Britain's Austin's Emma is a happy girl - although she also lives in the countryside, she has wealth, fame and status, and most importantly, many rich and handsome admires, love is the icing on the cake of her otherwise happy life.
This Emma, she almost dominates her own life, she deserves to be her own master.
The heroine of Flaubert's Madame Bovary is also called Emma, but she is not as lucky as Austin's Emma.
She couldn't ask for it all her life, and she couldn't be herself - even her appearance was brought out from Bovary's point of view, that is, if it weren't for Bovary marrying her, she wouldn't be the protagonist of this article.
In this way, naming the female husband's family name is a deep meaning of the author.
01 Does "I" have to live what the public thinks I should be?
From the beginning of this article, Flaubert's Emma, because of Madame Bovary's identity and destiny, brings readers a lot of thoughts.
Those of us who have been readers since then know that because of Madame Bovary's thunderous presence, Madame Bovary once became synonymous with the greed of vanity among women within the walls.
That is to say, many people who finish reading this book will have a relatively unified impression and subconscious evaluation, that is, they feel that the heroine is divorced from the way a married woman should be, and does not agree with her way of behaving in the world.
Despite Flaubert's repeated emphasis on his need to write objectively, the article intentionally or unintentionally exposed his praise and disparagement of Emma.
He wrote that she had been sent to the monastery since she was a child, because she was quite talented, she could learn the rules and manners of the nuns very well, became a model, and was initially valued by the nuns, but because she was so ambitious, she was exposed to envy of her classmates from noble families and then began to rot, and gradually the nuns and teachers disliked her, and soon drove her home.
He wrote that she went to the church to enlighten her priest because of depression and depression, and the priest, who was busy appeasing the poor, spoke in a very mean tone, secretly satirizing her emptiness and selfishness.
He borrowed the mouth of the old Madame Bovary and scolded Emma for being idle, a woman who ruined nature and could not live.
He used the pharmacist's wife to make a strong contrast - because of the virtuousness of the lady, she ran the home very much like a traditional happy family, the children were lively and lovely, and the family was happy.
The list goes on.
However, is Madame Bovary's tragedy because she did not live what people thought she should be?
If Emma had studied in a monastery when she was a maiden, and when she returned home, she chose someone of the same status to marry, and after marrying, she devoted herself to running the family, loving her children, and raising eyebrows with her husband, would she be happy?
This assumption is deceptive.
The pharmacist's wife is a very good reference.
Whether this woman was comparable to Emma in her appearance when she was young is unknown, because the author did not say, but we can imagine that she also had "more than thirteen years".
But when Emma first saw the woman who had been the apothecary's wife for N years, she did not feel any impression related to "beauty" - in front of her was a sallow-faced, bloated, slovenly, rough-spoken woman.
This is the traditional image of a married woman, and it is generally believed in society that a woman should be.
Madame Bovary the Elder is a representative of this tradition, both by example and by which other women are judged.
Therefore, the first wife she found for her son, although she did not mind if she was not worthy of her son in appearance, having money and security was the best thing to live.
Therefore, she has no good attitude towards the "fresh and unconventional" Emma.
But was the old Madame Bovary happy? And it didn't.
She worked hard and diligently for her husband to give her youth, hard work and money for the family, and was treated like a husband who was drunk all day long or looking for flowers and willows.
If you read the article, you happen to be as good-looking as Emma, or at least have an elegant and romantic heart, are you really willing to live like the apothecary and the mother-in-law, or even the old Madame Bovary?
Today, with the awakening of women's rights, more and more people will understand Emma's unwillingness.
We can't help but wonder: Is being Mrs. XX part of a woman's path to tragedy?
02Is romance really worth chasing to the death?
However, some things are very contradictory, what can you do if you are not willing to do it?
Is it possible to be an old girl and never marry? But women who don't marry also have pain, and even more.
That if you are unwilling, you have to be like Madame Bovary, dressed brightly all day, and ten fingers do not touch the spring water? Throw the child to someone else and kick it away when you are upset? Sharing a bed with her husband and dreaming about secretly sending autumn waves to a man who walks by?
Is it to escape firewood, rice, oil and salt, stay away from the fireworks in the world, have a romantic heart, and never extinguish illusions?
Speaking of romance, it is a positive word in the hearts of most people, and it is often used to praise the person you like.
For example, later generations always like to use the word romance to praise Su Dongpo, because he can live his life into poetry even if he wears a cloak and shoes; Some people used the word romance to praise Cao Ge's wife when watching "Where Daddy Goes", because she went to pick leaves and made chopstick trays before dinner, which added to the atmosphere of dinner.
Romance can be bitter or icing on the cake, but sometimes it is about the same as depravity, which leads directly to destruction.
People enjoy the beauty of romance, and often do not see its hidden dangers.
Most of the romances in life that women generally desire have one thing in common, that is, they want money to support them.
The most romantic is Margaret of "La Traviata", who goes out every day with a bouquet of the freshest camellia in her hand, rides in a richly decorated carriage through the ancient streets, walks into the private room of the theater, sips exquisite snacks, sips crystal clear wine...
In this way, she was supported by three of the richest nobles of the time, but she was still weighed down by debt.
This is the price of maintaining a romantic life.
In addition to the romance of life forms, women also desire the romance of love.
The romance of love often needs to get out of the regular life, and there are very few romantic components for a calm couple.
There is a saying that a wife is not as good as a concubine, and a concubine is better than stealing, and the reason is that it is easier for unusual love to taste the delicious taste of romance.
But most of the unusual flowers bear unusual fruits.
Anna Karenina was unwilling to have a dull marriage and longed for romantic love, so she cheated on the handsome Wollensky, and finally she couldn't bear the life of not seeing a way out, and died lying on the rails.
Madame Bovary wanted everything, both to pursue romance in life, to be able to dress as gracefully as the La Traviata, and to gain the envy of all; And want romantic love, can have a fiery suitor like Anna.
In the end, she paid a great price for romance, and when she was in heavy debt and bankruptcy, she finally recognized the thin love of the two lovers and committed suicide by taking poison in despair.
She not only destroyed herself, but also deprived her family of hope of living.
After she died, her husband died in despair, her father died sadly, and the poor daughter suddenly became an orphan, with neither money to rely on, nor relatives to rely on, and her future fate could be imagined.
epilogue
Flaubert was powerful, and centuries later, Madame Bovary can still give us timely inspiration.
We pity the injustice of fate, because not everyone has the kind of Emma of Austin who has been favored by God all her life;
We understand Madame Bovary's reluctance, because we too want to enjoy life and not fall prey to anything;
We learn from Madame Bovary's mistakes and learn to grasp joy and happiness in ordinary life, to understand that life needs to do what we can, and to pursue romance in moderation.