The Theme in the Work
The novel begins with a "we," that of a classmate who watches Charles Bovary enter as the new boy, and with a cap described piece by piece; when the boy shouts his own name, the class hears "Charbovari" (Chapter 1 of Part I). In Chapter 5, Emma Bovary tries to find out what, in life, the words happiness, passion, and ecstasy were supposed to mean, words that had seemed so beautiful in books. In Chapter 7, Charles's conversation is as banal as a sidewalk, where everyone's ideas parade by in their everyday clothes.
In Part II, Yonville is introduced in Chapter 1 as a land whose language has no accent, and the name of Homais repeats in gold letters on the pharmacy sign. In Chapter 2, Emma and Léon trade a repertoire of sunsets, Swiss lakes, and readings by the fire. Chapter 8 stages the agricultural show in three interleaved voices: the speech of the councillor Lieuvain, the prizes for cattle and fertilizer, and the courtship of Rodolphe Boulanger, who speaks of the two moralities. In Chapter 11, Homais publishes in the Fanal de Rouen the article on Hippolyte's operation, and the narrator compares Charles to Ambroise Paré and Dupuytren. In Chapter 12 Rodolphe no longer distinguishes Emma's phrases from those he heard from other women, and in 13 he writes the letter of rupture, testing expressions until he reaches "It is fate's fault!", which he judges will be sure to have an effect.
In Part III, the cab (see the cab) of Chapter 1 is narrated only from outside, through what the passersby of Rouen see. In Chapter 11, facing Rodolphe, Charles says the only great sentence the narrator attributes to him in his whole life, and it is the same fate as in the letter.
Language in the book is always second-hand: the romances lend words to Emma, the official discourse to the councillor, the newspaper to Homais, and Rodolphe chooses those that produce an effect. The cracked cauldron of Chapter 12 of Part II is the moment when the narrator leaves irony to say the price of this, because whoever truly feels also has only worn-out phrases at hand. The fate that passes from Rodolphe's letter into Charles's mouth shows that the cliché outlives the people who use it.
Where It Appears
- Part I, Chapter 1: The narrator describes with clinical attention Charles's cap, the new boy seen by a classmate, and, when the teacher asks his name, he shouts it as «Charbovari» and the class repeats the word at the top of its lungs.
- Part I, Chapter 5: Emma concludes that she was wrong to think herself in love, and seeks to learn what is really meant by happiness, passion, and intoxication, words that seemed beautiful to her in books.
- Part I, Chapter 7: Charles's conversation is as banal as a sidewalk, and everyone's ideas parade along it without stirring emotion, laughter, or reverie.
- Part II, Chapter 1: The narrator describes Yonville as a bastard land, with a language lacking accent and a landscape lacking character, and Homais displays his name in gold letters on the pharmacy sign.
- Part II, Chapter 2: At dinner, Emma and Léon build a common repertoire of romantic commonplaces, such as the sunset at the seaside that lifts the soul with ideas of infinity.
- Part II, Chapter 8: At the agricultural show, the councillor Lieuvain's speech, the proclamation of the cattle prizes, and Rodolphe's whispered seduction of Emma, in the upper room, alternate sentence by sentence.
- Part II, Chapter 11: On the night of Hippolyte's operation, Homais writes a triumphant article for the Fanal de Rouen, and the narrator compares Charles's emotion to that of Ambroise Paré and other great surgeons, on a falsely heroic scale.
- Part II, Chapter 12: Rodolphe does not distinguish Emma's passion from that of other women, and the narrator replies that human speech is like a cracked cauldron on which melodies are beaten to make bears dance.
- Part II, Chapter 13: Rodolphe composes the letter of rupture by testing phrases, writes «It is fate's fault!» and simulates a tear, dripping water onto the ink.
- Part III, Chapter 1: The narrator shows the cab only from the outside, like a carriage with lowered blinds crossing Rouen, from which a gloveless hand throws torn papers to the wind.
- Part III, Chapter 11: On meeting Rodolphe after Emma's death, Charles tells him that the fault was fate's, and not the lover's.
Passages
Charles's conversation gives the measure of the commonplace.
La conversation de Charles était plate comme un trottoir de rue, et les idées de tout le monde y défilaient dans leur costume ordinaire, sans exciter d’émotion, de rire ou de rêverie, Charles's conversation was as flat as a sidewalk, and everyone's ideas paraded along it in their ordinary clothes, stirring no emotion, laughter, or reverie.
At the show, Rodolphe seduces with the rhetoric of the two moralities.
Ah!, but there are two [...] the petty one, the conventional one, the one of men, which keeps changing and shouts so loudly that it stirs on the ground, earth to earth [...] But the other, the eternal one, encircles everything and rises above everything, like the landscape around us and the sky that lights us.
The narrator answers Rodolphe's cynicism with the image of the cauldron.
Rodolphe does not separate Emma's passion from the phrases he heard from others, and the narrator answers his judgment:
human speech is like a cracked cauldron on which melodies are beaten to make bears dance, when the aim was to move the stars
The catchphrase of the letter of rupture.
Fate is to blame!
The same phrase returns in Charles's mouth.
It was fate's fault!