Madame Bovary, Part 2, Chapter 3 summary
Part 2, Chapter 3 of 35 · 16 min to read the chapter
In Chapter 3, Emma gives birth to Berthe, feels disappointed that the child is a girl, and grows closer to Léon during a visit to the nurse. Charles delights in fatherhood, Homais cultivates his goodwill to protect his unauthorized medical practice, and village gossip begins to surround Emma’s friendship with the clerk.
What happens
- Homais helps the Bovarys settle in, hoping Charles overlooks his unauthorized medical consultations.
- Charles worries about money but delights in Emma’s pregnancy, while she hopes a son can enjoy freedoms denied to women.
- Emma bears a daughter, chooses the name Berthe, and attends a family celebration disrupted by Monsieur Bovary senior’s mock baptism.
- Emma asks Léon to accompany her to visit Berthe at Madame Rollet’s house, prompting village gossip.
- After the nurse requests supplies, Emma and Léon return beside the river and feel an attraction neither names.
- Léon withdraws to the hills, resents village society, and feels uncertain how to become closer to Emma.
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In this chapter
What to notice
The sentence develops Emma’s reasons for wanting a son. It connects her disappointment over the birth to her sense of restricted freedom.
Quick check
Why does Homais work to win Charles’s goodwill?
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