description: When first published in 1899, The Awakening shocked readers with its honest treatment of female 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 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 uninhibited and beautifully written, which anticipates D. H. Lawrence in its treatment of infidelity." Although the theme of marital infidelity no longer shocks, few novels have plumbed the psychology of a woman involved in an illicit relationship with the perception, artistry, and honesty that Kate Chopin brought to The Awakening .
language: English
title: Awakening
titlecomplete: Awakening
characters: Mademoiselle Reisz, Adèle Ratignolle, Robert Lebrun, Léonce Pontellier, Edna Pontellier, Alcée Arobin
genres: Classics, American, Feminism, Read For School, High School, School, Historical Fiction, Literature, 19th Century, Fiction
ratings_count: 201593
places: New Orleans, Louisiana, Grand Isle, Louisiana
publisher: Pearson Professional Education