Charles Bovary is a man with no ambitions, slow-witted and shallow, who works as a health officer/doctor in rural towns. For years, he lived under the guardianship of a dominant mother and his first wife. He falls in love with Emma at first sight and worships her. Emma's beauty and elegance provided everything he could want in life. Happy with his own shallowness and content with his situation, Charles is tragically oblivious to Emma's inner storms, her depressions, and ultimately the illicit affairs and debts she enters into.
Raised by an alcoholic father—a former soldier—and an authoritarian mother, he completed his medical training through rote memorization and stubbornness, without any brilliance of intellect. He had an unhappy marriage with an ugly, elderly widow for a time, and after her death, he married Emma Rouault.
A squat, provincial man with red cheekbones, thick and often unkempt sideburns, rustic jackets, and heavy, knee-high riding boots, lacking any grace or aesthetic.
Homais
His cunning, manipulative neighbor/pharmacist whom he respects.
Emma Bovary
The sun of his life, his worshipped wife.
Kaynanası (Bovary Anne)
A mother to whom he is attached but whom he constantly has to confront for Emma's sake.