Essay On Edna Pontellier's Character In The Awakening

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In Kate Chopin’s, The Awakening, three aspects of character development are demonstrated by Edna Pontellier. The first is Mrs. Pontellier’s longing for independence, which motivates her distinct series of actions. Next is one of the most revealing facets of Mrs. Pontellier - her poorly regarded priorities. And lastly, she experiences major depression and mood changes which exaggerate immensely when Robert moves away.

Independence motivates the way Mrs. Pontellier begins to act. One day on the beach, Edna is swimming in the ocean and the narrator expresses Edna’s thoughts, “[b]ut to her unaccustomed vision the stretch of water behind her assumed the aspect of a barrier which her unaided strength would never be able to overcome” (page …show more content…
This is when Robert moves to Mexico and Edna experiences major depression and frequent mood changes. She expresses that “[t]here were days when...life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation” (page 97). She experiences feelings for Robert that she doesn’t experience with her husband; feelings of happiness. And when that source of happiness abruptly leaves her life, she can’t help but feel alone and abandoned. And even though her husband tries to love her, she makes it difficult by having a closed heart, where there is no opening for true love and happiness.

Three aspects of character development are demonstrated by the character Edna Pontellier, in Kate Chopin’s, The Awakening. The first are the course of actions that are motivated by Edna’s cry for independence. Next is her poor regarded priorities, which is one of the most revealing aspects of Edna’s character. And lastly is an external conflict that creates major depression which is experienced when Robert moves away. These are all major examples of character development that are demonstrated in Edna Pontellier’s
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