Compare the characteristics of Emma from Madame Bovary and Kugelmass in The Kugelmass Episode
Both Emma Bovary and Kugelmass have similar characteristics and ideas about relationships, and their marriages. In the beginning of "The Kugelmass Episode," Kugelmass says "Daphne had promise. Who suspected she'd let herself go and swell up like a beach ball?" He thought this marriage would help him be happy unlike his last marriage did, but in reality, he just because unhappy again. Much like Kugelmass, Emma thought the same way. She thought her marriage with Charles would make her happier and would get her away from her father's residence. After their marriages had gotten past the "honeymoon phase" however, they soon realized they hated their marriage and wanted some spark, and romance in their relationships. On page 1112 in "Madame Bovary", the narrator explains, "But even as they [Charles and Emma Bovary] were brought closer together by the details of daily life, she was separated from him by a growing sense of inward detachment." After their initial wedding and life got routine, Emma began to realize she wasn't happy and didn't like Charles, much like Kugelmass. After his wife began to get fat, and the romance fizzled he wanted something more and wanted an affair. Both of these characters wanted the same ideals in a relationship. Kugelmass says to his analyst, "...I'm a hand who needs romance, i need softness, I need flirtation....and exchange coy glances over red wine and candlelight." Emma similarly wanted something that seemed like a fairytale. They wanted romance and something that wasn't ordinary. Then when they both get the affair that they wanted, their happiness ends up fading soon after it has begun. After spending the weekend with Emma, their affair turns to an unhappy occasion. "I'm sneaking around town, and Emma and I have had it up to here with each other," is how Kugelmass was describing the situation to Persky. Their relationship seemed fine at first, but when the obstacles start to come they relationship suddenly goes South. This is similar to Emma and her affairs. Emma and Leon had their fling where they enjoyed spending time together, but wouldn't admit to their true feelings until they see each other again in Paris. Both Kugelmass and Emma have the same unrealistic ideals about relationships and remain unsatisfied with their lives.
Compare Emma and Leon’s relationship before he moved to Paris? Why do you think it changed?
Before Leon moved to Paris I would describe Emma and Leon’s relationship kind of awkward. They hit it off as soon as they met each other. Emma and Leon had many common interests like reading, their personalities, and their problems with small town life. I felt like they both wanted to start a relationship, but neither ever made the move to start the relationship. I think Leon was scared about the repercussions of his actions if he would have continued the affair with Emma. As Leon was saying goodbye before he left for Paris, they both awkwardly shook each other’s hand. Then after, Emma realized that she loved him, but it was too late. After seeing Emma again three years later, Leon’s passion for her “revived” (1227). The book later said that Leon was no longer shy because of the company he had been around while in Paris and was very confident. Although Emma tries to resist at first like in her previous affairs, she still gives in eventually to the affair. Their “relationship” was much like anyone would want in a relationship, except the whole she being married issue. They were very passionate for each other, and seemed to think they belonged together. After visiting each other in a hotel several times a week, they were “completely lost in their possession of each other that they thought of themselves as being in their own home, destined to live there for the rest of their days, eternal young husband and eternal young wife” (1248). It goes on to say that they call the hotel room, “our room,” “our carpet,” and “our chairs” (1248). They genuinely seemed to be so wrapped up in each other that without the rest of the story they would seem like any other happy couple. The different between the two different encounters is that Leon was less shy. He wasn’t scared of Charles, and Emma continued to do her normal wifely duties while still getting romantic with Leon. Leon and Emma decided to take it farther this time because they were both more experienced than their first time.
Emma had too high of expectations for marriage and was never satisfied with her relationships because of it. Do you think Charles had any expectations for marriage? If not, is that why is kept himself blinded from the true events that were going on in his marriage?
Charles had been taken care of his whole life. His mother took care of him as a child and even as a student trying to get through medical school. She pushed him to go to medical school, and that’s what he did. He did exactly what his mother told him to do, when she wanted him to do it. This is much like how Charles’s first marriage went also. She had enough control over him to say, “…it was his wife who ruled: in front of company he had to say certain things and not others, he had to dress the way she wanted, obey her…” (1094). His first wife acted just like his mother had done. I think after that marriage failed, he needed something different and was tired of being controlled and having to be submissive. He was always told what to do and didn’t really have to do anything. I believe that is one reason he loved Emma so much because she didn’t constantly tell him what to do and control him. I don’t think Charles had any expectations about marriage because of his relationships with his mother and first wife. Charles really had no idea what to do he was told what to do his whole life. Emma wanted a Prince Charming, and a love like a fairytale. I think Charles truly wanted his marriage to work because he didn’t want to get controlled by other people and that he truly loved her. Charles always made excuses for her and always tried to justify her actions. After Rodolphe wrote her the letter saying he didn’t want to be with her, she was physically ill for weeks and he didn’t think anything of it. Also when he ran into the piano teacher, and he didn’t know Emma’s name, Charles brushed it off as, “or else maybe there’s more than one Mademoiselle Lempereur in Rouen who teaches piano” (1251). I feel like Charles constantly made excuses for Emma because he loved her and wanted their relationship to last. Even after Emma’s death, and reading the letters between her and Roldolphe he still initially thought their relationship was only platonic. He eventually realized the number of her affairs and then that led to his death. I don’t think Charles had any expectations for marriage because anything was better than his last one. So he was blinded because he had never had a truly “good” marriage, so he assumed that his and Emma’s marriage was amazing, when truly it was atrocious.
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