MADAME BOVARY GUSTAVE FLAUBERT Translated by Lowell BairPARTI | WE WERE IN STUDY HALL WHEN THE HEADMASTER ‘walked in, followed by a new bay not wearing a school uniform, ‘and by a janitor carrying a large desk. Those who were sleeping ‘woke, and we ll stood up as though interrupting our work il said soy, “Monsieur Roger, 'm placing this ‘£ ropil in your care. He'll bean inthe eighth grade, but if his | work snd conduct are good enough, he'll be premoted 10 where he ought to be at his age.” | Theneweomer hung baciin the comer behind the door 8 Sat we could hardly see iz. He was a county boy of about | fen, taller than any of us, He wore his hair eut straight across the forobcad, ished, hobnailed shoes, tention on them, as though listening to a sermon, not daring even to eross his legs oF is elbow, and when the bell rang at two o'clock the teacher had to tell ign to line up with, the rest of us When we entered a classroom we always tossed our caps: on the floor, to free our hands; as soon {hreshold we would throw them under the they struck the wall and raised @ cloud of di vay itshould be done.”2 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT ‘composite nature, combi cap, the round hat, the and stiffened by whalebone, it began with three rounded lowed by alternating diamond-shaped patches of ‘velvet and rabbit fur separated by a red stripe, and finally there was a kind of bag terminating in a cardboard-lied polygon feet and repeated shouts of “Charbovari! Charbeon it subsided into isolated notes, but it was a long time befor the new boy opened his | someone, shouted this _# MADAME BOVARY 3 died down completely; it kept coming back to life in fits and starts along a row of desks where a stifled laugh would occa- sionally explode like @ half-spent firecracker. name after making him repeat it, spell , immediately ordered the poor devil to Sit on the dunce’s seat atthe foot of the rostrum, He began to ‘walk over toi, then stopped short, “My ca— the new boy said timidly, glancing around un- easily. “The whole class will copy five hundred 1 Neptune's. “Quos ego” in the Aeneid, this fio checked the outbreak of a new storra. “Keep qui the teacher indignantly, mopping his forehead: find your cap: it hasn't been stolen.” Everything became calm again, Heads bent over note- ours the new boy's conduct was study hall, he took sleeveguards from his ‘desk, put his things in order and carefully ruled his paper. We saw him working conscienti Placed in 2 lower grade, for, hile he had a passable knowl without elegance. He © priest, since his par- ding him off to school ents, to save money, had postponed as long as possible, His father, Monsieur Ci had once been an assistant enis-Bartholomé Bovary, jgeon in the army. Forced to6 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT nerve.” Madame Bovary bit her lips and the boy continued to run wild in the village. He tagged after the farmhands and drave the crows away by throwing clods of earth at them. He ate the blackberries him to begin his education. The village priest egreed to give him lessons. But they were 60 short and iregular that they ac- ents, between a christening and a funeral, without even sitting down; or else he sent for and the old man, his hands folded over his 1c after giving the Eucharist to some sick per- he would catch sight of Charles frolicking take advantage of the opportunity to make him conjugate a verb beneath a tree. They would be interrupted by rain, or some acquaintance passing by. He was always satisfied with | his pupil, however, and even said that the “young roan’ had a sa0d memory. . ‘mother was determined that he should not stop in without growing along the ditches, kept watch over the turkeys with a | {nto the air when the bells were | an oak, He acquired strong hands and af ‘Six more months went by; then, the following year, Charles | MADAME BOVARY 7 ito the Iyeée in Rouen. His father took well in the dormitory and ate heartily in the dining temporary guardian was a wholesale hardware dealer on the Rue Ganterie who called for him-once a month, on a Sunday, after his shop was closed, and sent him off to take a walk along the waterfront to look at:the bos Drought him back fo school at seven o'clock, before supper. Every Thursday evening he wrote a tong letter to his mother, using red ink and tree sealing wafers; then he would go aver his history note books or read an old volume of Anacharsis that lay around in ‘the study hall. During class outings he talled with the servant, a countryman like himself By working hard he always managed to keep himself somewhere near the middle of the class; once he even earned ‘an honorable mention in natural history. But when he hed fin- ished the tenth grade his parents took him out of the lycée and ‘Put him in medical