Madame Bovary (AmazonClassics Edition) characters

Appears from the start

A slow, awkward boy who becomes an undistinguished country doctor. He is fundamentally mild, conventional, and eager for domestic contentment, with little insight into the emotions of people around him. His professional training and first marriage are largely arranged by his mother.

Also known as Madame Dubuc

First appears in chapter 2

Charles's first wife, an older widow whom his mother considers a financially advantageous match. Jealous and demanding, she closely controls her inexperienced husband and is distressed by his visits to the Rouault farm.

First appears in chapter 2

A widowed farmer at Les Bertaux whose broken leg brings Charles to the farm. Warm, practical, and prosperous enough to live comfortably, he is grateful for Charles's care and welcomes the doctor's growing interest in his daughter Emma.

First appears in chapter 3

Monsieur Rouault's daughter, educated for several years in a convent and now living on her father's farm. Attractive, accomplished, and intensely shaped by romantic reading, she imagines love and marriage as paths to a more beautiful and passionate life than the provincial world around her offers.

First appears in chapter 9

An aristocratic landowner who employs Charles's medical services and invites the Bovarys to a ball at his château. His invitation gives Emma a brief entrance into the wealthy social world she has previously known only through imagination.

First appears in chapter 11

A young legal clerk boarding at the inn in Yonville. Polite, reserved, and fond of books, music, and imagined travel, he quickly discovers that Emma shares tastes rarely discussed in their small town.

First appears in chapter 11

Yonville's pharmacist, a talkative self-promoter who prides himself on scientific and progressive opinions. He befriends Charles on the Bovarys' arrival, advertises his own expertise at every opportunity, and conducts an endless rivalry with the local priest.

First appears in chapter 11

The parish priest in Yonville. He is a familiar opponent in Homais's arguments and attends diligently to conventional religious duties, but his literal, distracted manner makes him poorly equipped to recognize distress expressed indirectly.

First appears in chapter 11

The young assistant in Homais's pharmacy. Timid, impressionable, and regularly scolded by his employer, he is devoted to the Homais household and becomes fascinated by Emma when she visits.

First appears in chapter 13

Emma and Charles's infant daughter. Emma had hoped for a son and struggles to feel the idealized maternal happiness she expected; Berthe is placed for a time with a local wet nurse outside the Bovary home.

First appears in chapter 14

A traveling merchant who sells clothing, furnishings, and luxuries in Yonville. Courteous and observant, he makes purchases seem effortless by extending credit and arranging notes, encouraging customers to postpone confronting what they owe.

First appears in chapter 17

A wealthy, worldly landowner at La Huchette who brings a servant to Charles for treatment. He notices Emma's dissatisfaction and, experienced in brief affairs, coolly considers how he might win her attention.

First appears in chapter 21

A stable worker at the Lion d'Or who has lived since childhood with a club foot. Trusting and used to local ridicule, he becomes the proposed subject of a medical operation intended to enhance Charles's reputation.