Madame Bovary Ch. 13: Dangerous Intimacy

Gustave Flaubert

Dangerous Intimacy Through Small Gestures

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Summary

When cold weather comes Emma moves to the sitting room near the window where she can watch the street. Léon walks past twice a day on his way to the inn. He never turns his head, but in the evening his shadow makes her shudder and she gets up to order dinner.

Homais joins them for dinner almost every night and talks about food, medicine, and the news. On card nights at the chemist's house Léon takes her shawl and stands behind her chair to help her play. Sometimes his boot touches her dress and he pulls back as if he has stepped on someone. They share magazines and poetry while Charles and Homais fall asleep by the fire. Léon brings her cactus plants for the window garden. For Charles's birthday he gives him a phrenological head.

Emma sends Léon a velvet rug for his room. The whole town decides they are lovers before he says a word. Léon talks about her charms all the time but cannot tell her how he feels. He writes letters and tears them up. Emma still believes real love must come suddenly like a storm. She does not see that small daily habits are already changing her life.

In this chapter:Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Naming Slow-Burn Affairs

Passion does not always arrive as lightning; sometimes it is a schedule. Emma tracks Leon at the window, then shares books and a rug the town reads as proof.

If your life already orbits someone, admit it before objects do.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: Léon

Léon writes to Emma and tears the letters up, and at cards his boot touches her dress and he draws it back as if he had stepped on someone. The town has already decided they are lovers. He still needs the feeling to stay a draft, because a sent sentence would make him responsible for what he wants.

Read the full psychological reading

Coming Up in Chapter 14

On a Sunday in February, snow falling, the Bovarys, Homais, and Léon walk out to a yarn-mill being built a mile and a half from Yonville. Justin carries the umbrellas. Emma measures Charles's back against Léon's face, and Lheureux is about to arrive with scarves and credit.

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Chapter 13

Dangerous Intimacy Through Small Gestures

Chapter Four When the first cold days set in Emma left her bedroom for the sitting-room, a long apartment with a low ceiling, in which there was on the mantelpiece a large bunch of coral spread out against the looking-glass. Seated in her arm chair near the window, she could see the villagers pass along the pavement. Twice a day Léon went from his office to the Lion d’Or. Emma could hear him coming from afar; she leant forward listening, and the young man glided past the curtain, always dressed in the same way, and without turning his head. But…

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Dangerous Intimacy Through Small Gestures

Summary

Why This Matters