The Awakening: Edna's Suicide
What is suicide? Webster defines suicide as, "The act of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally" (1156). Throughout The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, the main character Edna Pontellier struggles vigorously to escape the shackles of society. With the final realization that she will never be entirely free, Edna takes her life. Some may view Edna's death as her final victory as she breaks the restraints of society. However, considering Edna's state of mind, suicide is not her victory but rather her surrender. Therefore, Edna Pontellier's death is suicide. Depression causes suicide. Mental anguish gives rise to erratic, impulsive behavior. The first incident in which Edna's torment is illustrated occurs when she returns from checking on her child whom Leonce, her husband, suspects feverish. Wandering outside, Edna observes, "The tears came so fast to Mrs. Pontellier's eyes that the damp sleeve of her peignoir no longer served to dry them.... Turning, she thrust her face, steaming and wet, into the bend of her arm, and went on crying there, not caring any longer to dry her face, her eyes, her arms. She could not have told why she was crying" (654). In this passage, Edna experienc
Edna could see before her no denial-only the promise of excessive joy. Suffering from depression, which is heightened by losing the love of her life, Edna takes her life "voluntarily and intentionally" (Webster 1156). Edna admits, "There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why, - when it did not seem worth while to be glad or sorry, to be alive or dead; when life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation" (691). She lay in bed awake, with bright eyes full of speculation. With the final insight that even Robert will fade from her memories and she will be left alone, Edna completely loses what little is left of her mind (731). ' If she could but get that conviction firmly fixed in her mind, what mattered about the rest? (723)However, after Robert's final exit from Edna's life, she gives into her depression and becomes dead to the world. But her small boot heel did not make an indenture, not a mark upon the little glittering circlet. Upon losing a loved one, an individual sees no more meaning in her life. However, when Robert returns, Edna comes out of her depressed state. From this point on Edna's body takes over because her mind has relinquished to her depression. Edna undergoes bewildering fits of rage and violence, as she succumbs to her deteriorating mental health: She was seeking herself and finding herself in such sweet, half-darkness which met her moods. He wonders, "If his wife were not growing a little unbalanced mentally. When Robert, Edna's true love, leaves her the first time, Edna recollects that losing Robert is like losing her reason for "existence" (683). The end of an interpersonal relationship is another cause of suicide.
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