Edna Pontellier's Suicide
Suicide has been defined as "the act of self-destruction by a person sound in mind and
capable of measuring his (or her) moral responsibility" (Webster 1705). Determining one's
moral responsibility is what all of humanity struggles with and strives to achieve. Many forces
act toward the suppression of this self-discovery, causing a breakdown and ultimately a complete
collapse of conventional conceptions of the self. So then the question presented becomes
whether or not Edna's suicide is an act of tragic affirmation or pathetic defeat. Most analyses of
the protagonist, Edna Pontellier, explain the newly emerged awareness and struggle against the
societal forces that repress her. However, they ignore the weaknesses in Edna that prevented her
from achieving the personal autonomy that she glimpsed during her periods of "awakening".
Kate Chopin chooses to have Edna take a "final swim" as evidence of her absolute defeat as an
insightful study of the limitations that prevent any woman from achieving the ultimate goal of
self-actualization. Simply put, Edna's awakening leads to her suicide. Newly aware of the
meanings her life could take on, the awakened part of herself presents Edna with a command to
take action. When Edna is unable to rationalize her old and new selves, she surrenders her life to
the sea as an escape from domestic compliance and solitary freedom.
Edna did not experience her awakening at Grand Isle, but instead a "re-awakening" of
childlike passion which allowed for "impulsive," "aimless," and "unguided" decisions (Chopin
38). Although Edna believes her awakening took place at Grand Isle that night on the p...
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... a failure. " Her suicide gives her the power, the
dignity, the self-possession of a tragic heroine. Her suicide is the crowning glory of her
development from the bewilderment which accompanied her early emancipation to the clarity
with which she understands her own nature and the possibilities of her life as she decides to end
it." (Wolkenfeld 242)
In Edna's view, she commits suicide because she feels like a possession of her husband,
of her children, and of her society. Although suicide is usually seen as a form of defeat, sees her
case as a dignified act. Edna chooses her suicide as a way to escape to a better place. Choosing to
dies is Edna's way of triumphing over the things she feels she has been imprisoned by in her life.
Despite everything, Edna was a very strong character, but in the end is conquered by her own
self.
When Edna felt dissatisfied with the life she is given, she pursues other ways in which to live more fully. She attempts painting and enters into an affair with another man. As her desire for freedom grows, she moves out of her husband’s house and tries to live life as she sees fit. She lives a life reflecting her new philosophies towards life, philosophies that are in conflict with that of society. The oppression by man caused Edna to have a social awakening, illuminating the meaning of the novel.
When her husband and children are gone, she moves out of the house and purses her own ambitions. She starts painting and feeling happier. “There were days when she was very happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day” (Chopin 69). Her sacrifice greatly contributed to her disobedient actions. Since she wanted to be free from a societal rule of a mother-woman that she never wanted to be in, she emphasizes her need for expression of her own passions. Her needs reflect the meaning of the work and other women too. The character of Edna conveys that women are also people who have dreams and desires they want to accomplish and not be pinned down by a stereotype.
The Awakening begins in the vacation spot of Grand Isle. At first we believe that Grand Isle is a utopia, wealthy families relaxing at oceanside, but it is here where Edna first begins to realize her unhappiness. The first sign of dissatisfaction is when Edna allows herself to feel that her marriage is unsatisfying, yet she must agree with the other women that Leonce Pontellier is the perfect husband. Edna asks herself that if she has a good husband but is unhappy, then should marriage be a piece of her life.
