Madame Bovary is a novel by Gustav Flaubert about Emma, whom Charles courts and marries after the death of his first wife. Emma soon grows tired of married life and enters into an affair with Rodolphe, which lasts for years until he abruptly abandons her before their planned elopement. Emma soon enters another affair with Leon. The two lovers quickly tire of one another, Emma's extravagance sends her husband into deep debt and she eventually kills herself. Charles discovers love letters from Emma's lovers, attempts to understand and eventually dies.
Emma Bovary is the novel's eponymous protagonist (Charles's mother and his former wife are also referred to as Madame Bovary, while their daughter remains Mademoiselle Bovary). She has a highly romanticized view of the world and craves beauty, wealth, passion, as well as high society. It is the disparity between these romantic ideals and the realities of her country life that drive most of the novel, leading her into two affairs and to accrue an insurmountable amount of debt that eventually leads to her suicide.
Charles Bovary , Emma's husband, is a very simple and common man. He is a country doctor by profession but is, as in everything else, not very good at it. He is in fact not qualified enough to be termed a doctor but is instead an officier de santé , or "health officer". Charles adores his wife and finds her faultless, despite obvious evidence to the contrary. He never suspects her affairs and gives her complete control over his finances, thereby securing his own ruin. Despite Charles's complete devotion to Emma, she despises him as she finds him the epitome of all that is dull and common.
Rodolphe Boulanger is a wealthy local man who seduces Emma as one more to a long string of mistresses. Though occasionally charmed by Emma, Rodolphe feels little true emotion towards her. As Emma becomes more and more desperate, Rodolphe loses interest and worries about her lack of caution. After his decision to escape with Emma, he resigns and feels unable to handle it, especially the existence of her daughter, Berthe.
Léon Dupuis is a clerk, the second person Emma has an affair with, after Rodolphe Boulanger.
Monsieur Lheureux is a manipulative and sly merchant who continually convinces people in Yonville to buy goods on credit and borrow money from him. Having led many small businesspeople into financial ruin to support his own business ambitions, Lheureux lends money to Charles and plays Emma masterfully, leading the Bovarys so far into debt as to cause their financial ruin and Emma's suicide.
Monsieur Homais is the town pharmacist. He is vehemently anti-clerical and practices medicine without a license. Though he pretends to befriend Charles, he actively undermines Charles's medical practice by luring away his patients and by setting Charles up to attempt a difficult surgery, which fails and destroys Charles's professional credibility in Yonville.
Justin is Monsieur Homais' apprentice and second cousin. He had been taken into the house from charity and was useful at the same time as a servant. He harbors a crush on Emma. At one point he steals the key to the medical supply room, and Emma tricks him into opening a container of arsenic so she can "kill some rats keeping her awake". She however eats the arsenic herself, much to his horror and remorse.
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