’When first published in 1899, ‘The Awakening’ shocked readers with its honest treatment of marital infidelity. Audiences accustomed to the pieties of late Victorian romantic fiction were taken aback by Chopin’s daring portrayal of a woman trapped in a stifling marriage, who seeks and finds passionate physical love outside the straitened confines of her domestic situation.
Aside from its unusually frank treatment of a then-controversial subject, the novel is widely admired today for its literary qualities. Edmund Wilson characterized it as a work “quite uninhabited and beautiful written, which anticipates D. H. Lawrence in its treatment of infidelity.”
I am looking forward to reading this novel as it recognises the issue which still affects women today which is the social expectation and confinement of marriage. Although I don’t morally agree with affairs in any way, shape or form, this novel intrigues me to delve into the mind of a Victorian woman trapped within an oppressive marriage and offers an interesting subversion of the generalized view of extramarital affairs, as it is the female character engaging in an affair, not the male.
Aside from its unusually frank treatment of a then-controversial subject, the novel is widely admired today for its literary qualities. Edmund Wilson characterized it as a work “quite uninhabited and beautiful written, which anticipates D. H. Lawrence in its treatment of infidelity.”
I am looking forward to reading this novel as it recognises the issue which still affects women today which is the social expectation and confinement of marriage. Although I don’t morally agree with affairs in any way, shape or form, this novel intrigues me to delve into the mind of a Victorian woman trapped within an oppressive marriage and offers an interesting subversion of the generalized view of extramarital affairs, as it is the female character engaging in an affair, not the male.
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