Madame Bovary - Penn State University

Madame Bovary“Well, I spent the afternoon at Monsieur Alexandre’s. He which she had despairedl She was entering upon marvels wherehas an old cob, still very fine, only a little brokenkneed, and all would be passion, ecstasy, delirium. An azure infinity encompassedher, the heights of sentiment sparkled under herthat could be bought; I am sure, for a hundred crowns.” Headded, “And thinking it might please you, I have bespoken thought, and ordinary existence appeared only afar off, downit—bought it. Have I done right? Do tell me?”below in the shade, through the interspaces of these heights.She nodded her head in assent; then a quarter of an hour Then she recalled the heroines of the books that she hadlater—read, and the lyric legion of these adulterous women began to“Are you going out to-night?” she asked.sing in her memory with the voice of sisters that charmed“Yes. Why?”her. She became herself, as it were, an actual part of these“Oh, nothing, nothing, my dear!”imaginings, and realised the love-dream of her youth as sheAnd as soon as she had got rid of Charles she went and shut saw herself in this type of amorous women whom she had soherself up in her room.envied. Besides, Emma felt a satisfaction of revenge. Had sheAt first she felt stunned; she saw the trees, the paths, the not suffered enough? But now she triumphed, and the loveditches, Rodolphe, and she again felt the pressure of his arm, so long pent up burst forth in full joyous bubblings. She tastedwhile the leaves rustled and the reeds whistled.it without remorse, without anxiety, without trouble.But when she saw herself in the glass she wondered at her The day following passed with a new sweetness. They madeface. Never had her eyes been so large, so black, of so profounda depth. Something subtle about her being transfig-interrupted her with kisses; and she looking at him throughvows to one another She told him of her sorrows. Rodolpheured her. She repeated, “I have a lover! a lover!” delighting at half-closed eyes, asked him to call her again by her name—tothe idea as if a second puberty had come to her. So at last she say that he loved her They were in the forest, as yesterday, inwas to know those joys of love, that fever of happiness of the shed of some woodenshoe maker. The walls were of straw,140