Imagination in Un Cœur Simple, Flaubert (Anglais)

Student Number: 20040218

Félicité has a contrasting relationship to knowledge and imagination. Discuss their function and their effects, drawing on specific examples from the text.

The short story Un Cœur Simple by Gustave Flaubert recounts the life of a poor, simple servant and her tribulations. The protagonist, Félicité, has an active imagination which she employs to navigate through life and thereby presents a contrast between her reality and her fantasy. Flaubert departs from traditional realist techniques to reveal to the reader how Félicité perceives the world, her faith and the people she interacts with.

The contrasting relationship between Félicité’s imagination and knowledge is prominent in her perception of the Catholic faith and her attempts to grasp abstract, religious concepts. The catalytic moment in Félicité’s religious education is Virginie’s first holy communion, in which Félicité listens to the priest’s “abrégé  de l’Histoire sainte”^[1] and conjures her imagination. She is emotionally moved when she “croyait voir le paradis, le deluge, la tour Babel”^[2], exemplifying how she converts storytelling into almost tangible imagery to comprehend the spiritual meaning. Flaubert highlights this by using “voir” as a modal verb and the imperfect tense (instead of the past historic) to indicate this is Félicité’s habitual method of understanding. The reader is invited into Félicité’s imagination by Flaubert’s omniscient narration and the incorporation of free indirect speech, “pourquoi l’avaient-ils crucifié [?]”^[3]. Flaubert’s realist style interjected with brief, seamless insights into Félicité’s realm of knowledge “enables a crossing to another subjectivity, which, unmarked by a shift in pronouns, is more ambiguous”^[4]. This narrative technique subtly reveals how Félicité relies on these vivid thoughts to access religious ideas and how she uses her imagination as a tool for understanding to compensate for her lack of education.

However, this method of understanding fails in conceiving abstract concepts that are integral to Christian faith and Félicité resorts to idolising physical objects which has a reductive effect on her religious understanding. Her struggle to conceive abstract concepts is illustrated in her difficulty to fathom the Holy Ghost, “il n’était pas seulement un oiseau, mais encore un feu, et d’autres fois un souffle”^[5]. Her imagination limits her religious knowledge to a surface level understanding and the “series of tableaux [Felicite creates form] the basis of a distorted and idolatrous theology”^[6]. Flaubert makes Félicité’s ‘distorted’ perception of reality increasingly obvious as she ages, she becomes deaf and ill and therefore even more reliant on visuals. This is illustrated by her obsession with the parrot, Loulou, and, by the end of the story, the stuffed bird has been practically canonised in Félicité’s eyes. Her love for Loulou demonstrates how Félicité’s knowledge is largely based on objects and the spiritual significance she assigns to them, “her understanding of religion takes place on the level of imagination and emotion, as she reduces Christian imagery to her own surroundings”^[7]. Gradually, her imagination escalates from having a reductive effect on her perception of reality, to distorting it completely when she confuses the parrot for the Holy Ghost, blurring her distinction between knowledge and fantasy. Whilst Félicité’s imaginative leap from Holy Ghost to “un perroquet gigantesque”^[8] may initially seem absurd, it does links to the depiction in the Gospels of the Holy Ghost as a dove^[9] and to the metaphor in Chapter 3, relating the Holy Ghost to “un oiseau”^[10]. Félicité uses her imagination to translate and adapt concepts that are beyond her knowledge, reminding the reader that personal faith is subjective. Although Félicité’s fantastical interpretation strays from traditional biblical readings, Flaubert demonstrates her religious knowledge is nevertheless valid as she proves to be the epitome of a ‘good’ Christian (diligent, philanthropic and pious).

The irony in Félicité’s lack of religious education and her unwavering devotion further emphasises the disparity between knowledge and her imagination. Félicité’s blind altruism and naïve perception of reality combined means she is only capable of seeing good in the other characters, who are mostly unlikeable and exploit her virtue. Flaubert demonstrates how her “good-heartedness is inseparable from her simple mindedness”^[11] in her relationships with the people she loves; her employer, Mme Aubain, pays her only “cent francs par an”^[12] for her hard work and Victor, who tries to “tirer quelque chose”^[13] upon every visit. However, Félicité seems either ignorant to their ploys or generous beyond care. Regardless, her imaginative perception of the world allows her to exist in a reality in which no one is capable of cruelty and is therefore “rewarded with an experience that is richer and more complete for being imaginary”^[14]. The incredible religious stories that Félicité hears naturally appeal to her imaginative spirit, inspiring her to become saint-like and thus becoming almost mythical herself. For example, when Victor is at sea, Felicite anticipates his suffering, “les jours de soleil, elle se tourmentait de la soif”^[15], showing how her imagination “provides her with greater sympathy for others”^[16] and makes her all the more morally virtuous. The legend of ‘Saint Félicité’ is generated from the beginning of the story: a mistreated and unfortunate servant who is renowned in Pont-l’Évêque for being so dedicated, “une femme en bois, fonctionnant d’une manière automatique”^[17]. This dehumanising comparison of Félicité implies she has been mythologised, and, paradoxically, it is her strength of her imagination that makes her an almost impossibly pure character.

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