Rouva Bovary – naisen voimattomuus

Rouva Emma Bovary – tai kirjan alussa vielä neiti Emma Rouault – on kaunis idealisti, joka Flaubertin teoksessa kuvaa ironisesti miten romantiikka, varsinkin romanttinen kirjallisuus, voi tuhota kauneimmankin luojan luoman. Flaubert kuvaa Emmalla sitä, miten haavekuvien jahtaaminen ja unelmissa eläminen on tuomittu epäonnistumaan. Tällaisen tiedostavan kuvailun lisäksi teoksessa näkyy Flaubertin ymmärrys siitä, miten hankala naisen asema hänen yhteisössään on. Naisella ei ole minkäänlaista päätäntävaltaa omaan elämäänsä, ja Flaubert kuvaa tämän Emman isän, miehen ja rakastajien kautta; kaikilla heistä on valta muuttaa tämän elämää. Tässä esseessä käsittelenkin miesten vaikutusta Emma Bovaryn elämään ja tämän tapoja koettaa päästä pois sietämättömästä tilanteesta.

Hahmona Emma on yllättävän monitahoinen, vaikka onkin luotu kuvaamaan ulkoisen kauneuden ja sisäisen korruption välistä dilemmaa, sekä naisen aseman vaikeutta. Emma on luonteeltaan romanttinen ja haaveileva, ja se näkyy läpi koko kirjan. Hän tekee päätöksiä hetken huumassa, tunnepohjalta, eikä ajattele muita; ei heidän tunteitaan, eikä sitä miten hänen päätöksensä vaikuttaa heihin. Emma on saanut hyvän kasvatuksen, vaikkakin on innoissaan lukenut paljon romansseja, jotka ovat antaneet hänelle saavuttamattomia odotuksia romantiikasta ja muustakin elämästä.

Hän saikin kuulla, että neiti Rouault, joka oli kasvatettu ursuliininunnien luostarissa, oli saanut, kuten sanotaan, hyvän kasvatuksen, että hän siis osasi tanssia, tunsi maantieteen, taisi piirustaa, omella koruompelua ja soittaa pianoa. - s 20

Se, että Emmalla on näitä odotuksia aiheuttaa sen, että hän ei ikinä tule olemaan tyytyväinen siihen, mitä hänellä sillä hetkellä on. Hän luulee olevansa rakastunut Charles Bovaryyn, ja sen vuoksi suostuu tämän kosintaan, mutta pian huomaa, ettei odotettua onnellisuutta tullutkaan. Nopeasti hänen tilanteensa muuttuu sietämättömäksi ja Emma lopettaa itsestään huolehtimisen, eikä enää kiinnostu mistään.

-- Emma, joka oli ennen ollut niin huolellinen ja siisti, jättäytyi nyt koko päiviksi pukeutumatta, [...] valaisi huoneensa talikynttilällä. Hän toisteli, että piti säästää, koska he eivät olleet rikkaita, lisäten olevansa hyvin tyytyväinen, hyvin onnellinen -- - s 68

Tavattuaan Rodolphen, seikkailunhaluisen naistenmiehen, Emma löytää itselleen esikuvan, jota ei kuitenkaan voi seurata, koska odotukset naisia ja miehiä kohti ovat erilaiset. Emma kuvastaakin hyvin 1800-luvun yhteiskunnan tapaa antaa naiselle hyvin rajoitetun roolin tyttärenä, vaimona ja äitinä – hänellä ei ole omaa tahtoa, tai ei ainakaan saisi olla, eikä mahdollisuutta toteuttaa itseään.

