of his past experiences as well as a poor social life that prevented his complete development and discovery. Charles loses his young wife and finds a reason to pursue Emma where his love and romantic journey kicks off again (Byatt, para.5). The high expectations that Emma had for a married life are met with romance frustrations ranging from loss of her identity to sexual disappointment.
Charles’ second marriage is marked with terrible failure of romance within the union of marriage to such an extent that the perfectionist approach the Emma had to romance could not be explained by the mismatch in their marriage. Romance is depicted as a result of provocation from the media and perfect novel settings which are far from the real life experience, which could be the reason why most young women get frustrated when they begin to come to terms with the reality of normal romantic settings (Culler, 684). Perhaps misfortune in romantic experiences in the contemporary romantic life is fueled by the idealism in attitude and approach with which young women attach their romantic encounters from the surrounding picture of perfection painted by media and fictional romance literature. Seduction by Rodolphe Boulanger is blinding enough to lead Emma to her death during a ride as her desire of a perfect romantic experience takes her life at ransom. Painting romance and passion as strong enough forces to lead the human race to its perish is far from the reality of the theme as illustrated by the author as he coins lethal vagueness of romantic relationship with family breakups and social weakness. Adultery becomes a quick option for a solution for Emma’s unsatisfied romantic urges but ends to be the beginning of the self-destructive urges which never fail to be achieved.
Monsieur Homais and his family are represented as a perfect family union full of love despite the hardship in which the family’s home setting is given in the novel. Madame Homais intense love for her four children and husband is exceptional which enables her to extend the love of neighbors to a relative (Justin) and a boarder (Dupuis). Her lowly life approach assists her to deal with issues in her family and live within her means as opposed to Emma’s lavish life that blows her love life out of proportion.
Dupuis and Rodolphe are painted as romance experts who hold no value to genuine love but lust for women and illegal passion outside marriage. It is clear that the improper romantic conduct as displayed by such characters always ends them in trouble as much as it does to Emma, the main character in the novel. Abuse of love is represented in by severe consequences in form of financial difficulties as well as disorientation in work related engagements. As an illustration of misuse of romance is in the case of Emma’s encounter with Lheureux causing not only his financial downfall but also costing his own life through suicide. Lheureux deals in money lending business which is dangerously illustrated as a target of abuse by irregular romance encounters, almost always causing an end to such business (Flaubert and MacKenzie, 255).
Works Cited
“Madame Bovary: Celebrating Gustave Flaubert’s Famous Work” 26 February 2003, Web. HYPERLINK “http://www.madamebovary.com/” http://www.madamebovary.com/ (accessed 5 October 2011)
Byatt, A. S. “Scenes from a Provincial Life” 27 July 2002, Web. HYPERLINK “http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/jul/27/classics.asbyatt” http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/jul/27/classics.asbyatt (accessed 5 October 2011)
Culler, Jonathan D. “The Realism of Madame Bovary” MLM,(French Issue) 122.4(2007):683-696 DOI 10.1353/mln.2008.0007
Flaubert, Gaustave & MacKenzie, Raymond N. Madame Bovary: provincial lives. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing, 2009. Print
Flaubert, Gustave “Madame Bovary” 2011. Web. HYPERLINK “http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/bovary/section2.rhtml” http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/bovary/section2.rhtml (accessed 5 October 2011)
Middletown, Carol “Fiction Review: Reading Madame Bovary” 21 January 2011, Web. HYPERLINK “http://web.overland.org.au/2011/01/fiction-review-reading-madame-bovary/” http://web.overland.org.au/2011/01/fiction-review-reading-madame-bovary/ (accessed 5 October 2011)
Comparison between “The Scarlet Letter” and “The Awakening
Comparison between “The Scarlet Letter” and “The Awakening”
“The Scarlet Letter” and “The Awakening” are eye-catching texts based on the social immorality and societal judgment regarding self-discovery. “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne talks about Hester Prynne’s life which is the central character. Hester has committed adultery with her lover Dimmesdale, and the conflict is brought about as her husband Chillingworth strives to know who the birth father of her child Pearl is. Hester is effectively isolated in the society due to her revealed sin of immorality as a woman. On the other side, “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin is a societal based text based on Edna Pontellier’s social life which is the wife of Leonce and mother of two. At the climax, Edna’s awakening is revealed as the beginning of self-discovery and urge of an independent life which significantly results in vacationing with her husband. In the discussion below, the stories “The Scarlet Letter “and “The Awakening” are compared and contrasted into an in-depth extent with regards to the motif of self-discovery, struggles and its results in consideration of the stories progression and transgression as well as the concept of sacrifice.
