The Vague "She"

“She was the amoreuse in every novel, the heroine of every drama, the vague “she” of every book of poetry” (Flaubert, 251).

As I brought up in class on Wednesday, the first thing that jumps out in my mind when I read this passage is the use of the phrase, “the vague she”. Romance novel writers use techniques in their writing in which the main, heroine, female character, is not described in full detail. In Twilight, for instance, no exact description of Bella is given. This is so that the readers, who are primarily female, can picture themselves as Bella, being swooned by the love interest of the novel, Edward. The women who read the novels, dramas, and poetry, read the to escape, and like to picture themselves as the characters. Stephanie Myers has obviously picked up on this, as many girls and women all over the globe have become “Twi-hard” falling in love with a fictional character in a book.

The interesting thing about this passage, however, is that the description is not Emma’s, it is Leon’s. Emma is not talking about herself here, Leon is thinking about her in ways relating to fictitious stories, dramas, and poems he has read. Here, he is idealizing her to the fullest, but in a way that is different than she would idealize herself. He objectifies her with the pronoun “she”, proving a point that it does not matter who “she” is, as long as he can pretend she is a heroic figure from a romantic story. He becomes excited about the idea of having “A real mistress!” Exploiting a fantasy he has gained from the things he is reading. 

This quote speaks volumes not only about how Leon views Emma, but also how Emma has been regarding and respecting herself. By idealizing herself, she is almost allowing Leon and the other men she has had relationships with to objectify her in a romantic, fictitious way. 

PS-- "amoreuse" is the French equivalent of the English adjective amorous and is also the feminine form of the French noun meaning lover.