Madame Bovary · Bedside Lamp. 4: English Learning Reader

Author: Wang Ruoping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-12-01
Features: This series of readers is written by American authors and composed of 3,300 commonly used words. The language is modern, authentic, and standard. It is genuine and easy to understand. You can enjoy learning English without looking up a dictionary while lying in bed. The novels feature people, their eating, drinking, excretion, sleep, emotions, desires, and the complex relationships between individuals, as well as the conflicts and harmonies between people and nature or society. This series selects 50 worth-reading literary works from abroad that you should read in your lifetime. Reading these works not only helps you master English but also accumulates Western culture and enhances your personal taste and cultivation.
Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880), born into a family of doctors, spent his childhood during the height of Romanticism in France. Hugo was an idol in his eyes. However, what truly shaped his writing was the positivist science that began to flourish in France in the mid-19th century. He regarded the novel as a "scientific form of life"① and demanded that writers depict and dissect everything with the same cool, objective attitude that natural scientists apply to nature. In Flaubert's view, "beauty means truth, though not everything true is beautiful, and the most beautiful is always true,"② and "without truth, there is no art."③ Therefore, he placed great importance on observation, analysis, and understanding. He believed that "to thoroughly understand reality and faithfully reflect it through typicalization"③ is a fundamental principle that novelists should follow. This perspective led him to diverge from Hugo, whom he admired, and align himself with the successors of Balzac and Stendhal. However, Flaubert did not completely follow the footsteps of others in art. He forged his own path, determined to innovate, and ultimately developed a unique artistic style, enriching and advancing 19th-century realism.
Madame Bovary was originally the daughter of a relatively wealthy farmer in a provincial French village. She received an education in a convent in Rouen and loved reading romantic novels, which led her to develop unrealistic ideas about love and marriage. Later, she married Charles Bovary, whom she considered mediocre and incapable of bringing her happiness. She was first seduced by Rodolphe, only to be deceived by this charming rogue. She then had an affair with Leon, though the relationship was based solely on fleeting pleasure without genuine affection. Eventually, she fell into the trap of the merchant Loisel, accumulating debts she could not repay, and took her own life by poisoning herself. This is the tragedy of an ordinary woman. Madame Bovary had her weaknesses, but the author clearly points out that the cause of this tragedy was the society she lived in. The vulgar and monotonous provincial environment, the hypocritical bourgeois morality, the deceitful bourgeoisie, and so on, all led her to gradually descend into ruin, ultimately forcing her to take the path of no return. The cunning and treacherous Loisel, the shrewd Omé, the opportunistic Guillaume, and even the malicious wife of Rouen, who took pleasure in others' misfortunes, all bear responsibility for Madame Bovary's tragedy. Of course, Rodolphe and Leon, these shameless scoundrels, are also to blame.
Dr. Bovary may lack refined taste, and in his wife's eyes, he is ignorant of art, love, and opera—he is utterly vulgar, especially given his limited medical skills, which led to a ridiculous incident when treating Hippolyte's foot. However, objectively speaking, Dr. Bovary is an upright man. He works early and late, treating the people in the village. He loves his wife, family, and daughter. During Emma's illness, he was frantic with worry. He believed her lies and sent her to Rouen to study the piano. When she didn't come back one night, he rushed to Rouen at once. By the time readers near the end of this book, they must notice that he died holding a long strand of black hair, cut from Emma's body. His love for his wife was truly profound! Was he not also a person?
Flaubert mercilessly exposed the cold and merciless nature of that society, making this novel deeply thought-provoking. As for its artistic appeal, let the readers savor it on their own.