Flauberts use of the blind beggar in Madame Bovary shows his reader so much more then just an ugly beggar. It shows a fake, immoral person who is constantly trying to be something she's not. It also foreshadows Emma's bankruptcy, not only financially but also spiritually, emotionally, and morally. All of these bankruptcies resulted in her emotional drain and eventually led to her death.
Flaubert uses very descriptive words making the beggar look horrid and gross, "His clothes were a mass of rags, and his face was hidden under a battered old felt hat that was turned downfall around like a basin; when he took this off, it was to reveal two gaping, bloody sockets in place of eyelids. The flesh continually shredded off in red gobbets, and from it oozed a liquid matter hardening into greenish scabs that reached down to his nose. (315)"ÃÂ Flauberts use of these words shows the reader Emmas immorality and we get a physical description of what Emma's soul looks like to Flaubert.
English: St Gregory's Roman Catholic church built ...
Emma's Family Reunion 2010
English: Illustration of Madame Bovary by Gustave ...The beggar is also an omen for Emmas death at the end of the book. Just as there was no romanticism in the description of the beggar there was also no romanticism put into Emmas death. Her death was just as ugly and gross as the beggar's physical appearance.
Not only does Flaubert use the beggar to foreshadow Emmas immorality and her death he also uses the beggar to foreshadow Emma Bovary's bankruptcy at the end of the story. Flaubert uses the beggar to foreshadow how she was bankrupt much more then just financially. Emotionally Emma became bankrupt through her continuos affairs with Rudolph and Leon that satisfies her only for a short period of time and then she becomes even more depressed then before she started them. She then...