Sample Essay: Greek Mythology In Gustave Flaubert’s

Greek Mythology in Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary

I. Overview of Madame Bovary

II. Adultery / Wifely Infidelity as the Prevailing Theme

III. The Novel’s Relevance to Greek Mythology

IV. Jealousy, Discontent, Trust and Lying

- In Novel and in Greek Myth

“Continuing her harangue, she declared that the knowledge that this man still existed poisoned her very life.”

- Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880)

I.         Overview of Madame Bovary

In Gustave Flaubert’s masterpiece, Madame Emma Rouault Bovary chose to marry the brilliant and yet boring and dull Charles Bovary in the early part of the novel. Emma was not forced to marry Charles and her father did not even insist on her marrying the bleak-looking doctor. If only the book’s affairs could be changed, then it would have been possible for Emma not to have cheated on her kindhearted husband, but it was a novel, so readers are faced with no other way but to pity poor Charles.        The novel was “a timeless take on denial, moral judgment and adultery in its presentation.” (Heath 1992).

II.        Adultery / Wifely Infidelity as the Prevailing Theme

Literature and arts, through time have focused on the theme of wifely infidelity or adultery and there is no better way to stroke the aspects of this mortal sin than to read novels like this. To begin with, the thought-provoking element of the story was of Charles Bovary’s ignorance of what was going on between his wife Emma and the men who had come and succeeded in conquering her womanhood, in gaining the sheer pleasure of fulfilling hunger for carnal knowledge of her. The reader cannot help but wonder what kind conscience Emma possessed and how much guilt did she have in gulping the fact that she had been living a double life throughout her married life and still played the role of a devoted mother and wife to the unknowing Charles. Adultery is virtually an unforgivable sin and yet Charles still had the humanity to forgive and understand her even if she is already dead. Yes, adultery and infidelity, as well as promiscuousness that are the main themes of the story, but covered beneath was the theme of womanly desires, the desire of the flesh which could not be satisfied by spousal love or sexual satisfaction brought about by the marriage bed. Educated and refined as she was, it is a mystery why women like her (Emma) still opted to obtain forbidden pleasures outside marriage. Yes, it was a given fact that her husband may be a professional but a very frugal, unsophisticated, boring, clumsy, lazy and bland man, but time and no one could ever explain why adultery takes place even if the sanctity of marriage has been made known and children had concreted the bond between spouses. Speaking within the bounds of the novel, the reasons were quite shallow to consider only the caprices of Madame Bovary and not the inner feelings of Charles.

Emma Bovary was the fictional example of a contemporary Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of lust and love, and most significantly, had laid herself as a delectable feast to a succession countless of other Greek gods.

III.      The Novel’s Relevance to Greek Mythology

Just a short span of time into Emma’s marriage to the boorish, classless yet kind Charles, she had plunged into the downward spiral of immorality of dreaming of other men enjoying sexual pleasures with her, she was without a doubt comparable to Aphrodite. In her transition from being a wife to Charles to being a woman attracted towards the young Leon Dupuis, she was morphing into Aphrodite as the goddess was slowly slipping away from her husband Hephaistos, “laying together with Ares secretly enjoying each other in the dwelling of Hephaistos.” (”Loves of Aphrodite”).  And Emma’s difference with Aphrodite was that she was never caught in the act, contrary to Aphrodite, “She, the nymph who wedded Hephaistos, was seen cherishing stolen joys of Ares.” (”Loves of Aphrodite”). However, this is comparable to Emma and Leon clandestinely spending time with each other in the hotel room they had considered as their home in their weekly rendezvous.  Emma’s immorality of attraction and later adulterous acts with Leon and Rudolph Boulanger were not punished, in contrast with the mythic laws in Aphrodite’s time, “The fine for adultery is paid by the man caught and acting as an adulterer.” (”Loves of Aphrodite”).  The loss of Aphrodite’s interest in her husband Hephaistos in favor of Ares was just the same with Emma Bovary’s waning affection for Charles as she was slowly falling for Leon Dupuis.