Emman elämän muutokset tapahtuvatkin miesten kautta. Ensin hänen isänsä ja Charles Bovary sopivat avioliitosta, mikä siirtää Emman pois yksinäisestä maatalosta. Kuitenkin Charlesin paljastuva laiskuus ja sosiaalinen taitamattomuus estää pariskunnan aseman parantumisen, mikä vuorostaan saa Emman etsimään elämäänsä jännitystä muualta. Hänen ensimmäinen rakastajansa on itsevarma Rodolphe, jolla olisi tarpeeksi rahaa ja valtaa saadakseen Emman pois tämän epämiellyttävästä elämästä. Voimakkaaseen Rodolpheen verrattuna herkempi Léon taas on muuten samanlaisessa tilanteessa kuin Emma, mutta miehenä hänellä on tapoja toteuttaa unelmansa rahasta ja omavaltaisuudesta, kun taas Emma on kahledittu mieheensä ja lapseensa.

Mutta naisen tiellä on aina esteitä. Nainen on tarmoton ja heikko, ja hänellä on vastuksenaan sopivaisuuden säännöt ja ruumiillinen voimattomuutensa. Hänen tahtonsa häilyy tuulissa niinkuin hänen päähineensä nauhan pidättämä harso; jokin halu häntä aina vetää, jokin tapa pidättää. - s 90

Emman tragedia on se, että vaikka hän on onneton avioliitossaan, ei hän voi lähteä siitä, hänen statuksensa tulisi olemaan olematon, kun taas Charlesin tilanne ei siitä kärsisi. Ainoat vaihtoehdot Emmalle ovat pysyä uskollisena tylsässä liitossa, tai elää elämääsä rakastajiensa sylissä. Uskottomuus – sen valinta – on Emmalle ainoa tapa näyttää olevansa yksilö, jolla on oma elämä. Miehillä on omaisuus, joten ainoa Emman käytössä oleva valuutta on hänen oma vartalonsa, jota voi käyttää vain salassa ja häpeässä. Lopuksi, kun Emma epätoivoisesti hakee rahaa saadakseen velkansa maksettua, miehet tarjoavat rahaa ruumiillisista palveluksista. Jopa saadakseen arsenikin tehdäkseen itsemurhan, on Emman käytettävä hyväksi sitä, että Justin – apteekkarin apupoika – on häneen ihastunut. Emman koko elämä ja Emma itse – syntymästä kuolemaan – on miehen katseen, himon ja paheksunnan kohde.

Women in literature (Practice essay for an university course)

Women are changing the way novels are written. Though it is happening slowly, the change is certain. Earlier in fiction the role of the woman has always been to be a mirror to the man, the hero of the story, to reflect his qualities and reinforce his masculinity. This has been the norm from old fairy tales to modern sci-fi. This role started to change, however, due to a few brave women in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries who had the courage to start challenging the masculine way of portraying women as the “weaker sex” who had no opinions and basically no lives of their own. Thanks to these female authors the language and structure of the novels themselves are becoming more politically correct towards all types of women. Now the fictional women are starting to have a voice of their own, and through that real women also gain a voice of their own. This essay will discuss some of the historical changes of literature written by and about women. It is clear that the author's gender affects the style in which women are talked about. Lastly the essay will discuss the female authors who write specifically about queer women and how the portrayal of different sexualities have become more realistic and less offensive.

In The Madwoman in the Attic (1984: 47), Gilbert and Gubar state that the literature of the 19^th century and earlier was strictly patriarchal. They claimed (1984: 47) that if a woman chose to have her writings published, she usually forfeited her femininity. Women were supposed to stay at home, both physically and socially; that was their place, they should have nothing to do with the publicity which came with the profession of an author. In order to be taken seriously most women chose to write under a male pseudonym. Of course, the ways in which women were portrayed were also rather one sided – because there was only the male opinion of what a woman should or should not be. Gilbert and Gubar (1984: 53) maintain that in Victorian fiction written by men, women were depicted as either an angel or a monster. The angel was the princess of the story; pure and innocent and quiet. She had no opinions of her own and she only did what she was told to. An example of this is Rose Maylie from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. This kind of woman was the epitome of femininity, and usually unattainable for the man. In the 19^th century this was the only politically correct portrayal of a woman; a mother or a virgin. The other kind of woman – the monster – was active, opinionated and had a life of her own. She was not afraid of men and she wanted her voice to be heard. Usually these kinds of women were also more sexually liberated and were considered to be evil and dangerous. Examples of these types of women from Dickens' books are Mrs Mann, again from Oliver Twist, and Fanny Squeers from Nicholas Nickleby. No woman in fiction could be both, they had to be one or the other, as that was the way women were thought to be in the 19^th century.

