446 Flaubert, Gustave
of destiny, but ultimately the events of the novel
are driven more by the characters’ free choices than
by any fate or destiny. Emma blames fate for her
unhappiness, consistently refusing to see the role
her own choices have played in determining the
course of her life. Early in her marriage she feels
destined for a blank, empty life. She contrasts the
“endless twists of fate” that chance might bring in
everyone else’s lives with her life, in which it is “the
will of God” that “nothing was going to happen.” Of
course, a great many things will happen in Emma’s
life as the result of the choices she makes, but she
is unable to see her freedom. Instead “she cursed
God for his injustice,” for dooming her to a life of
boring domesticity instead of the exciting romances
she imagines. Soon she realizes that Léon loves her,
and she wishes fate would allow her happiness—“If
only heaven had willed it!” Thrilled at the possibility,
Emma becomes consumed with love for Léon, but
fails to act on it. Those around her see her suffering
and dedication as “the pale mark of a sublime des-
tiny,” and praise her devotion to her familial duties,
while the reader knows that her devotion just masks
her real passion for Léon. Completely oblivious to
her unspoken feelings, Léon grows tired of waiting
in vain and leaves for Paris. Emma is left even more
depressed than before, until Rodolphe Boulanger
arrives to exploit her ennui.
Rodolphe uses the idea of fate to seduce Emma,
playing on her romantic naïveté. He tells her that
society is organized to prevent true happiness, but
that ultimately two souls “will be together, will be
lovers, because Fate ordains it, because they were
born for each other.” He says that some “decree of
Fate” has caused him and Emma to meet, that their
“unique inclinations have been pushing us toward
one another.” All of this talk of fate appeals directly
to her literary ideas of love and destiny, not to men-
tion her vanity. She is soon swept off her feet. He
clinches his “scheme” when he tells her how futile
it is to resist her destiny: “why struggle against Fate
. . . why resist the angels smiling!” Unfortunately he
soon grows tired of their affair, and when she urges
him to rescue her from her life, he turns to fate for
his escape. In his farewell letter, he explains that
their love would have quickly faded, “for such is the
fate of things human,” and tells her to “blame only
fate!” for their meeting. Rodolphe’s self-conscious
use of fate as a cover for his desires only highlights
the emptiness of grand ideas in the novel. As he says
to himself while composing the letter, fate is “a word
that always makes an impression.” Upon reading the
letter, Emma is crushed. She decides she is “free” to
commit suicide, but at the last minute she is called
back from the edge. When she recovers from the
illness that follows, she still blames fate (rather than
Rodolphe or herself ) for her troubles. She dreams of
“the life that could have been hers, if only fate had
willed it so.”
Charles Bovary rarely considers grand ideas, but
when he does, he too blames his suffering on fate.
When his operation on the clubfooted Hippolyte
fails miserably, Charles decides that “Fate must
have had something to do with it.” What Charles
sees as fate, other characters consider “the will of
the Lord”; the end result is the same. In the end
Charles speaks once more of fate, but the encounter
only highlights how empty the idea of fate is in the
novel. After Emma’s death, finally confronted with
the overwhelming evidence of her infidelity and
having just sold the last of his possessions to pay her
debts, Charles runs into Rodolphe, who invites him
to have a beer. The narrator notes that Charles says
the only “grand phrase” of his life: “Fate is to blame!”
(209). Rodolphe knows that he “controlled this par-
ticular fate,” and he realizes how hollow Charles’s
words truly are. In the world of Madame Bovary,
fate is just another rationalization for the choices
individuals make.
James FordFreedom in Madame Bovary
The idea of freedom is bound up with consider-
ations of wealth, gender, and power in Madame
Bovary. Emma complains that only men are free,
while she sees herself constrained by a variety of
forces—fate, lack of wealth, her marriage, her sex,
and even her child. Emma’s attitude is clearest dur-
ing her pregnancy, when she longs for a son. A man,
she thinks, is free, free to “explore each passion and
every kingdom, conquer obstacles, feast upon the
most exotic pleasures.” In her mind a man is free
to act upon his desires, to follow his will wherever
it leads, while a woman’s desire is always bound by