To begin with are the similarities between the two stories which seem to overweight the disparities. In both texts, the protagonists are brought out to be female who undergo various challenges in their marital and social life. They seem to be a projection of the today’s growth as the standard theme portrayed in the novels reflects the social vehemence in society and its repulsions. Both Edna and Hester suffers as a result of awakening through their immoral acts of infidelity in their marriages. The community depicted in both the stories is patriarchal where women are supposed to leave according to their husband’s ways and show respect, but the protagonists go against this leading to the seclusion by the community. The action of Hester getting her child Pearl through adultery ruins her marital relationship with Chillingworth where she is forced to live in a secluded place together with her child. The community significantly segregates her to the extent that she could not openly reveal the father of her child as he would supposedly be punished for committing adultery (Hawthorne & Weinstein 2008). On the other side, Edna eagerness of self-discovery and awakening after her interaction with her friend Adele Ratignolle who was an epitome of women charm and elegance led to her social erosion. She ended up committing adultery and moving out of her marital house to an independent lifestyle with the intention of getting affairs with her lover Robert.
In both the stories, the act of adultery is postulated to be a social evil that is against the communities’ norms. Both protagonists are victims of the immorality and undergo the significant repercussions of societal seclusion as well as self-suffering. After Hester is committing adultery with Dimmesdale, she is forced to live secluded together with a child where she could all the time be haunted by the pain caused the sinful action of infidelity. After Dimmesdale’s death, she gets back to the community and lives her own life which was contrary to many people expectations and decided to be a confessor of other women who has desecrated the social customs. The action of advising other secluded women as a way of comforting them shows the pain that she undergone during the period she was viewed as an outcast in the society and signifies that she did not want any other lady to go through the same suffering. Edna’s social immorality of vacationing her husband and infidelity led to her grief in the society. After committing adultery and getting into affairs with Robert, she lastly realized the eagerness of awakening led to her loss of dignity in the social life and ended up moving back to her family as a result of her incompetence guilt.
Another similarity in the stories appears where the antagonists get to know the reality and the victims of out the bonds affair reveal the truth to the society as well as undergoing the significant suffering due to self-sacrifice. Regarding Dimmesdale who was the lover to Hester in “The Scarlet Letter,” he revealed that he was the father of Pearl before his demise. It is revealed in his word where he said, “may God forgive thee’ thou, too, hast deeply sinned.” Dimmesdale undergoes the pain throughout his secret life as he had the weakness of being incapable of informing the community about his relationship with Hester. On the story, “The Awakening” Leonce appears to be the central character’s antagonist and Robert being the cause of conflict between the couple. However, in the end, Robert suffers guilt resulting in his action of rejecting to commit adultery which was against the cultural norms. It also affected Edna leading to the realization of her immorality.
Furthermore there exist a difference between the two stories regarding the central character’s personality. Hester, the protagonist in “The Scarlet Letter,” is portrayed as loving, caring and optimistic. Her king of awakening is revealed through the sacrifice of bringing up Pearl alone at a secluded place where she obviously faced lots of challenges. Also after the demise of Dimmesdale, she went back to the community in a sound manner of encouraging other women who have gone against the social customs suggesting that she had the hopes of changing peoples’ way of thinking and doing things. While in “The Awakening” Edna is depicted as pessimistic and wicked. After the act of leaving her family in the name independence, she went ahead committing adultery with Arobin and at the same time she was in affairs with Robert (Chopin, 2017). The action of abandoning her family signified that she did not have hopes of self-satisfaction with her ever busy husband and their family’s diversification.
