The Character of Mademoiselle Reisz in The Awakening "She was a disagreeable little woman, no longer young, who had quarreled with almost everyone, owing to a temper which was self-assertive and a disposition to trample upon the rights of others." (25) This is how Kate Chopin introduces the character of Mademoiselle Reisz into her novel, The Awakening. A character who, because of the similarities she shares with Madame Pontellier, could represent the path Madame Pontellier’s life may have taken, had she survived old age. Mademoiselle Reisz is first introduced at a party when she plays the piano for Edna Pontellier. Edna is described as being "very fond of music."(25) Music is described as having a way of "evoking …show more content…
Another similarity between the two women is in regard to their taste in men. At one point in the novel, Mademoiselle Reisz mentions that "If I were young and in love with a man it seems to me he would have to be some grand esprit; it seems to me if I were young and in love I should never deem a man of ordinary caliber worthy of my devotion." (81) This definition of Mademoiselle’s ideal love almost perfectly matches that of Edna’s. For Edna was searching for the same qualities within Robert; a change, something that goes astray from the ordinary. Mr. Pontellier, her husband, was simply that, ordinary, which she did not want. A third parallel seen through the relationship between Mademoiselle Reisz and Madame Pontellier is their aversion to the water. Although Edna sees the sea as "whispering, clamoring, murmuring (and ) inviting," (13) toward the beginning of the novel, she is hesitant to completely submerge herself in it. This can be logically explained in that she cannot swim. However, she continues to walk along the shore and place her feet in the tide, but other than that, before she learns to swim, that is the extent of her bathing experience. Mademoiselle Reisz is also described to have some sort of physical aversion to the sea as well. This can be seen when she blatantly refuses to follow Edna to the water claiming that she hasn’t "been in the surf all summer," and that to bathe in it at the end of the season would be pointless. (48) Another key
Another reason Mademoiselle Reisz is significant to Edna is because she is the only one who knows about and Robert and Edna’s love. Mademoiselle explains Robert’s love for Edna, “ It is because he loves you, poor fool, and is trying to forget you, since you are not free to listen to him or belong to him ” (95). Edna’s love for Robert is the reason why she quickly becomes uninvolved with her family and the life she is socially supposed to have. She does what she wants with disregard to anything her husband has to say.
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening depicts Edna Pontellier’s struggle to find and assert herself within the cultural constraints of late 19th century America. Like her name “Pontellier”, which means “one who bridges,” it implies that Edna is in a transition between two worlds but not fully embedded in either. Her intent is to bridge the limited world of the mother-woman to that of selfhood.
A foil for Adele Ratignolle, Mademoiselle Reisz serves as a living example of an entirely self-sufficient woman, who is ruled by her art and her passions, rather than by the expectations of society. A small homely woman, unmarried and childless, Mademoiselle Reisz is a talented pianist and somewhat of a recluse. She represents the anti-mother along independence and freedom. The first time she is introduced in the novel she is introduced as being “eccentric and quarrelsome”, from that we are able to infer that she is unlike the other women. Later as the novel continues to progress from her house and manner of expression we are again able to infer that she is unlike the other Creole women. For her home is an apartment above everyone, with a view, that is disagreeable and often cold. Mademoiselle Reisz is the woman that Edna could have become should she have remained independent of her husband and children and lived to old age.