She desperately wanted a voice and independence. Edna’s realization of her situation occurred progressively. It was a journey in which she slowly discovered what she was lacking emotionally. Edna’s first major disappointment in the novel was after her husband, Leonce Pontellier, lashed out at her and criticized her as a mother after she insisted her child was not sick. This sparked a realization in Edna that made here realize she was unhappy with her marriage. This was a triggering event in her self discovery. This event sparked a change in her behavior. She began disobeying her husband and she began interacting inappropriately with for a married woman. Edna increasingly flirted with Robert LeBrun and almost instantly became attracted to him. These feelings only grew with each interaction. Moreover, when it was revealed to Edna that Robert would be leaving for Mexico she was deeply hurt not only because he didn’t tell her, but she was also losing his company. Although Edna’s and Robert’s relationship may have only appeared as friendship to others, they both secretly desired a romantic relationship. Edna was not sure why she was feeling the way she was “She could only realize that she herself-her present self-was in some way different from the other self. That she was seeing with different eyes and making the acquaintance of new conditions in herself that colored
Freedom means to be able to do what one desires to do without being restricted from doing that action. In Kate Chopin’s book The Awakening, she displays how the protagonist, Edna, escapes from her relationship and society .She feels cornered by society and she is not satisfied with her relationship. Mr.Pontellier Edna’s husband does not treat her with respect, but as if she is a child. Edna is trying to get out of the relationship because she wants to be treated equally (Chopin). During the 1800s, oppression of women was beginning to happen more frequently with women not taking anymore of the unfair rights and actions toward women. Edna uses others distractions or hobbies to feel free away from everything else in her life. Throughout The Awakening, Edna’s obsession with water, playing music and just flat out leaving her family despite her children are her actions toward freedom. She finds these activities soothing and comfortable ,she is feel when she is around doing these things she can't be judged or told what to do. With her obsession with water it is a Her transcendalistic obsession with water and nature sooths her and releases the toxins from her life. With music being an interest of her, she plays it a lot throughout the book too, which is a symbol of something she does to escape from society. But all of these actions by Edna result in her suicide ,which is a way of freeing herself from everything that is constricting her in her life. Edna’s longing for freedom inspires many of her actions throughout The Awakening.
Many attribute this awakening to her realization of how awful her life had been. While this is a factor in her awakening, this was not the main cause. Edna 's awakening is a result of her chronic depression. According to Dr. Judith Orloff, often times in the midst of having chronic depression over the course of several years, many people experience a transforming or an enlightening period of depression. This explains Edna 's awakening. Whilst the awakening may have seemed like a moment of levity for Edna and that her depression is getting better, her depression is actually getting worse. When Edna begins her awakening, it is her final realization that she has been living a lie throughout her life. She has failed to be a mother-woman, which is her role in society. She is a disappointment to her husband, and a failure in the eyes of her father. Edna feels that since everything else up to this point in her life is bad, she has to start anew. Her awakening is her depressive fears taking manifestation. Edna has finally realized that it is now or never for her to change her life. However, following her awakening is not the way to help her
	There are definite signs of Edna Pontellier's depression, from the beginning of the novel and all the way to the end when she commits suicide. If there had been someone who had seen this, Edna might not have been driven to death, but she felt that no one could understand her wanting to be on her own. She thought of Doctor Mandelet, that he might have understood, but it was already too late, she was too far from shore and her strength was gone. So in the end there was really no one that could have saved her from this fate.
Edna's triumph began early in the book when she initially realized her desire to rebel against her husband's commands, unlike her habitual obedience to him in prior years. The narrator described Edna's changed behavior when she stated, "She could not at that moment have done other than denied and resisted. She wondered if her husband had ever spoken to her like that before, and if she had submitted to his command (Chopin 41)." Edna considered her past and found it almost incomprehensible that she dealt with his demands for so long. When she realized her fault, Edna determined to change her behavior, regardless of her society's position.
