Paper Topic:

Moral Character

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The Morality of Charles Bovary

Since time immemorial , both the scholarly and the laymen have sought a standard for the complex issue of morality . In this particular issue , it appears that a model for morality would be helpful . Moving on considered one of the greatest , Gustave Flaubert 's Madame Bovary ' is a novel that touches the complex of morality . It seems that Flaubert 's design is to set a very moral person against ethically detestable characters . Though he is not the protagonist and

he has a handful of flaws , Charles Bovary is undeniable the most moral ' out of all the characters in Madame Bovary

Interestingly , Flaubert had started the novel with a focus on Charles Bovary . What makes that aspect notable is that the story is not about Charles , but to his second wife , Emma Bovary . Charles is described as unimaginative at times even with some stupidity . However , there are several of his actions that he had exuded tremendous consideration of what is moral

Charles Bovary had dreamt of having an altruistic vocation . He wanted to be a doctor , but it is explicitly hinted that he is not a talented practitioner . Due to his lack of competence as a doctor , he had to settle with being a health officer . In some sense , being a health officer could be considered more moral than being a doctor . A health officer gets more interaction with the people than doctors . Moreover , a health officer gets less pay than a doctor . Even considering the context of the narrative , it is hard to imagine that doctors get a small payment for their service . In addition to that , since there is a significance difference in the salary , a health officer is less prone to being corrupted by the concept of money . In probably one of the most significant event of Charles ' medical career , he was asked to do a complicated operation to fix a patient 's deformed foot . As expected , the operation was not a success . But even if Charles had failed as a doctor he had shown that he is morally good . He may have performed badly in the operation , but he had good intentions of helping the patient

If we assess the relationship of Charles and Emma , the level of Charles morality is truly remarkable . Having a relationship with a woman as morally challenged as Emma , Charles had accepted his wife , even Emma 's infidelities as portrayed by the latter 's relationship with other men When Charles read accidentally the love letters of Rodolphe to his wife he still forgave Emma . This particular act of forgiveness is certainly very hard to do in real life . Charles had shown martyr-like attitude with high regard to morality . When Emma was ill , Charles also tried his best to save her . Whenever Emma had failed with her lies , Charles still gave her a chance to explain herself

If we would compare them , Charles and Emma are the exact opposites . Emma is ambitious...

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