A House is Not a Home

The Affection and the Physical Space in Madame Bovary (1856)

Abstract

The present paper aimed to examine four elements of the physical space in Madame Bovary through the perspective of affection and the characters’ psychological space, analysing the space based on Bachelard and Weisgerber and the tones of the narrator and Emma’s speech, from a bakhtinian approach. Thus, it was demonstrated that the characters’ vision influences the description of the studied spaces through the narrator’s speech. Four spaces from the novel were chosen: (i) the house in Tostes; (ii) the castle of La Vaubyessard; (iii) the house in Yonville; and, finally, (iv) the room in Hôtel de Boulogne. These interferences manifest themselves because of the protagonist’s emotions, which were reflected in the narrator’s lexical choices, among which the analysis focused mainly on the house/home dichotomy (sa/ma maison e chez elle/chez nous). Therefore, it was concluded that the manner in which the spaces are described is permeated by the characters’ feelings and perceptions, especially those of Emma Bovary.