An Analysis of Homais as an instrument of satire in Flauberts, Madame B

An analysis of Homais as an instrument of satireIn Flauberts satiric novel, the storys apothecary is used to convey Flauberts views of the capitalistic. As a vehicle for Flauberts satire, Homais is portrayed as opportunistic and self-serving, attributes that Flaubert associated with the middle tier. Homais obsession with brotherly mobility leads him to commit despicable acts. His character and values ar also detestable. He is self-serving, hypocritical, opportunistic, egotistical, and crooked. All these negative characteristics are used by Flaubert to represent and abuse specific aspects of middle class society. More specific issues that are communicate include Homais superficial knowledge, religious hypocrisy, and pretentiousness. Furthermore, his status as a substitute character suggests his significance to the satire. If Emma is meant to portray the feminine aspect of the conservative and so Homais is undoubtedly meant to represent the masculine aspect. Flaubert wanted to ridicule and criticize the bourgeois class. By including Homais, Flaubert is able to satirize all the negative aspects of middle class society within a single novel. In adolescence and throughout such(prenominal) of his life, Gustave Flaubert regarded the bourgeois existence as an immense, indistinct, unmitigated state of mindlessness (Wall 29-31). He vented his contempt for the bourgeois in many of his works. In his vocabulary of Received Ideas he proclaimsEach bourgeois phrase, each(prenominal) bourgeois feeling, each bourgeois opinion is touched by the hilarious dismaying irresolution of fakery. Solemnly and energetically proclaiming their clichs to each other, perhaps the bourgeois are indeed simply machines. They are stuck, like busy automata, in their pure(a) false consciousness (Wall 29-31).In Madam Bovary, Gustave Flaubert uses Homais as one of the underlying figures of his satire. Homais, Yonvilles apothecary and the Bovarys neighbor, is used as a vehicle to ridic ule the values and principles of the French middle class. True to this, Homais is depicted as an also ambitious, self-important fool. For example, Flaubert creatively stages arguments between Homais and the village priest in ensnare to mock the bourgeoiss lack of spirituality. One encounter of bank bill occurs on Emmas deathbed soon after she has passed away. The Priest declares that there is nonentity left but t... ...ften those who are selfish and opportunistic that are rewarded alternatively than the humble and honest. Homais is essentially a compilation of all the negative aspects of the bourgeois class that Flaubert detested so much he is a pat hypocrite, a medical charlatan, a self-important know-it-all, and a quack. He serves to fracture the ideological decay of an erstwhile revolutionary class (Wall 28). Certainly, Flauberts onrush on 19th-century French middle class society is both make do and thorough, but at the same time subtle and smooth. Primary SourcesFlaube rt, Gustave. signify Notebook 1840 1841. Trans. Francis Steegmuller. NewYork Doubleday & Company, 167.Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Trans. Geoffrey Wall. London Penguin, 1992.Secondary SourcesThody, Philip. Reference Guide to gentleman Literature. 2nd ed. New York St. James Press,1995.Wall, Geoffrey. Introduction. Madame Bovary. By Flaubert, Gustave. London Penguin,1992.BibliographyBrombert, Victor. The Novels of Flaubert A arena of themes and techniques. PrincetonPrinceton University Press, 1966.Kenner, Hugh. The Stoic Comedians. Boston Beacon Press, 1962