A Response to Symbolic Elements in Madame Bovary.
According to author Francis Steegmuller, symbolic things are those which have an objective and limited function, but which can be interpreted to embody a wider more profound meaning in regard to things around them. Gustave Flaubert makes extensive use of symbolism in his 1857 novel, Madame Bovary. Examples of this symbolism include the meticulous description of Charles Bovary's childhood hat, the blind beggar, and the dried wedding bouquet. .
"It was a headgear of composite order, containing elements of an ordinary hat, a hussar's busby, a lancer's cap, sealskin cap, and a night cap; one of those wretched things whose mute hideousness suggests unplumbed depths, like an idiots face. Ovoid, and stiffened with whalebone, it began with 3 convex strips; then followed by alternating lozenges of velvet rabbit's fur separated by a red band; then came a ind of bag, terminating in a cardboard lined polygon intricately decorated with braid. From this hung a long, excessively thing cord ending in a kind of tassel of gold netting. The cap was new; its peak was shiny."" (851).
This carefully constructed description of Charles's hat was not pertinent to a realistic description of his school days. Rather it served as a symbol of the various aspects of his personality and future development. Charles Bovary was a misfit; he was a compilation of many different things, but not so much that he fit into one group or the other. The cap is new, much like he is to the world. He has had little social interaction outside his family. Charles was often foolish and dim-witted; and this peculiar hat was somewhat indicative of his naive outlook on life. He is very shy and does not wish to stick out from the others. However, with such a bizarre hat, his ridicule by the others was inevitable. This would be much the case throughout Charles life. He would try his hand at many things, and fail at most all of them.