Edna's Infatuation in The Awakening

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What is the difference between infatuation and love? This has been a topic of conversation for years, and yet we still have never figured out the exact answer to the question. By Webster’s Online Dictionary the definition of love is “affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests”(Webster’s). This is precisely how Edna Pontellier believes she feels about Robert Lebrun in “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin. Although on the contrary the definition of infatuation is “to cause to be foolish : deprive of sound judgment”(Webster’s), and this is more so the truth for Edna. Her need for freedom is so strong that she finds herself turning to other men just to satisfy that need. Her actions are completely opposing to her thought of actually being in love with Robert. In the novel “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin; Edna’s intense drive to be free, her relationship with Alcee Arobin, and the change in the way Edna and Robert act when they are together when he returns are all prime examples of why she was never in love with him, it was simply an infatuation that went too far.

Edna is trying so hard to branch out in this story that she is grabbing on to any hold that she can find. Her feelings for Robert do not start until after she begins her big awakening, which means she had spent roughly half the summer with him completely platonic. She wants so badly for her own freedom that she looks to other men that who are not her husband because she believes that is her ticket to freedom. Chopin, while writing this story was even “inwardly questioning the nature of love”(Toth), showing that she does not even know herself if Edna was ever in love with Robert. Her feelings for Robert directly correspond to her need for her own ind...

... middle of paper ...

...ple that have experienced the kind of love Edna is missing out on. She was infatuated, plain and simple, thus proving the long standing debate of what the difference between love and infatuation is.

Works Cited

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. The Norton Anthology American Literature Volume C. 7th ed. W.W.

Norton & Company. New York: 2007. Pg 535-625 . Print.

“Infatuation.” Dictionary and Thesaurus- Merriam- Webster Online. 2011. Web. 6 Feb 2011

“Love.” Dictionary and Thesaurus- Merriam- Webster Online. 2011. Web. 6 Feb 2011

Mahon, Robert Lee. “Beyond the Love Triangle: Trios in the Awakening.” Midwest Quarterly

39.2(1998): 228-234 Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 6 Feb 2011

Toth, E. “Kate Chopin on divine love and suicide: Two rediscovered articles.” American

Literature 63.1(1991): 115. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 6 Feb 2011

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