Psychic Dimensions Of Edna's Personality

Kate Chopin (1851—1904), celebrated female writer in the late nineteenth century, with her own stories to pose and resolve questions, studies marriage, motherhood, independence, passion, life and death. As Kate Chopin's heroine in The Awakening, Edna Pontellier is not content with being a good mother or considerate wife. During her process of awakening, she struggles to find her essential self within the cultural constraints of the late 19^th-century America. Based on the factors which arouse Edna's vitality, power of her sexuality, the exuberance of her spiritual being and her actions to experience a new sense of independence, of individual freedom and expression, the thesis explores Edna's corresponding conflicts and despair to liberate herself from these pressures by challenging her role as a woman and seeking self -awakening by constant struggles from the perspective of Freudian psychoanalysis.The thesis runs as follows:The introduction presents the memoir of Kate Chopin, and status quo of the research into the novel as well as the theoretical perspective presents: the Freudian theory of personality. Chapter 1 explores into the psychic dimensions of the heroine Edna's personality and analyses the stimuli to her id's awakening which are the sensuous environment and three crucial characters. Chapter 2 reveals what happened after Edna' awakening. Along with the id's awakening, she begins to pursue independence and selfhood. Chapter 3 focuses on Edna's superego which consists of the religion, the mores and Edna's motherhood. The motherhood undoubtedly is the heaviest obstacle to Edna which she is not powerful to defy and can never overcome. The last chapter dives into the causes of Edna's death. The three dimensions of the personality structure must adjust to and cooperate with one another so as to achieve a balanced mind from an imbalanced mind and accomplish the success of survival. Edna's id attempts to break through the chains that the superego restricts it, but the superego is too strong to be conquered. And when the inner conflicts are too severe to be adjusted to by the ego, Edna's personality splits, thus her ultimate destruction is induced. However, Edna's death cannot be simply regarded as a failure of struggle against conventional rules; rather, it is the renascence and rebirth of a new life.Women like Edna are awakening and they defy the socially prescribed roles and conventions for women. It is of vital importance and significance in today's realistic world, therefore it is necessary to seek an appropriate way for women's liberation. Edna is the forerunner for women's liberation and she foretells and reflects the trend of new woman. Women are no longer the nameless secondary sex but true human beings with individuality and they have become indispensable part of the whole integrated world. Kate Chopin's willingness to fight with taboo issues was unusual in a woman writer of her generation and earned her a reputation for striking boldness. Chopin was and is an accomplished writer who is worth researching not only from the standpoint of a single woman's awakening but also from the position of all women and indeed, all humans in society.