Madame Bovary Part 2, Ch. 5-8

1. loquaciousness (page 113) : full of excessive talk



2. In this section, Emma decides that everything that Charles says or does is just average, she is so annoyed with him that she wallows in self-pity. Because of this internal struggle Emma decides to go to church to seek help. Despite the fact that she went to church, she is still upset about Charles and pushes Berthe and she the little girl falls and cuts herself. She frantically runs to Charles telling him that she was playing and she fell. After this she suddenly decides that she wants to be a good wife to Charles, however this did not last long because after Leon left for Paris, she went back to her old ways of being miserable and rude to Charles. She soon forgot of her love for Leon when she met Rodolphe a wealthy land owner. Rodolphe finds Emma attractive, and immediately decides to think of ways to seduce her and figure out how he can leave her after he gets what he wants. Meanwhile, there is excitement in Yonville due to the agricultural fair that is to take place there. At the fair, Rodolphe takes Emma inside an empty building to watch the fair and confess his love to her. She is infatuated with him, but feels that she needs to act appropriately considering the fact that she is married.



3. In this part of the novel, Emma hears the church bells and all of a sudden she decides that she wants to go talk to the priest. I am not sure why she does this, I think that maybe she thinks it will be the solution to all of her problems. When she goes to explain things to the priest, he thinks she is physically ill, he is giving her all of these remedys for physical illnesses. She is trying to tell him about her affair with another man that her husband is unaware of. Why is the priest so ignorant? Had the priest aknowledged what Emma was talking about, he could have helped her with her problems and perhaps the outcome of the situation would have been different.



4. a) Why does Flaubert come out and explain things in the text that would never be said in real life?

b) I know that Catherine is the opposite of Emma, but why did the author choose to put her in the story?

c) Why does Emma hear the bells, and that all of a sudden makes her want to go to church?