The character of Emma Bovary definitely compares as a female counterpart to Zeus, the most supreme of all gods in Greek myth. With Hera as his “sister and wife, Zeus was also the most famous adulterer in Greek mythology, had many infidelities to her.” (”Greek Mythology”). Leon Dupuis was somewhat like Europa, the goddess which “Zeus commits adultery with behind the knowledge of his wife Hera.” (”The Olympians”). Zeus covered the world with clouds in an effort to keep Hera from seeing her with Europa, and this situation can be found figuratively in the novel, as Emma tried desperately to be a doting mother and wife as a cover for the rekindling of the flame between her and Leon Dupuis; Whilst Zeus turned Europa into a cow to prevent Hera from confirming her doubts and going back to the novel, Emma reasoned out that she is taking piano lessons in the city with Leon as her tutor. Charles trusted Emma wholeheartedly.

There was the prevalence and the old-as-time elements of immorality and adultery, not to mention fornication. The sin of adultery sees no era, exempts no one, and does not consider any situation, as in the novel, it sought to ravage the Bovary family and shake the innocence of Berthe, their young daughter. It was the culmination of temptation which all of mankind is subject to, most particularly frail-willed and ambitious women, women exactly like Emma Bovary. Her yielding to her fantasies about Leon and Rodolphe had never ruined her family life, but instead it was gradually ruining her conscience and her morality, as if she was a person deeply in need of company; the only reasons for her cheating on Charles was her discontent upon living a modest provincial life, and the mediocre man that she had come to marry. Emma had later realized she made a mistake in marrying such an imperfect man as Charles whom she considered as undeserving of her, for she was sophisticated, unlike the sloppy Charles. And in Leon Dupuis she had met a person whom she considered she deserved, for Leon was not only educated, but ambitious as well. Charles was content on being the “officer de sante in the Public Health Service” (Flaubert 2002); Zeus, on the other hand, was not content with what he possesses in the mold of his wife Hera and was convinced that his power and appeal could win the hearts of other goddesses who could make him happier, and thus, “his affairs with Europa, Io, Semele, Ganymede, Maia, Dione, Danae and Callisto left his wife Hera hurt and drenched in jealousy.” (”Zeus Lovers”). It is a lighthearted aspect of the novel that Charles only gained knowledge of her wife’s infidelities only after she had died; for had he knew of it while she was still in the course of betraying him, hell could have broke loose, and thus the victory of immorality over goodwill, betrayal over tolerance.

IV.      Jealousy, Discontent, Trust and Lying - in Novel and in Greek Myth

It does not take a genius to conclude that the life of Emma Bovary was a life lived full of lies, inhibitions, futile ambitions and contempt. These elements were very common     among the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology, as Aphrodite subsisted on lies, depended on infidelities and cherished clandestine moments with her fellow adulterer; Zeus was of no difference. Of course, Charles Bovary would have been mad and jealous had he known of her wife’s dishonesty and infidelity, but he trusted her completely to place doubts on her perceived innocence. Hera was jealous, “to the extent that she tried to drug and kill Zeus with the help of other gods.” (”Hera: The First Greek goddess”). Charles was never vengeful, and albeit he was lazy and mediocre, he cared for Emma dearly.

In the ultimate end, it was not that Madame Bovary had married an undesirable man that had ruined her life, but her utmost discontent and her daydreams of being with a better man precipitated her doom. This timeless tale of human vulnerability and the folly of marriage, as well as the affairs in the Greek mythology live on until

Works Cited:

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. New York: Spark Publishing, 2002.

“Greek mythology: Greece gods of the Greek mythology.” 11 July 2007

<http://www.greeka.com/greek-mythology.htm>.

“Greek Mythology Zeus Lovers.” 11 July 2007

<http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/bdodge/scaffold/GG/zeusLover.html#ZeusLover

Heath, Stephen. Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary. London: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

“Hera: The First Greek Goddess.” 11 July 2007

<http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/imageswomen/papers/sosahera/hera.html