Observation shows that, unfortunately, these two stereotypes have seemed to survive to this day in male writing, especially in genres such as sci-fi and fantasy, where it is easy to retreat back into a medieval society type where women were subservient to men. Female writers tend to stay away from these stereotypes, creating more rounded female characters who have all the characteristics women actually have. Female writers do not portray only one aspect of a woman, for example, a mother, a lover or a witch, but they portray a woman who can be all of these and usually at the same time, thus affecting the way women are treated and talked about in real life. A good example of an independent, strong female character is Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, who follows her own heart, makes up her own mind and still gets what she wants in the end. In addition, she is not punished for any of her strong attributes. From this point on the treatment of women in literature began to change to be more politically correct towards women. From Charlotte Brontë all the way to Ursula Le Guin, an active 20^th century author, women writers have continued to write strong female characters. Currently, authors are being pressured to portray more realistic characters because of the conscious changes some authors, both men and women, are making in their characters.

Similarly to the history of female authorship and female characters, the history of the queer women in literature – both authors and portrayal of such characters – went through a swift change in the later part of the 20^th century. Grier (1994. 17) states in her references to lesbian literature that, although the history of female authorship is already a few hundreds of years long, the creation, or at least active documentation, of lesbian literature started only in the 1950s. At first all lesbian literature was clumped together; the works that were so called “trash” and the more serious literature written by authors of high repute (Gay & Lesbian Literature. 1994: 17). Later, when homosexuality became more widely accepted and it was more politically correct to talk about sexuality, various types of lesbian literature were differentiated. The more respectable ones were separated from pornographic materials. According to Grier (1994: 17), in the mid-1960s a clear distinction was made between the books written by women to women and those which were lesbian themed books written by men to other men. Also in the 60s there was a prominent surge of literature written about sexual minorities which no longer portrayed lesbians or gay men as either comical sidekicks, sick or mentally ill. According to Plummer (1995: 86), the stories were still tragic, usually cautionary tales, warning young men and women about “going gay”. However this, too, changed rather quickly, as gay people started to write stories themselves. Already in the 1980s the stories were more about celebrating the differences in the society. Only this kind of activity of individuals from the sub-culture that is being talked about will and can change the language. Plummer (1995: 86) suggests that the small personal experience of “coming out” became a major cultural form at that time. Political correctness is born out of the willingness of individuals to talk about their differences; the activity of a few individuals can change how the society sees certain things.

Plummer (1995: 87) suggests that there has to be an audience for the stories, and for the audience to exist there has to be stories . This change from ridiculing and offending sexual minorities to celebrating differences in society happened very quickly, and it is still happening. At the moment there is more diversity in literature than ever and it is bound to continue to diverge more as people start writing and talking about things that formerly had to be hidden and kept secret. It might be concluded from all this that it is indeed true that women writers are actively changing the ways novels are written and the ways women are talked about. Fictional women are no longer just a mirror to the man, but they have a voice of their own, their own goals and their own aspirations. Although there is still a long way to go to the realistic portrayal of women, the changes that have already happened are promising a brighter future. The picture of gay women has probably changed most of all, as in recent years it is more acceptable to be different from the so called norm of heterosexuality and the traditional view of women.

Sources:

Gilbert, S.M. and Gubar S. 1984. The Madwoman in the Attic. New Haven and London: Yale University Press

Plummer, K. 1995. Telling Sexual Stories. London and New York: Routledge

Grier, B. G. "Introduction to Lesbian Literature." Ed. Malinowski, S. 1994. Gay & Lesbian Literature. Detroit and London: St James Press