What character of woman is Edna Pontellier

In Kate Chopin's The Awakening, Edna Pontellier searches for her own sense of identity. Through an employment of the feminist theory of literary criticism, this thesis analyzes Edna's struggle, confined by a patriarchal society and limited by a world view of duality and opposition. Edna seeks personal autonomy, yet, by definition of her time, is not a feminist. The two most prominent characters in Edna's social circle, Adele Ratignole and Mademoiselle Reisz, represent a combination of Susan Cruea's four stages of womanhood. Due to Edna's focus on duality and opposition, their importance, as well as the importance of other minor female characters---particularly the example provided by Madame Lebrun---is undervalued by Edna. Unable to assimilate a viable identity from the examples of womanhood at her disposal, Edna, at last, sacrifices her life to achieve freedom.