What About Charles Bovary?
Sunday August 12, 2007
Many of the discussions related to Madame Bovary involves Emma Bovary, the young wife of a country doctor. But, what about her husband? When the novel first opens, we are first introduced to Charles Bovary. In Chapter 1, we meet him, find out about his childhood, his relationship with his mother, his education, and his early life. What do you think about Charles? Is he a likable character? Do you feel empathy for him? Or, is he pathetic? What about his first wife? What does this relationship say about who he is, and how does if foreshadow future relationships and the overall progression of the novel?Join our discussion about Charles.
Of Charles as a young boy, Gustave Flaubert tells us: "We watched him pursuing his conscientious task, looking up every word in the dictionary and taking tremendous pains. He doubtless owed it to this anxiety to get on that he was not put down into a lower class; for, although he knew his grammar fairly well, his composition was not exactly a model of elegance."
Here are more resources related to Madame Bovary:
- Madame Bovary Discussions
- Madame Bovary Text
- Madame Bovary Quiz
- Madame Bovary Quotes
- Madame Bovary Review
- Madame Bovary Vocab
- Madame Bovary Questions
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Comments
This may be an unfair thing to say about Charles, but I think he was a bit of a dullard to begin with and he certainly didn’t improve intellectually with age. I frankly don’t think the barbers in that era were much less efficient when it came to medicine! This rather reminds me of the former days when second or third sons were forced into the clergy of one religion or another because it was the “custom” and had no real calling. Heaven save me from dominant mothers!
The whole thing about Charles being good-hearted, though….that just seals it for me. I am artistic, talented, with a strong imagination. But my priorities are: decent people first, aesthetics later. Charles is my people, dammit, and superficial concerns won’t change that. The main concern with Charles, I will grant, is his inadvertent lessening of the quality of some people’s lives. He needs a proper niche, a proper mentor, and a proper partner.