school, confident that he would be able to get his baccalaureate degree by his own efforts, His mother rented a room for him in the house of a dyer ‘with whom she was acquainted. It was on the fiRh floor, over looking the brook known as the Eau-de-Robeo, She made aarangements for his board, got him a table and two chairs and sent home for an old cherrywood bed. She also bought a small cast-iron stove and a supply of firewood so that her poor boy could keep himself warm. Then she Ioft at the end of the week, after urging him countless times to behave himself now thet hhe was going to be on. istry, botany, clinical practice and therapeutics, not to mention hhygiene and materia medica; to him those were all words of ‘unknown etymology, and they were like so many doors lead- ing into sanctuaries full of solomn shadows,8 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT, Pe aee onan - tabletop, seemed to him a precious exercise of his freedom, ‘and it increased his self-esteem. It was like an initiation into into a realm of forbidden pleasures; ‘and he felt an almost sensual delight each time he took: the doorknob to enter the tavern. Many things formerly pent up inside him now burst into the open; he learned verses by heart and sang them at parties, became an enthiusiastic ad- mirer of Béranget, leaned how to make punch and finally ‘came to iow the pleasures of love. ‘Thanks to this preparatory work, he failed miserably when The lectures were equally baffling; he listened atteatively but understood nothing. He worked hard just the same. He took notes, went to al his classes and never missed a single visit to the hospital: He performed his daily tasks like a mi hhorse walking blindfolded in 2 circle, ignorant of what he is grinding. ‘To save him money, his mother sent him a veal roast by the stagecoach each week. He had some of it for lunch every day ‘when he came in from the hospital, kicking the mud off his, shoes as he ate. Then he would hurry off again, walking all ‘over town to go to lectures, the amphitheater ot another hospi- tal, and finally walking home at the end of the day. In the ‘evening, after the meager dinner his landlord served him, he rents were expecting him to come home that very lebrate his success! ‘mother and told her everything. She blaming his failure on the unfairness of the ‘and reassured him a little by promising to smooth {n front ofthe houses, he would open his win- cut, leaning on his elbows. The brook, which ‘makes this part of Rouen a kind of sordid litle Venice, flowed ‘Past below him, yellow, violet or blue between its bridges and. railings. Workanen, squatting on the bank, were washing their ‘arms in the water. Draped over poles projecting from attics, skcins of cotton were drying in’ ‘Opposite hi q yond the rooftops, the vast, pur iched 0 ting sun cast a reddish glow. Fi there, how cool in the beech grove! He opened his nostri ‘wide, trying to breathe in the good odors of the country, bi they were too far away to reach him. Bovary did not learn the truth until-five years ‘an old story by then and he accepted it, especially Could rot dei the possiblity that his owe ofpring Charles set to work again and ceaselessly crammed for his ‘examination, memorizing the answers fo all the questions in advance. He passed with a fairly good grade, What a proud ey for his mother! She gave a large dinner party. Where should he go to practice his new profession? To ‘Tostes. The town had only one elderly doctor. Madame Bovary ‘had been awaiting his death for a long time, and the old man had not yet given up the ghost when Charles moved in acro the road as his successor. But it was not enough to have raised @ son, sent him to | tical school and discovered Tostes for him to practice in: he needed a wife, She found him one: a Dieppe bailiff's the next day a lecture; be liked this first taste of idleness ant ‘gradually abandoned his courses altogether. He began going to taverns and developed a passion for dominoes. To spend every evening shut up in a dirty public room, clicking black-dotted pieces of sheep bone on a marble "Anan suorize practice meine witout on ND. ep —L,10 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT widow, forty-five years old, with a yearly ineome of twelve hhundred franes. Although she was ugly and thin as a rail, with pimples blossoming on her face like buds in springtime, Madame Dubuc had no shortage of suitors to choose from. Madame Bovary had to oust them all to achieve ber purpose; her skill ‘was particularly evident in the way she foiled the schemes of a butcher who had the backing of the clergy. Charles hed envisaged marriage as the beginning of a more pleasant life, Zeling that he would be freer and able to dispose of his time and money as he saw fit. But it was his wife who ruled: in front