It influences her heavily. One could say that, as a consequence of Robert's love, she kills herself. This is supported by the fact that the last thing she says before she loses consciousness is “because I love you.” The question is now whether her death is actually self-destructive behavior or could be seen as the last step in creating her true self. She fully takes control. Among scholars it is argued that Edna's death can be interpreted in different ways. One of these interpretations would be a sort of giving up, because eventually she realizes that she cannot be what society wants her to be and therefore removes herself from said society. On the other hand, it could be seen as her final move of independence, the only way she could be free; her final act of freedom. Like mentioned before, both Eros and Thanatos can be applied to these interpretations but it is open to the reader to decide which one it eventually
When Edna looked back toward the shore, she notices the people she left there. She also notices that she has not covered a great distance. Then a "quick vision of death smote her soul" (Chopin 74), a sense of death that reaffirms her selfhood and reminds her of her clinging to Robert. Her meditation is broken by the wavering of her mind to other objects and senses. Her struggle to regain the shore becomes a kind of near-death experience, at the end of which comes an utter physical exhaustion, a stretching of her self's physical boundary. Edna's intellectual self, the mind, another creation of ignorance, awakens as well. She begins to "feel like one who awakens gradually out of a dream, a delicious, grotesque, impossible dream, to feel again the realities pressing into her soul" (Chopin 78).
There are many ways of looking at Edna's Suicide in The Awakening, and each offers a different perspective. It is not necessary for the reader to like the ending of the novel, but the reader should come to understand it in relation to the story it ends. The fact that readers do not like the ending, that they struggle to make sense of it, is reflected in the body of criticism on the novel: almost all scholars attempt to explain the suicide. Some of the explanations make more sense than others. By reading them the reader will come to a fuller understanding of the end of the novel (and in the process the entire novel) and hopefully make the ending less disappointing.
Home from a summer at Grand Isle, separated from the company of an agreeable and, eventually beloved, companion and in the stifling company of a disagreeable, oblivious husband, Edna Pontellier sees her home, her garden, her fashionable neighborhood as "an alien world which had suddenly become antagonistic" (76). When she is left alone in the house, she thrills to the sensation of free time and space, the chance to explore, investigate, to see her house in its own light. To eat in peace without her husband's trifling complaints, to read until sleepy, to rest is a luxury which convention, her husband and her own complicity had denied her. She slept well, "now that her time was her own to do with as she liked" (96). This is but one night in the course of Edna's "awakening," a complicated process that, for better or worse, puts her in control of her own destiny. Ultimately, she will answer to no one but herself.
...tionship she had until she was left with literally no reason to live. Throughout the novella, she breaks social conventions, which damages her reputation and her relationships with her friends, husband, and children. Through Edna’s thoughts and actions, numerous gender issues and expectations are displayed within The Awakening because she serves as a direct representation of feminist ideals, social changes, and a revolution to come.
Another aspects of the story is that once Edna’s awakening begins to take place, she is on a roller coaster of emotions, from the manic exuberance of listening to music and the sounds of the water, her connection to robert--it’s as though all her senses are opened up. Between times, however, she is really depressed, as though all the color that Chopin imparts so beautifully in the descriptions of the other scenes, has become dull and uninteresting. Then, she is flung into an emotional upheaval when she reads Robert’s letter to Mlle Reisz, as the latter plays Wagner. Clearly, these kinds of emotions cannot be borne by a woman whose cultural structure does not admit the building of her own that it might sustain the weight and number. She is overwhelmed. She must escape, and she does, for her situation now is powerfully reminiscent of the “joy that kills” in “Hour.”
She cleans, entertains, and takes care of the children. Her diversion from her usual routine as a mother woman is started by her own inward questioning when she goes down to the beach with Adele Ratignolle and she asks her what she is thinking. Edna expresses a want to know herself, even though Adele and many others tell her that it is a useless wish. Edna has no one who truly understands her; she is isolated from society by a barrier of self knowledge that they deem madness. The only person who might understand is Robert, who she loves. But even he turns pale when Edna speaks derisively of his want for her husband to give her to him, saying that she can give herself to whomever she chooses. There is no one in the novel who has the same mindset as Edna. The isolation and pressure from society and her husband adds to her madness, cumulating in an eventual breakdown where she smashes a vase and throws off her wedding ring. The casting away of her ring symbolizes Edna throwing off the shackles of society and a loveless marriage to be her own person. She stamps on the ring, showing her distaste for her path in life and her choices in the past. Edna’s madness, and break down, show her deteriorating patience with her life and the mothering façade she wears day to day. Society views her as mad when she moves out of her husband’s house to live on her own. She breaks away from her life to set herself