As discussed above, the writers of both the stories portray the theme of social infidelity as the evil that ruins social cohesion in the community. The stories are educative and act as a reflection of the modern society where people do not mind about their social status. For instance, there is a lot of drama when it comes to marriages and family matters where many end up divorcing or living alone regardless of having a partner. They show the importance of keeping social norms and following their ways as the way to enhancing good well-being and development of the social life.
References
Chopin, K. (2017). The Awakening and other stories. Dreamscape Media, LLC.
Hawthorne, N., & Weinstein, C. (2008). The scarlet letter. Oxford University Press.
Leonardo da Vinci
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Leonardo da Vinci
Introduction
Florentine artist is the word used to describe the work done by Leonardo da Vinci. He is famous for being a renaissance, high great master of the arts. Other achievements, which are attributed to him, are a scientist, sculptor, and painter, engineer an architect. Research and knowledge seeking, were some of his life’s passions and they were in line with his scientific and artistic endeavors (Capra,56). Italian art has up to now been influenced by the work done by him. He is known for coming up with many inventions that have raised the standards of painting, which currently exist in the world. Also, his contributions to modern science have been witnessed in aspects such as anticipated hydraulics, optics as well as anatomy. Leonardo once claimed that “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” (Capra,57).
Biography Information
In the year 1452, in the month of April, in Florence at a town inhabited by Tuscan people, Leonardo da Vinci was born. His mother a peasant was married to a notary, who had extreme wealth. Leonardo’s parents ensured that he was well educated in that; he attended Florence’s best schools. The latter was known for its many artistic and intellectual centers. In many ways, he can be described as being artistic for example, he was talented in music and the arts, and also, good in making conversation (Kemp, 23). Leonardo worked for Verrocchio, who is another famous painter from Italy. It is while working for him that Leonardo came up with the painting of the Kneeling angel. In the year 1481, while acting as a master, who was independent, he started with his painting of the Adoration of the Maqi. But unfortunately, he never completed this task. During his youth, he came up with many paintings such as Ginerva portrait (1474) and the Benois Madonna (1478). In the few years to come, Leonardo worked as an engineer in Milam, under the duke’s orders. He mostly dealt in matters related to architecture and the military at that time (Turner, 45).
As the years went by it is evident that Leonardo was famous with many of the leaders in the world. It reached a point whereby, the French King Louis XII made him the painter of his court. Leonardo made sure that his personal life was the same as his professional life. He occasionally went home for the purposes of keeping his inheritance intact, as well as visiting his relatives. In the year 1519, Leonardo died, but after he had made great accomplishments in the field of architecture, art and engineering, as well as other notable areas.
Development of Leonardo da Vinci’s Work
There has been a lot of criticism about Leonardo, and this is because he is famous in a unique way. According to him, knowledge is invested in avenues, which to him were his eyes. It is through endowment and disposition that he is today famous. The benefit of sight according to Leonardo is that almost immediately facts are conveyed, as this sense functions best as compared to the others. The eyes are also described as being certain and correct. In his various studies, the theme of sight and how it should be was eminent and visible. This is what he referred to as saper vedere or object of knowledge (Lupia, 12).
When compared to other artists in other fields, Leonardo da Vinci is described as being a great master. Other notable famous people such as William Shakespeare and Albert Einstein cannot match up to his standards as well as expertise. He was extremely meticulous in everything, which he did. In most of master pieces, he attempted to involve and invoke science. The nature, which drove and directed him, ensured that he was boundless. Thus, he said that “Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, simpler or more direct than does nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous.” (Lupia, 15).The Last Supper and The Mona Lisa are two of his most key painting, which until now, receives a lot of accord as well as praise.
Most of the paintings by Leonardo were never completed and those, which were finished, were a small in number. At some point, it was claimed that Verrocchio’s work was similar to his and this made some people to criticize him. This fact made him more motivated than before and in turn, he came up with compositions that are atmospheric and evocative. Composition of a new form was used by him in coming up with the Adoration of the Maqi. One easily notices in the fore ground, grouping of main figures takes place. Battle scenes and imagery ruins are extremely evident in the form of distant views at the background.