of other people he had to say this and not say that, he had to eat fish every Friday, dress the way she wanted. ‘him to and follow her orders in dunning patients who had not paid their i + hot chocolate every morning, She was cont Whicn people stayed away from her she found her solitude unbearable; when they ‘came to see her it was no doubt because they wanted to watch, her die. When Charles came home at night her long, thin arms ‘would emerge from beneath the covers and twine around hi neck; after making him sit down on the edge of the bed, she ‘would begin to tell him of her woes: he was neglecting her, he ‘was in love with another woman! She, should have listened. when people warned her she'd be unhappy! ‘would end by asking him for some kind of toni feel better, and a litle more love. CHAPTER 2 Oz NIGHT, toward cleven o'clock, they were awake ened by the hoofbeas of a horse which stopped infront of their house. The maid opened the attic. window and aleyed for some time with aman who retained inthe secet, hhorse, followed the maid aitd walked directly into the bed room behind her. He reached into his gray-tasseled wool cap, drow outa letter wrapped in a piece of cloth hhanded it to Charles, who rais m one el ied 10 lie facing the ‘The letter, sealed with a small biue wax seal, begged Mon- siour Bovary to come immediately to a farm known as Les Bertaux to seta broken leg. It is at least teen miles from Tosts to Les Bertaux, going by wey of Longucville and Saint Vicior It was a dark night. Madame Bovary was affaid he Iusband might have an accident, so it was decided thet the farmnand would star back ahead of him. Chaties would leave three hours ater, at moonrise. A bey would be sent out to mect him, to show him the way to the farm and open the gates for hime Carefully wrapped in his overcoat, Charles set out for Les Bertaux at about four o'clock in the mori drowsy fom the warmth of hs seep, and hi trot lulled bin like the rockieg ofa cradle. Bach time the an mal stopped of its own accord before one of those holes, sur rounded by thors tha are dug along the borders of cultivatedR GUSTAVE FLAUBERT fields, Charles would awake with a start, immediately re- ‘member the broken leg and try to recall all the fractures he hhad studied. The rain i there were birds perched the apple trees, rufling up ‘morning wind, The fat coun MADAME BOVARY B through the gate of Les Rertaux, his horse took ftight and shied violently. {twas a prosperous-looking farm. Through the open upper halves of the stable doors, big work horses could be seen: placidly cating from new hayracks. Alongside the farm bail ings lay a wide, steaming manure pile; among the chicke ‘ye could see, and the clumps of tees around the far and turkeys pecking a its surfice were five or six peacock formed widely separated dark purple stains on tit favorite taxury in the baryards of the Caux region, The surface which merged atthe horizon into the dull hue of the sheepfold was long and-the barn was high, with walls as ‘Snooth as your hand. In the shed were two large carts and four plows, complete with whips, horse collars and all the other sky. From time to harles would open his eyes, but then his mind would grow-weary, sleep would again overwhelm him and he would sink back into a drowsiness in which recent sensations were confused with more distant memories; he sew a double image of himself as both a student and a mar- ried man, lying in bed as he had been a short time before, and walking through a surgical ward as he had done in the pa: ‘with its symmetrically planted trees, sloped upward, and from ‘near the pond came the merry sound of a flock of poese ‘A young woman in a blue merino dress with three flounces ‘came tothe door ofthe house to receive Monsieur Bovary. She the kitchen, where a big fre was blazing: Around breakfast was bubbling in small pots of var- ‘ous sizes. Damp clothes were drying inside the fireplace. The 8 and the nozzle of the bellows, all of clatter of eurtain rings sliding ‘the metal rods of hospital beds, and the sound of his wife's breathing as she slept. ‘Vassonville he saw a young boy sitting ‘on the grass beside a ditch, “Are you the doctor?” asked the child ‘Wheit he heard Charles's answer, he took his wooden shoes jn his hands and began to run in im ‘colossal proportions, shone like burnished steel, and along the: walls hung an abundant array of kitchen utensils reflecting the flickering firelight and the first rays of dawn coming in through the windows. Carles went up to the second floor to see the patient, He found hin: in bed, sweating under the blankets; he had thrown, off his cotton nightcap. He was a fat little man of fifty, with pale skin and blue eyes, bald in font and wearing earrings. On ‘chair beside him was a big decanter of brandy from which