Analysis of the agricultural fair scene in Flaubert's Madame Bovary Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In writing Madame Bovary, Flaubert often spent days searching for "le mot juste." As a result, not only his sentences but also his scenes are beautifully crafted. One such example is the agricultural fair scene in the novel where the town comes together to celebrate their achievements in agriculture. As a plot contrivance, the fair is important because it helps bring Emma and Rodolphe together. It is during this scene that Rodolphe seduces Emma and they begin their ill-fated relationship. However, the importance of this scene goes far beyond its narrative function. Flaubert creatively constructs the scene so that the counselor's speech and Rodolphe's speech are juxtaposed and each mocks the other. Flaubert also uses this scene to criticize Emma's romanticism and the suffocating mediocrity of the French bourgeoisie. Overall, this scene contains many of the novel's larger themes and is emblematic of Flaubert's brilliant use of irony. Perhaps the first thing to notice when reading this chapter is how Flaubert places his characters in the scene to create three different planes of action. In the background is the faceless crowd gathered for the Fair: “the crowd poured into the main street from both ends of the town. People flocked from the alleys, from the alleys, from the houses…” (83). Mixed in with the people were the beasts: “the sleepy pigs dug in the earth with their snouts, the calves bleated, the lambs shouted…” (86). Above the faceless crowd sit the city authorities, including the city councilor giving the speech. And above all are Rodolphe and Emma who "had gone to the first floor of the town hall, to the 'council room'...[to] be able to enjoy the show more comfortably" (89). The physical positioning of the characters is interesting in this scene because usually when one character is positioned above another, it also suggests some sort of implicit moral superiority. Here, however, even though Emma and Rodolphe occupy the top floor, they cannot make such a claim since it is in this council chamber that they begin their adulterous affair. Not only between planes, but within each plane of action, Flaubert creates interesting contrasts and parallels. For example, on the lowest floor, at street level, the mass of people and animals are found. Flaubert describes the inhabitants of the city as “all… looked alike” (88), perhaps signifying that the monotony and insignificance of provincial bourgeois life has made everyone indistinguishable from one another. Even more harshly, Flaubert draws parallels between the crowded mass of people and the crowded mass of animals, using similar language to describe both. For example, at the beginning of the scene, all the animals were gathered in a small enclosure for food, "and above the long undulation of these crowded animals you could see a white mane rising in the wind like a wave...". (86). Compare this with the end of the scene, when all the people were brought together for the feast, so crowded that "sweat was on every forehead, and a whitish vapor, like the vapor of a stream on an autumn morning, floated above the table. among the hanging lamps” (95). The “floating whitish steam, like the steam of a stream” recalls the previous description of the “white mane rising in the wind like a wave” of animals, and the equivalence is complete. Although the action takes place on three different planes, Flaubert integrates the stories so that you can move from one to the other seamlessly. The best example might bethe councilor's speech at the fair, during which Flaubert constantly shifts his attention between the speaker and Rodolphe and Emma. The effect of this parallel structure is heightened irony. While the speaker talks about the greatness of agriculture: “you farmers, agricultural workers! You...pioneers of a work that entirely belongs to civilization!” (90), Emma and Rodolphe speak of “provincial mediocrity” (87) and the suffocating nature of provincial life. While the speaker praises the citizens, “ye, men of progress and morality” (90), Rodolphe manages to seduce Emma and the two begin their affair. More specifically, however, by cutting between the two scenes, Flaubert mocks both Rodolphe's insincerity and the speaker's pomposity. The counselor's clichés about progress, morality, and patriotism are matched only by Rodolphe's clichés about passion, love, and being “born for each other” (92). As the scene continues, Flaubert accelerates the pace by interrupting the two speeches more frequently until the individual sentences are contrasted with each other. When Rodolphe asks Emma "why did we meet?" (93), his speech is immediately followed by the president's exclamation: “for good agriculture in general!” (93), suggesting that their relationship is one of animal instincts. Another example is when Rodolphe tries to convince Emma that they are destined together by fate: “Just now, for example, when I was at your house.” «To Monsieur Bizat of Quincampoix.» “I knew I should have accompanied you?” “Seventy francs.” (93) The juxtaposition of the two speeches suggests that Emma is trying to get money for her favors, which ultimately becomes true later in the novel when she tries to win back Rodolphe to get money to pay off her debts. Furthermore, this juxtaposition highlights the insincerity of Rodolphe's intentions, because every time he makes a declaration of love, his speech is mocked – here the money suggests that he has ulterior motives. Other examples of this include when he tells Emma "I'll take the memory of you away with me!" (94), which is immediately followed by the president's announcement: "For a merino sheep!" (94). At the height of Rodolphe's courtship, he says to Emma: “You're good! You understand that I am yours! Let me look at you; let me contemplate you!” (93), followed by “Flemish fertilizer!” (94) – once again Rodolphe's intentions are mocked and presented as insincere by Flaubert. Thus, we can see, Flaubert's use of structure for satirical effect serves to highlight both the councilor's pomposity and Rodolphe's insincerity by placing their speeches side by side. This parallel structure is used by Flaubert not only for ironic contrasts, but is also used in this scene to highlight some of the dominant themes prevalent throughout the novel. In the above example of the manure, Flaubert not only mocks Rodolphe but also Emma and her highly romanticized view of life. Emma longs for the life she reads about in novels, and “has tried to discover what exactly is meant in life by the words happiness, passion, ecstasy, which had seemed so beautiful to her in books” (21). It is precisely this disparity between her romantic ideals and the realities of provincial life that drives her to Rodolphe who exploits her weakness by speaking to her in these romantic clichés. Flaubert criticizes this exaggerated emotionality and points out that romanticism is in decline by comparing Emma's romantic ideals to manure. Another theme touched on in this scene is the boredom of provincial life. Various characters in the novel all express the same feeling. Emma explains that it was "domestic mediocrity [that] drove her to obscene fantasies, marital tenderness to adulterous desires" (68). In this scene, both she and Rodolphe “spoke of provincial mediocrity,., 1993