The story, The Awakening, is about Edna Pontellier’s internal conflict between her desire for independence and her need to remain a high-class member of society. When away on summer vacation Edna has the realization that she has control of her own life and begins to focus on her self and not what others think. During her awakening, Edna is faced with much resilience from her husband and friends and instead of becoming someone she is not, Edna Pontellier ends her own life as she sees it is her only option. The author, Kate Chopin, uses many characters to exemplify the conflicting ideals emerging in Edna; particularly Madame Ratignolle acts as a foil to Edna’s newfound persona, instead symbolizing the conservation of a traditional
The thoughts and feelings circulating through Edna Pontellier help the reader better understand her character and how she changes throughout the book. For Example, Kate Chopin writes, “The years that are gone seem like dreams—if one might go on sleeping and dreaming—but to wake up and find—oh! well! Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one’s life.” CHAPTER 38. Saying that it is better to suffer rather than to go through life unconsciously is a very important theme in this novel because that is what Edna Pontellier's awakening is all about. Kate Chopin uses this quote because Edna would rather suffer with the wisdom she has gained, rather than going through life tending to her husband's and children's every need. Edna is going against her womanly duties and is again becoming independent. This is what
Mademoiselle Reisz is the epitome of what Edna wishes she had become, Edna is covetous of Mademoiselle’s lifestyle. Madame Reisz is a carefree woman who could not care less about what society thinks of her. Edna sees what kind of person Mademoiselle is through her music. “The woman, by her divine art, seemed to have reached Edna’s spirit and set it free.” Through Edna’s friendship with Mademoiselle Reisz, Edna starts to find herself as a woman. “She was seeking herself and finding herself in just such sweet, half-darkness which met her moods.” Mademoiselle Reisz shows Edna that she can be herself and be independent
Chopin especially reveals the growth of Edna’s inner identity through her increasingly conflicting interactions with her husband
There are certain ideals that need to be met while being in a relationship; they play concrete roles in the stability of the partnership. The idea of Edna being confined in a marriage with Mr. Pontellier who doesn’t
Adele and Mademoiselle's lifestyles seem to be the only two options for Edna. Kinninson believes that Edna's options are the reward of complete self-sacrifice versus the reproof of female self-assertion. No middle ground exist, just these extreme contradictions. Edna is a mother of two children but being a mother or "mother-woman" doesn't satisfy her soul and her desire for self-hood. This is all part of her "awakening" and finding herself. (Kinninson, 23-24)
To what extent does Edna Pontellier, in Kate Chopin's The Awakening, mark a departure from the female characters of earlier nineteenth-century American novels
In the story about Edna Pontellier a major theme is her omitted self discovery. In the story we can see how Chopin uses style, tone and content to make the reader understand how it was for a person challenging many of the beliefs of the society at the beginning of the twentieth century.
The Awakening by Kate Chopin introduces the reader to the life of Edna Pontellier, a woman with an independent nature searching for her true identity in a patriarchal society that expects women to be nothing more than devoted wives and nurturing mothers.
Edna’s indulgence in art exemplifies the importance she has placed on personal fulfillment, an attribute of feminist ideals. Edna characterizes herself as an artist. This demonstrates her desire to be set free from the familial expectations placed on her. Art represents a freedom of expression. Edna’s association with her artistic passion, not necessarily ability, foreshadows her desire to break free from society’s norms. Edna seeks the guidance of a liberated woman, Mademoiselle Reisz, who is the ideal feminist woman that Edna aspires to be. Reisz connects with her artistic hobbies through music. Her music inspires and provides her with the strength not to live under the maternal expectation. Edna enjoys painting although she does not consider
In direct contrast with Edna was her friend, Adele Ratignolle. As Mr. Pontellier states in chapter four, Adele was the embodiment of every womanly grace and charm. Mrs. Ratignolle was the queen or ideal mother-woman. This separates Edna and Adele throughout the story. While they are good friends, it is obvious that they think and feel very different when it comes to marriage, children and their place in society. It is also quite apparent that Adele is disapproving of Edna’s lifestyle. Adele Ratignolle seems to be completely oblivious to the oppression of women. She often attempts to serve as a conscious for Edna, constantly reminding her to think of her children and emphasizing how certain behaviors may appear to others. She even goes so far as to tell Edna that her husband will not allow her to visit Edna anymore if Edna does not
“Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her” (547). She looked at and heard things as if for the first time. “The very first chords which Mademoiselle Reisz struck upon the piano sent a keen tremor down Mrs. Pontellier’s spinal column” (556). She decided that she would move out of her house with her husband and children and would move into a small apartment by herself. This is something that women of her day simple did not do. Edna was different.