he bad been pouring himself a drink now and then to pluck up hi spirits; but as soon as he saw the doctor he calmed down: in. stead of cursing as he had been doing for the past twelve hhours, he began to groan weakly ‘The fracture was a simple-one, without complications of ‘any kind. Charies could not have wished for anything easier. Recalling his teachers’ bedside manner with accident cases, ight before as turning from a Twelfth Night celobration at a neighbor’. house. His wife had been dead for two years, He had with him. ‘only his daughter, who helped him run the household. ‘The ruts in the road became deeper; they were approaching, Les Bertaux. The boy darted through a hole in the hedge, dis appeared, then reappeared in a farmyard, opening the gate. Charles's horse began to slip on the wet grass and he had to bend down to avoid overhanging branches. Watchdogs were barking in the kennel, tugging at their chains. When he wentCharles chose one of them, cut edit down with a piece of broken glass ing in rows, the overflow from the adjoining granary, to which three stone steps led.’To decorate the room, there was a black pencil drawing of a head of Minerva hanging from a the middle of the wall, neath the saltpeter this inscription at Papa.” ‘They spoke about the patient first, then ab ing ‘now that she was burdened with nearly the full ro- ions, drawn tightly th that each seemed to be of one the tips of her ears and were joined large chignon. The hair over her temples was waved slighth doctor now noticed forthe fivst ed pin ied like a man, tucked in between two against the windowpane, looking out at the beanpoles had been toppled by the wind. for something?” she asked, ‘She began to look around on the bed, behind the doors, un- ‘kr the chairs; it ad fallen on the floor, between the sacks of Lover to her, and as they both, reached down at the same time he straightened up, blushing her shoulder as she handed him Instead of coming back to Les Bertaux three days later; as f-_tohad promised he resumed the very next day ed fom fon fwice @ week regularly, not counting the unex- ‘he made from time to. trying to walk around his house unaided, Monsieur Bovary be- ‘gan acquire a reputation 2s a man of great ability. MonsieurMADAME BOVARY uv 1 began to make inquiries; she Iearned that Mado ‘Rowault had gone to boarding school in a Ursuline , where she had received what was known as a “fine she had therefore been taught dancing, geography, drawing, needlework and piano. This opened her eyes! “So thats why he looks so happy when he goes to see her!” she said to herself. “Thats why he puts on his new vest, even when. there's a chance he may ruin it in the rain! Oh, that woman! ‘That women!” 16 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT Rouault said he could not have been healed better by the reatest doctors of Yvetot, or even Rouen, |AS for Charles, he never wondered why he enjoyed going to Les Bertaux. IFhe had thought about it, he would no doubt But was this really ing interludes in an tence? On those days he would get up early and set off at a gallop, urging on his horse; and before entering. the house he would wipe his feet om the grass and put on his black gloves. He was always happy when he rode into tho | : he liked the feel of the gate as he pushed it open joulder, the rooster crowing on the wall, the ‘anger by making insinuations, bu thorn. Then she began to make p ‘walked in front of him her wooden soles made a sharp little ‘tapping sound each time they rose against the leather uppers. had to have city girls! And she went on: “Rouault’s daughter, a city girl! What a joke! Their grand- father was 2 shepherd, and they have @ cousin who almo: around her, rufing the st neck or making her apron cers on her hip. Once di barnyard was oozing buildings was melting; she stood in the doorway, then went ‘back inside for her parasol, broug sun shone through the iridescent 1g thaw, the bark of the trees in the the snow on the roofs of the farm Out of weariness, Charles stopped going to Les Bertaux. ‘After many sobs and kisses, in a great explosion of love, she bad made him put his hand on aprayer book and swear that he ‘would never go back there again. He kept his word, but the ‘comer of it hang- ing down between her shoulder biades; her bony figure was al | ways encased in scabbard-like dresses that were too short; never failed to ask about the patients progress, and she had | even chosen a fine new page for Monsieur Rouault in the women, painted fans were fluttering, s by bouguets, and seent be + in font of you, then return and stare into yours a moment Scattered among the dancers of talking in doorways, there were about a:dozen men, ranging in age from twenty-five to forty, who were distinguished from the rest of the crowd by almost amounted