A review by drkshadow03
Three Tales by Gustave Flaubert

3.0

In “A Simple Heart” the reader follows the simple and pious life of Félicité in the service as her wealthy mistress Madame Aubain. Along the way we watch her deal with an impoverished childhood, be abandoned by her first lover for another woman so he can avoid conscription into the military, suffer the death of her nephew at sea and the daughter of her mistress after chronic ill-health, and eventually the death of her beloved parrot before succumbing to pneumonia while the house around her falls into disrepair.

Although many of the characters take advantage of her kindness, verbally abuse and insult her, and she suffers from various personal tragedies, none of it hinders her from keeping to her simple and humble ways and good nature. As her mistress and others remind her, she is essentially a nobody, yet Flaubert tells her story in a way that suggests her life is an ideal. She behaves like the ideal Christian turning her cheek to others who do her wrong and never compromising her ideals of helping others—never letting herself become jaded by the world. Her life is a celebration of the virtue of humility and unimportance, a challenge to the claim that purpose can only be found in wealth, ambition, and fame. Even in a scene when she saves the kids, her charges, from a rampaging bull she thinks nothing of the matter as being any kind of special action or deserving of special praise.

Throughout the story, there are hints of broader political events occurring in the background such as the July Revolution that led to the overthrow of Charles X from the French Throne. The reader sees these big events have little effect on Félicité’s life. Many writers would create a story showing how big events affect the average person, but Flaubert flips this idea around and writes a story where big events happen and have no effect on his main character. Likewise, we see all these rich, educated, and middle-class notables make poor life decisions. Her other charge, Paul, ends up with debt after debt as he spends all his time in taverns and struggles to find a suitable career. When he finally does find one and ends up engaged, the future daughter-in-law is haughty and full of criticism of Paul’s childhood home and Madame Aubain. Another instance concerns Monsieur Bourais, a retired solicitor and supposed friend to Madame Aubain that helps with her accounting. For all his education, successful career, and the appearance of a respectable character, Monsieur Bourais ends up embezzling money stolen from Madame Aubain, has a secret affair, and commits suicide. Success and respectability doesn’t bring happiness or virtuous behavior. However, poverty isn’t glorified either and is shown as potentially corrupting force. Félicité’s sister only continues her relationship with Félicité in order to see what free things she can mooch from her.
Flaubert shows the virtue in the humble and simple life—the life of simple faith, piety, and the genuine desire to help others in need with no thought of yourself or your own aggrandizement.

“The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaller” is Flaubert’s version of previous legends about this Saint of which there are many. His parents hear conflicting prophecies about their newborn son, Julian—the mother believes he will be a great saint, while the father learns he will be a great warrior spilling blood and will marry into an Emperor’s family. During church services, he decided to trap and kill a mouse disturbing his religious prayers. After committing the act, he grows increasingly intoxicated with murdering animals, until he kills a large family of deer; at the end, a stag curses him two murder his own parents. After some close calls, he runs off to avoid this fate, becomes a successful mercenary, which leads to marrying the daughter of an Emperor. One night while hunting the ghosts of the dead animals he returns to his palace to find two people in his wife’s bed. Thinking his wife was cheating on him, he kills them in a rage, only to discover it was his elderly parents coming to find him. He leaves his property to his wife, goes begging around the countryside, and attempts to make repentance. It ends with a dream-like sequence where he feed and helps a suffering leper only to learn it is Christ who takes him up into heaven.

The contrasting prophecies are the heart of the story. One of the major mysteries that keeps the reader curious and turning the pages is how these seemingly contradictory prophecies involving a worldly blood-stained warrior who marries into an illustrious empire will be reconciled with the declaration that he will be a future saint. The reader wonders how this cruel child that takes glee in murdering animals can ever become a saint. The story resolves these issues by turning to the salvation inherent in Christianity, suggesting that no matter how cruel and damning our actions are in the past we can always sincerely repent them and find salvation.

The last story is “Herodias” which is a historical retelling of the troubled reign of Antipas Herod’ and the decapitation of John the Baptist at his birthday under the orders of his wife, Herodias. Antipas is depicted as an indecisive, weak, and spineless king who struggles to take action as his own people resent him and the Arabian King threatens with a military invasion. His wife Herodias is a vain, manipulative, and ambitious woman who resents her husbands weakness and the perceived slander of John the Baptist. She divorces her first husband to marry Antipas in hopes of bearing his children and controlling an Empire, while Antipas divorced his first Arabian wife out of temporary lust for Herodias that seems to have faded by the time of the story. The irony is his divorce of his first wife leads to the invasion that threatens his kingdom and marrying Herodias is one of the factors that has weakened his image among his subjects. All of this points to the dangers of worldly ambitions. Many of the characters praise the greatness of Herod the Great in comparison to Antipas. Likewise, the minor character of Aulus, the son of Vitellius, is revealed to be a chubby and pimply youth whose gluttony and weakness contrasts with his Roman father. There is a contrast between Great leaders and their weakness ineffectual sons. The greatness of these leaders is partially in their ability to take decisive action and risks, which is exactly what Antipas refuses to do instead preferring flattery and playing every side against each other.

In the end Antipas agrees to the murder of John the Baptist at the behest of Salome in order to satiate his lust. Only his bodily desires spur him to action. Likewise, as this was part of Herodias’s plan we see she continues her manipulative nature. The incest accusations prove further true as Salome is her daughter from another marriage that she is prostituting to her current husband. Antipas also hopes the murder of John the Baptist will solve his political problems, but as the ending suggests it is foreshadowing for the coming of Christ. He accepts his death as needed so Jesus movement can grow, hinting later of Jesus’s sacrifice for all of humanity. These traits of the acceptance of self-sacrifice are the opposite of Antipas’ and Herodias’ inaction and manipulations for self-gain and fear of losing what they have.

All the stories are in some way about Christianity. The first is about the ideal Christian life in simplicity and humbleness, turning the other cheek to slights by the haughty and pompous higher classes, the second deals with the redemptive and psychologically transformative powers of Christian salvation and repentance. The third tale deals with the Christian qualities of a good leader who sacrificed themselves for the greater good of subjects versus the many examples of ineffectual leadership or leaders who care only about their own glory, ambition, and personal needs.