The Awakening By William Shakespeare

Throughout most of her life, Edna Pontellier’s true self was majorly suppressed by her husband, as well as her duties as a mother, and society’s image of

Through the story Edna becomes more and more uneasy about not being able to do and have what she really wants. This can be shown from the beginning when she lets her children play by themselves and doesn’t miss her husband when he is away from home. Edna tried to be a good mother by becoming friends with an old fashioned woman, Madame Adèle Ratignolle, who devoted her life to her husband and children. However, when Edna was not around Madame Adèle Ratignolle, she forgot how to be like Adèle Ratignolle and instead busied herself with what was considered to be her “childish ways”. She would try to make herself as happy as possible; she was not her happiest with her husband and kids. When Edna discovered her passion for art, she embraced it and neglected her family even more so than before.

Edna’s suicide was victory of self-expression. Edna undergoes a gradual awakening process in which portrays not to only her newly established independence from the constraints of her husband, but also her ability to go against the social norms of society in order to individually express herself. Her suicide encompases the question and critique of living life through the perspective of society such as being responsible for taking care of the kids, cleaning the house, and entertaining any guests that the husband may have over anytime. In the first couple of capters, the novel is quick to emphasize the gerneralized roles kthat are placed onto females, making it apparent that fe,ales are expected to successfully fulfil these roles. For example, Leonce enters home after being out and stated one of the kids had a fever. Edna was certain the child had no fever but Leonce belittles her capability as a mother for indifference with him. “If it was not a mother’s place to look after the children, whose on earth was it?” (27capac).

In Kate Chopin's The Awakening, the main character, Edna leaves her husband to find place in the world. Edna believes her new sexually independent power will make her master of her own life. But, as Martin points out, she has overestimated her strength and is still hampered by her "limited ability to direct her energy and to master her emotions" (22). Unfortunately, Edna has been educated too much in the traditions of society and not enough in reason and independent survival, admitting to Robert that "we women learn so little of life on the whole" (990). She has internalized society's conception of woman as guided by her emotions and not her mind and, therefore, in the search for another man to fill the void of love in her

The oppressive way of society which is educated, elevates men from different generations to restraint women from doing the contrare of their expectations. It is inaccurate for a woman to go against their natural expectations as a mom, daughter, wife, and in general as a woman in the late 1800 's. The character Edna in the book The Awakening by Kate Chopin, has various men in her life which include her husband Leonce Pontellier, her lover Robert, and her father the Colonel who all attempted to repress her which caused her ambivalence in her existence and rebel against the gender barriers.

Women are seen as weak, dependent, and as housewives. Feeling suffocated and pressured to uphold the standard of society women live in fear. As they cannot suppress the way society has portrayed them. Men are seen as dominant or superior over women and are in control of them. They didn’t have a voice because men would overlook them. Women alone could not be single otherwise would be perceived as unusual. Many are afraid of the reality of not being withheld within a dominant figure. In the book The Awakening by Kate Chopin, There are multiple men that come into Edna’s life trying to either control or repress her existence. Leonce-her husband, Robert-her lover, and the Coronel-her father. In some sort of way they belittle her physically, emotionally or mentally. They all have left a scar on her in the way that she feels the need to start to rebel. In order for her to experience life and feel free as a woman in her state of mind she needs to feel different and unique and not rudimentary like every other woman has accepted to be in her time period. Edna seeks independence and will overcome any obstacle and she will commit an act that no other rebellious or non-rebellious woman would ever think to do and the meaning behind her act is very powerful to feminism.

when the roles of Victorian women were expected to be limited to childbearing and a housewife. Their life was suppose to be centered around their husband and their children. They would submit themselves to their husband and was in charge of the domestic duties. So the women’s and men’s role were not viewed with the same status since women’s rights are given to their spouse after marriage. Thus in The Awakening, Edna’s actions are viewed as uncanny and erroneous because women were not viewed as equals but as housewives.

She was pressured to marry Leonce by her father and older sister. Along with marriage came the pressure to have children. She is forced into these roles but never actually succumbs to them. Edna not only has Madame Ratignolle's friendship and her marriage to wake her up to her dreams and emotions, her affairs wake up to her desires. The way the different male characters treat her reminds her that she will never happily fit into the role of a wife and mother, therefore awakening her.

The power her father had over her, he tried to abuse this and tried to tell her what to do. Being a Colonel, Edna’s father had a controlling authority in general. The way he thought that he had power over Edna, made him approach Leonce. “Authority, coercion are what is needed. Put your foot down good and hard; the only way to manage a wife.

Throughout “The Awakening”, Edna is immersed in a constant clash with society over the significance of the difference between her life and her self. To Edna, the question of whether or not she would die for her children is somewhat simple. Edna attempts to explain this concept to her good friend, Adele Ratignolle, but to no avail, “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself” (Chopin 62). Not only does Edna consider her life unessential, she categorizes it as equal with material objects such as money. The idea of self, on the other hand, lies on a completely different level in Edna’s mind. The most important goal to Edna in her life is the journey to discover her true character. The idea that her inner self is more essential than life or even her children causes Edna to stray farther from the social constraints of the typical domestic woman. Kathleen M. Streater weighs in on Edna’s situation and placement in

However, they do open up to each other about how they both feel for each other. Finally, Robert stays true to heart and picks societies rules over true love. As soon as Edna decides to become vacant to assist her friend Adele,  Robert decides to take off. This conflict brings up the theme about  independence and how it can lead to solitude. Edna has lost a lot of things now that she is “free”. She then loses any type of relationships that  was with her husband, she has also lost the relationships that she had with her children, and she loses the company that she had with civilized society.In other words, she has choosen isolation and solitude instead of associating with her husbands company.Edna and Robert unfortunately dont work out. Edna is now alone in her awakening.Edna has found the courage to cross societies standards and her end result is solitude

Women during Edna’s time were seen to just follow the rules and not speak out. In The Awakening Edna suddenly disregards her societal expectations such as her duties as a woman, mother, and wife. In the novel Edna has an awakening, and she suddenly defies against what

Edna finds that the life of the mother-woman fails to satisfy her desire for an existence free from definition. She pities Adele and finds herself unsuited for the lifestyle of the mother-woman. “It was not a condition of life which fitted her, and she could see in it but an appalling and hopeless ennui. She was moved by a kind of commiseration for Madame Ratignolle” . Adele represents all four attributes of ‘True Womanhood’ as defined by the Cult of Domesticity.

As the title of the novel reveals, awakenings are the most important as well as the most emotional parts of the story. Edna slowly awakens to her true self. She begins "daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world." She creates her own awakenings with dreams and paintings (Gilbert 104). It is as if she tried to begin again, making a life that she could control and to become a new woman and be herself rather than what she was expected to be. Edna's awakenings were all a part of her defining her own self(Rosowski 44). She feared to have the conventional life that so many women had become trapped in. As she awakens, Edna becomes less and less traditional by stripping

From even the first few chapters of the novel it is evident that Edna is becoming aware of her concealed wants and desires as she begins to distance herself from the society that she considers herself to be an outsider in. While walking in town Edna