Love and death in The Awakening"It is at this moment that the face and silhouette of a great tragedian began to haunt his imagination and awaken his senses. The persistence of infatuation lent him an aspect of authenticity. His despair colored him with the high tones of great passion: "(Chopin 17) a passion which. eventually lost its novelty and was relegated to the shelf that held vague but comfortably delicious memories. The tragedian keeps company with a visiting cavalry officer and an engaged gentleman. If, in reality, the gentleman is undoubtedly no longer engaged, he will remain so in the mind of Edna Pontellier: one of the images of the infatuations of a “little miss”. (Chopin 17) Regarding her marriage to Léonce Pontellier, Edna is seduced, not by the man himself, but by the idea he represents. “By leaving Mississippi on Léonce's arm, she defies her family's wish to marry a non-Catholic. Add to this equation a good dose of flattery on the part of its recipient and their union is, so to speak, cemented” (Martin 118). This is how Edna finds herself installed in the essential institution of marriage. One might think that taking the vows would put an end to the enchantment of youth, but this is not the case. Neither the sacred limits of marriage nor the admonitions of society succeed in constraining her. Edna Pontellier experiences one last, great passion. However, this beating in her soul reverberates with a feeling that far exceeds what she previously thought was "the culmination of her destiny." (Chopin 17) The one-story fantasies of his youth are replaced by a feeling that matures in nature as he awakens. On the occasion of a summer getaway to the Lebrun family pension in... .... middle of paper .... .... more. This is why suicide is the only possible way to end this novel. “If Edna no longer existed, then the wave would no longer hit. It would simply rise and melt into the sea of ​​foam to spread itself upon the sandy shore and be carried away into the immense abysses of solitude” (Culley 47). Works cited and consulted Chopin, Kate, The Awakening; A Solitary Soul. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1992 Culley, Margaret, ed. The Awakening: An Authoritative Contextual Review New York: Norton, 1976. Delbanco, Andrew. “The half-life of Edna Pontellier”. Ed. Wendy Martin. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988. Koloski, Bernard, ed. Approaches to Teaching The Awakening New York: MLA, 1988. Martin, Wendy, ed. awakening. Cambridge: Cambridge UP., 1988.