to a family resemblance, despite theit diferences of age, dress or featureGUSTAVE FLAUBERT fitted them better and seemed. fo be made ‘brought forward over the templ in Ty li Xe lamare and the Cascine, the roses in Ger garden, their faces pressed Bertanx came into her mind. MADAME BOVARY, st splendor that now surrounded her, the memory of her e gentleman bowed, and as he put w the young lady drop into his hat a wi began to leave one af- the other. Drawing back one corner of a muslin curtain, ‘Emma saw their gleaming lanterns slipping away in the dari 8. The padded bene! ill remained; the musicians were cooling their fingertips by ting them on their tongues; Charles was leaning against boalf aslleaned against the we ‘When she opened the ‘They went on for 2 long time, after everyone else was hausted. ‘Aftor chatting for a few minutes more and bidding one, other good night, or rather good morning, the hosts and ho off to bed. dragged himself up the stairs, gripping igh of relief when he took off ‘Emma put a shawl around her shoulders, opened the wi Day began to break. She looked at the windows chiteau fora long time, trying to guess which ecuped by the poople se be sen tht night, Se longed MADAME BOVARY 3 fo enter into them amd become part But she was shivering with cold, She undzessed, slipped to bed and pressed up agsinst Charles, who was sleeping. unl. ‘There were many péople at breakfast. The meal lasted ten liqueurs were served, which surprised the doctor. Mademoiselle d’ Andervil From the orangery, whi far end of the green- sd passage Jed to the outbuildings of the room was as highly polished as the parguet of a drawing room. In the midale stood two revolving posts harasses were hung, while the bits, whi were lined up along the wall the Bovarys pol thanked the'marquis and the marquise and started back to Tastes. ‘Emma watched the turning whi | pol on the edge of teat, bel and the litle horse trotted along ata Ieisurely pace be- he shafts, Which:cf GUSTAVE FLAUBERT : MADAME BOVARY 35 they went past, puffing on their cigars and laughing, Emma! ‘The next day seemed endless to her, She went out into her thought she recognized the viscount; she turned around, but? 4: litle garden and walked up and down the same paths over a she saw only heads outlined against the sky, bobbing up and: hhad to stop and repair it with a piece of rope. As he was checking the hamess before setting off again, h something on it which would not wear eway. Remembering the ball became an occupation for het CHAPTER 9 JFIEN, WHEN Charles was out, she would go to the closet and take the green silk cigar case from the pile of n in which she had Tet it She would look at it, open itand sniff its lining, which was regnated with an odor of verbena and tobacco. Whose was «The viscount’. A present ftom his mistress, perhaps. It Emma quickly snatched up the cigar case, had been embroidered on a charming little rosewood frame, the back of the closet, ‘opt hidden from everyone else, which had occupied many36 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT like the great bell of a cathedral; it blazed forth before her eyes ‘everywhere, even on the labels of her pomade jars "At night she would awaken when the fishmongers passed. singing La Marjolai She subscribed to La Corbeil, a women’s magazine, and 10 Le Sylphe des Salons. She devoured, without skipping a 5 the opening of every nev fashions, the addresses of the bes MADAME BOVARY the Bois or the opera. She stu in the works of Eugéne Sue: ‘ound similarities between him and the fictitious characters in het books. But the circle at whose center he stood gradually forty, married hciresses. The motley crowd of writers and ac- toesses gathered after midnight in the candlelit private roomsrealm of bliss and passion stretched forth as longing she confused the plea~ “The boy who worked in the post house came to rub down the mare every morning; he walked through the hall in his 1ock had holes in it and he wore ne saddle and put on of straw and tossec Nastasie (who fi Fal ‘when she was all alone MADAME BOVARY 9 blotter, a writing case, a pen and some envelopes, although she had no one to write o; she would dust off her whatnot, look at herself the mirror, pick up a’book, then begin to day- dreamy between the lines and le it fll to her lap. She longed to ‘travel, ot to go back and live in the convent. She wanted both to die and to live in Paris. Charles rode, all over the countryside, through snow and tain. He ate omelets at farmhouse tables, thrust his hand be- ‘tween damp bedelothes, had his:face splattered by spuirts of 18 Paper shields for the candlesticks, a flounce she had changed on her dress, or a fancy name given to some simple dish which the maid had prepared badly, but which be enjoyed to the ast bite. In Rouen she