A Simple Heart Themes

"A Simple Heart" takes place almost entirely in Madame Aubain's house, where Félicité works as a maid. For Madame Aubain, the house represents a step down; she used to be rich, but lost it all wh...

Poor, poor Félicité. The long-suffering maid and protagonist of "A Simple Heart" just can't get a break. Things pretty much never go her way. She's orphaned as a young girl, jilted by her first l...

Félicité is the picture of humility in "A Simple Heart." Whereas many other characters are proud of their accomplishments, she's humble. To put it simply, Félicité is content with leftovers—t...

"A Simple Heart" is all about social classes. Need proof? Flaubert mentions the bourgeoisie (the French middle class) in the very first sentence. And Félicité, the protagonist maid, is the repres...

It seems like everyone in Flaubert's "A Simple Heart" used to be wealthy. They're all looking back at the gravy days, when life was good, and are resoundingly dissatisfied with their current situat...

Oh, death. It seems to be lurking just around the corner at every turn in "A Simple Heart." But not in a spooky, haunted house kind of way. The story spans fifty years, so it's not all that surpris...