Madame Bovary

Raymond Larsch III

November 16, 2005

WM2

Symbolism

Every book has symbols. I found that in Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary there are three major symbols; the Blind Beggar, the dead and dried flowers, and Binet's lathe. In Madame Bovary, they all symbolize parts of Emma's life and some of the experiences that she has had.

The first symbol, which I found in Madame Bovary, was the Blind Beggar. The Blind Beggar symbolized how Emma changed throughout Madame Bovary. The Blind Beggar's song talks about "birds and sunshine and green leaves" (188). I believe that the "birds and sunshine and green leaves" symbolizes how beautiful Emma has become. The Blind Beggar being blind, I believe, symbolizes the corruption that has become of Emma. At first we get the impression of Emma to be an innocent beautiful housewife of Charles. As the novel progresses we see how Emma changes. We see how she gets corrupted and gives into the temptations of adultery and the deceptions to keep Charles from the truth about what is going on. After Emma dies the Blind Beggar finally finishes his song of the innocent girl dreaming (258). We finally come to realize that the song, that we thought was about an innocent girl, was really a sexual song about a woman. The song is like the way that a reader perceives Emma to be, innocent beautiful housewife at first and then a corrupted adulteress (sparknotes.com 1).

The next symbol, which I found in Madame Bovary, was the bouquet of dead flowers. Emma comes home one day and sees Charles' dead wife's wedding bouquet (22). She begins to wonder what will happen to her bouquet when she is gone. After moving to Yonville, Emma gets mad and burns her wedding bouquet (46). I believe that the wedding bouquet symbolizes Emma and Charles' dead marriage. Her burning of the bouquet symbolizes her corruption that led to the destroyed marriage and eventually leads to her death.

The third and final symbol, which I found in Madame Bovary, is Binet's lathe. Binet's making of useless napkin rings on his lathe is a symbol of the monotonous life that Emma is living (53). The useless napkin rings are not only useless but also lack variety, just like Emma's life. Emma begins to hear the lathe talking to her.