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Madame Bovary · Part II

Chapter 15

LoveMarriageDream and Fantasy

Chapter summary

In Rouen, at the opera Lucia di Lammermoor, Emma Bovary recognizes herself in the heroine and, before the tenor Lagardy, imagines for herself a life of love with the singer, while Charles Bovary, who does not follow the plot, asks for explanations that she rejects. At the intermission he comes back from the buffet with the news that he has found Léon, now a clerk in Rouen, and brings him to the box. Emma no longer hears anything of the opera and, with Léon and Charles, leaves before the end to have ice cream at the harbor, where Léon disdains Lagardy, Charles regrets having missed the last act and proposes that she stay one more day in Rouen. They agree to meet again at six the next day.

Analysis

Charles brings the two together without knowing it: he goes out to fetch orgeat for fear that she will faint, finds Léon upstairs, and brings him to the box; at the harbor, on learning that Lagardy will give another performance, he asks whether she wants to stay alone one more day, and then insists, certain that the distraction will do her good. Léon, who sees the opportunity, praises the last act. Each acts for his own reasons, and Charles's is to take care of his wife.

In Rouen, Emma watches Lucia di Lammermoor, projecting onto herself the story the opera stages: a bride who should have resisted marriage.

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