Madame Bovary Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Emma Bovary

A farmer's daughter shaped by convent novels, married to a man who cannot understand her. She chases beauty, passion and high society through two affairs and ruinous debt — and dies by arsenic when the bill comes due.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Wedding, a Waltz, and the End of Wonder; Part 2: Yonville: A Baby, a Clubfoot, a Lover in the Woods; Part 3: Apricots, Then Arsenic; Part 4: The Blind Beggar and the Cross of Honour
Themes:: Romantic fantasy against provincial reality; Debt as destiny; Adultery and its double standard; Blindness — moral and literal

Charles Bovary

A kind, mediocre health officer who adores his wife blindly. His failed operation on Hippolyte ruins his reputation, and after Emma's death he grieves himself into the grave.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Wedding, a Waltz, and the End of Wonder; Part 2: Yonville: A Baby, a Clubfoot, a Lover in the Woods; Part 3: Apricots, Then Arsenic; Part 4: The Blind Beggar and the Cross of Honour
Themes:: Debt as destiny; Mediocrity and the mediocrities who profit; Blindness — moral and literal

Rodolphe Boulanger

A wealthy, cynical landowner who seduces Emma out of boredom as one conquest in a long string. When she demands they run away together, he abandons her with a letter under a basket of apricots.

Appears in:: Part 2: Yonville: A Baby, a Clubfoot, a Lover in the Woods; Part 3: Apricots, Then Arsenic; Part 4: The Blind Beggar and the Cross of Honour
Themes:: Debt as destiny; Adultery and its double standard; Blindness — moral and literal

Léon Dupuis

A shy law clerk who shares Emma's love of literature and music but never dares confess — until Paris makes him confident. He becomes her second lover, then cools under the weight of her demands.

Appears in:: Part 2: Yonville: A Baby, a Clubfoot, a Lover in the Woods; Part 3: Apricots, Then Arsenic; Part 4: The Blind Beggar and the Cross of Honour
Themes:: Debt as destiny; Adultery and its double standard

Monsieur Homais

The town pharmacist: pompous, anti-clerical, corrupt, and known for malpractice. He competes with Charles, prospers from the Bovarys' ruin, and wins the Legion of Honour in the final line.

Appears in:: Part 2: Yonville: A Baby, a Clubfoot, a Lover in the Woods; Part 4: The Blind Beggar and the Cross of Honour
Themes:: Mediocrity and the mediocrities who profit

Berthe Bovary

Emma's unwanted daughter, named for a ball she never attended. Orphaned, she ends up sent to work in a cotton mill.

Appears in:: Part 2: Yonville: A Baby, a Clubfoot, a Lover in the Woods; Part 3: Apricots, Then Arsenic; Part 4: The Blind Beggar and the Cross of Honour

Also in the story

Supporting characters

Monsieur Lheureux

A sly merchant and moneylender who tempts Emma with goods on credit. His promissory notes and forged bills entrap the family and trigger the 8,000-franc crisis that kills her.

Appears in:: Part 3: Apricots, Then Arsenic
Themes:: Debt as destiny

Justin

Homais's young apprentice and second cousin, secretly infatuated with Emma. His devotion lets her into the cupboard with the arsenic.

Appears in:: Part 4: The Blind Beggar and the Cross of Honour

How they are connected

Key relationships

Charles Bovary Emma Bovary
His failed operation on Hippolyte ruins his reputation, and after Emma's death he grieves himself into the grave.
Rodolphe Boulanger Emma Bovary
A wealthy, cynical landowner who seduces Emma out of boredom as one conquest in a long string.
Léon Dupuis Emma Bovary
A shy law clerk who shares Emma's love of literature and music but never dares confess — until Paris makes him confident.
Monsieur Homais Charles Bovary
He competes with Charles, prospers from the Bovarys' ruin, and wins the Legion of Honour in the final line.
Monsieur Lheureux Emma Bovary
A sly merchant and moneylender who tempts Emma with goods on credit.
Justin Emma Bovary
Homais's young apprentice and second cousin, secretly infatuated with Emma.
Justin Monsieur Homais
Homais's young apprentice and second cousin, secretly infatuated with Emma.
Berthe Bovary Emma Bovary
Emma's unwanted daughter, named for a ball she never attended.

Go deeper

Madame Bovary themes & symbols

Romantic fantasy against provincial reality · Debt as destiny · Mediocrity and the mediocrities who profit · Adultery and its double standard

Themes explained

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The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.

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