This chapter opens with a soliloquy by Madame Bovary, in which she laments the state of affairs in her life. She laments that she has made her life a "mess" and that her husband has been "insane" ever since she refused to stimulate him. She also laments her husband's condition, which she has not been able to cure. She feels that she is being "stubborn" in her refusal to help her husband, and that she will drag him to "hell" with her if she does not help him.