Analysis of principles and elements present in Leonardo da Vinci’s The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper
The Last Supper evidently has apparent stylistic innovations, as compared to the rest of his paintings. It was on a wall in a chapel whereby, Leonardo was to paint the Last Supper after being commissioned to do so. During that time, painting was mainly through the use of fresco, but he chose to use tempura. He made sure that each of the apostle’s facial expressions was witnessed. He used an approach, which is new whereby; a traditional theme was recreated in the painting. The individual apostles were not made to look as twelve apostles, who were different from each other. Leonardo ensured that they appeared in three, as part of a compositional unit, which is dynamic, and this is how the grouped the twelve apostles. The paintings center focuses on making Christ the key figure by framing it to be different from the others. When one focuses on the wall, they see an opening, which is rectangular and is visible in the distant landscape, though is it pale. According to historians of the Last Supper, the betrayal of Christ was going to be announced .The betrayal would be by one of the apostles present during that occasion.
The use of a new from vanishing point was evident whereby; the different places in the picture were converging in different lines. The purpose was to ensure that Christ became the central and vital point of the painting. Those who view this painting find themselves gazing at Christ using their right eye due to the converging lines. Furthermore, in the Last Supper, tools such as measurement and angles were incorporated. Also, Leonardo used the perspective whereby, planes, which are two dimensional and images that, are three dimensional were noticeable. Currently, the painting can be viewed at the Santa Maria delle Grazie Convent (Kemp, 58).
The Mona Lisa painting is another great work by Leonardo da Vinci. The woman in the painting is seated and she is known as Lisa Del Giocondo. She was married to a Florentine Merchant, who had extreme wealth. Till to date, no one can explain the smile of the woman in the painting by Leonardo. According to some people, the secret of the painting is the woman’s smile. The compositions monumentality, as well as the expression of the subject, is the reason for the ambiguity. Other elements include; atmospheric illusionism and modeling forms, which are subtle. These are the other reasons why the painting is famous, as well as fascinating to many lovers of art. The woman’s eyes seem to follow someone and are described as being alive. The pyramid design was used by him, in order to ensure that the focus is only on the woman. The areas where the pyramids are include the corner formed as a result of her arms being folded. The seated Madonna is a principle, which Leonardo makes use of. It represents the female figure, as she is seated in form of a formula that is basic. Distance as an impression was created by him by ensuring that he modified the existing formula. The element of division is also present witnessed from the chair and its armrest. The sfumato technique has been used, in order to show the parts whereby, shapes are coming into contact with each other. Critics are not pleased with the effects of this technique in the painting. Lastly, there is harmony between the landscape and the woman thus, the reason why the painting is attractive (Owen, 1).
Conclusion
In conclusion, Leonardo da Vinci has made great contributions to art in many ways. His works are known by almost every human being particularly The Last Supper and The Mona Lisa. He has influenced many artists who have chosen to follow the same path as his. In deed he is an artist who should be emulated.
Work Cited
From a Book
Clark, Kenneth. Leonardo da Vinci. Rev. Ed. New York: Viking, 1988. Print.
Kemp, Martin. Leonardo da Vinci, the Marvelous Works of Nature and Man. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981.Print.
Turner, Richard. Inventing Leonardo. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.Print.
Capra, Fritjof. The Science of Leonardo; Inside the Mind of the Genius of the Renaissance. New York, Doubleday, 2007.Print.
From a Journal
Lupia, John. The Secret Revealed: How to Look at Italian Renaissance Painting. Medieval and Renaissance Times 1. 2 (summer, 1994). 6–17.
From Websites
Author:
Owen, Richard. HYPERLINK “http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article411195.ece” “Found: the studio where Leonardo met Mona Lisa”. London: The Times. 1 May.2005.Web. 24 October 2011. < HYPERLINK “http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article411195.ece.%3e” http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article411195.ece.>