saw ladies with charms attached to their watch chains; she bought herself some him. They added something to the pleasure of his senses and ‘the charm of his home. They were like a layer of golden dust ‘narrow path of his life excellent; he looked hearty and good- ‘im trating catarths and chest ailments. Afraid of killing his patients, he usually prescribed only sedatives, occasionally an ‘metic, foot-bath or leeches. It was not that he shrank from surgery, however: he bled people abundantly, like horses, andio GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 10 one had more powerful grip when it came to pulling, keep himself up to date,” he subscribed to La of those taciturn, dedicated men wi and eveatually, by the time they are sixty and ‘She was increasingly annoyed with hi grew older his manners became cruder than ever: he the eorks of empty wine bottles atthe end of the meal ‘Emma sometimes tucked the red edge of his sweater into’ his vest, straightened his rew away a pair of faded loves he was about to put 1s not for his sake, as he MADAME BOVARY 61 believed, but for her own: she did it out of vanity and nervous ination. And sometimes she talked to him about things she new play, or an aneedote of gossip column; for Charles » ‘open, an unfailing source of approval. After all, she even confided in her grey= hound! She would have talked to the logs in the fireplace if necessary, or the pendulum of the clock. im the depths of her soul, she was waiting for happen. Like a sailor in dst ‘vas surprised when she saw it had not come; then, at sun- ‘down, sadder than ever, she longed for the next day. Spring came again. She had difficulty in breathing during th frst warm days, when the pear trees were blossoming. Early in July she began to count on her fingers how many more weeks were left till October, thinking that the Marquis @Andervilliers might give another ball at La Vaubyessard. But the whole month of September went by without a single letter or visitor. ‘After the chagrin of this disappointment, her heart was ‘once more left empty, and the series of identical days began all over again. So they were going to continue like this, one after the other, always the same, innumerable, bringing nothing! In other peo- 1 future was a long, dark corridor with only a locked {oor atthe end.o GUSTAVE FLAUBERT practicing. She left her sketchbooks and embroidery in the closet. What was the use? Sewing irritated her. ‘veread everything.” she said to herself. And she spent her time holding the fire tongs in the flames ‘until they were red-hot; or watching the rain fal der the coping of the ‘wood lice crawling when flaking off in the frost, had left white scabs on his face. MADAME BOVARY sed by with his-saber buckled around his ‘smock. Morning and evening, the post horses crossed the road in proups of three to drink fiom the pond. Now and thea the on the doot of a tavern would tinkle, and when there vasa wind she ar the copper basins that served as the on their two irom rods. His shop was ‘whiskers and a broad, slow, would soon be heard, and di begin to move in a miniature drawing room on top of the ‘There were women in pink turbans, Tyroleans in saliva agtinst the curbstone and raise his knee to lift the in- strument, whose hard strap made his shoulder hust; and the music, sometimes plaintive and slow, sometimes joyous and6a GUSTAVE FLAUBERT ely came whee her elbow and idly make now neglected her household duties entirely, and ladame Bovary was amazed by this change when sh from then on the good woman ly growing more ceprieious and hard MADAME BOVARY 6 lease. She would order special dishes for herself and then not he usually tended to be rather hard-hearted and the distress of others, like most people born of untry parents, whose souls always keep something of the ‘She grew palé and had palpitations of the heart. Chazles © gave her valerian and camphor baths. Everything he tried scemed to make her moze overwrought than ever. There were days when she chattered feverishly for hours on + end; and this overexcitement would be abruptly followed by a66 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT period of torpor She would then ‘Cologne over her arms. ‘Since she continually riously of going somewhere else to live. From then o se ravine to lose weight, develope ‘cough and lost her appetite decamped only the week before, ‘macist to find out the exact far away the nearest doct had eared per year, ete. Having improve, ‘One day as she was tidying up a drawer in preparation for en finally flew up the ‘When they left Tastes in March, Madame Bovary was. pregnant. PART II ing the countryside look like an enormous outspread cloak which has a green velvet collar edged with silver braid, landscape is characterless. It is here that the worst Neufchatel,