| Madame Bovary caused such an outrage when first published in1856. The subjects of infidelity and just as important the sexuality of women were taboo. It is nearly 150 years later and and now these topics are quite pedestrian in the literary world. Still, on occasion, I re-read this classic because Flaubert did such an amazing job of capturing the inevitable danger of idealizing love. That hasn't changed in all these years
Emma leaves the convent feeling certain that there is a bigger world out there for her. She meets Charles Bovary when he comes to set her father's broken leg. Initially attracted to the doctor, Emma was very open to Charles' proposal that came as soon as possible upon his first wife's death. Immediately, Charles feels a blinding, consuming love for Emma, the kind that allows you to see only that which is good, never seeing the cautionary flags. Just as quickly, Emma began to realize that Charles could not give her what she deemed was true love.
"...Love, she thought, must come suddenly, with great outbursts and lightnings, - a hurricane of the skies, which falls upon life, revolutionises it, roots up the will like a leaf, and sweeps the whole heart into the abyss..."
Wow! That's some description and comes pretty doggone close to things that I have thought and hoped for laying in wait for love. How delusional is that? Yes, it should be all-encompassing. Yes, it should be breathtaking. Yes, it should make your heart race. But, for goodness sakes reality has to come into play at some point. Unfortunately, it is a hard lesson for Emma who indulges in affairs to try to find that ungettable love. The most ironic point of this novel is that in all of Emma's searching, Charles truly best fits the romantic sketch that she had created; yet our tragic heroine never sees this.
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