Chapter Plot Summary of Madame Bovary - Study Guide by Gustave Flaubert

Emma returns to Yonville she is sent to visit Homais and finds his shop in chaos; his assistant Justin has mixed up the utensils for jam making and arsenic. Homais has a piece of news for Emma: Charles's father is dead. Charles's mother comes to stay again. On hearing that there has been a death in the family, Lheureux exploits the opportunity to raise the issue of Emma's debts. He advises that Charles should renew the bill but that Emma should procure a power of attorney in order to allow her to handle his finances. Emma convinces Charles that they must seek legal advice; who else to ask but Léon? Emma returns to Rouen (2), where the couple enjoy "three full, exquisite and splendid days, a true honeymoon" (3). In order to see Léon more often, Emma arranges to take weekly piano lessons in Rouen (4). A pattern establishes itself and all the while she continues to run up debts with Lheureux. One day he sees her in Rouen with Léon and exploits the opportunity to demand that she sell some property to repay him. When Charles finds out about the state of their finances he informs his mother, who throws the power of attorney into the fire and drives Emma hysterical. She leaves under a cloud and the Bovarys procure a second power of attorney. Emma's behaviour becomes increasingly extravagant; one night she fails to return from Rouen. Charles comes to find her but she manages to persuade him not to worry in future and to let her travel to Rouen as and when she pleases. Léon is increasingly subjugated to her desire.

One day Emma's visit coincides with a visit from Homais. Léon is obliged to endure the chemist's company, disappointing his lover. Anxious to embark upon a proper career, Léon is anyway beginning to tire of his mistress and she too is becoming cynical ("Emma found in adultery nothing but the platitudes of marriage"), but has not the strength to leave him. Meanwhile, Lheureux ensnares her in an ever more complex web of bills and credit notes. One evening she returns to be served with a writ for the seizure of their effects within twenty-four hours. She begs Lheureux for more time but he is unwavering and threatens blackmail (6). Emma is humiliated by the seizure, which she initially conceals from Charles. She asks Léon for a loan of eight thousand francs and even tries to persuade him to steal it from his chambers. He promises to consult a friend. When Emma returns to Yonville all her furniture is up for sale. In desperation she approaches M. Guillaumin who attempts to seduce her and Binet, who refuses her. Exhausted, she seeks refuge with Mme Rollet where she suddenly remembers Rodolphe. "It never occurred to her that what she proposed to do really amounted to prostitution" (7). Her ruse fails; Rodolphe does not have the money. Emma, again, is humiliated.

With no one left to turn to she resolves to poison herself. Justin gives her the keys to the chemist's cupboards and she crams arsenic powder into her mouth. She returns home and soon begins to feel the hideous effects. A horrified Charles is incapable of easing her suffering: Homais suggests they conduct an analysis. The two most renowned doctors in Rouen, Canivet and Larivière, are called in. They declare that she is beyond redemption - of much greater concern to Homais is how to receive his distinguished guests. Emma receives the last rites, convulses and dies (8).

Charles is torn apart by grief and plans an elaborate funeral. Homais manages to conceal the origins of the arsenic and squabbles over theology wirh the priest, Bournisien at the vigil. When Emma's father arrives he faints on the spot (9). The funeral takes place with due solemnity. Léon and Rodolphe sleep soundly that night; Charles and Justin continue to grieve (10). Flaubert concludes the novel by tying-up all the loose ends: Charles continues to be beset by financial concerns and lapses gradually into poverty, Félicité absconds with her mistress's wardrobe, Léon announces his engagement. Charles makes arrangements for Emma's tomb. A few months later he runs into Rodolphe, whom he says that he no longer blames: "and then, for the first and last time in his life, he uttered a profound thought: 'It was the fault of destiny'". The following day Berthe finds her father dead in the garden. The much- neglected Berthe finally ends up working in a cotton mill. Homais, meanwhile is awarded the Legion of Honour (11).