Existential Angst In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

Existential Angst in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening: A Feminist Reading Abstract: This paper intends to analyse the idea of existential angst in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening in the light of existential feminism. The issue of suicide will be discussed from a larger feminist perspective including Indian. The suicide committed by Edna Pontellier at the end relates to awakening of the self-consciousness leading to annihilation of identity pertaining to the existential despair. The study on this aspect is made by referring to certain existential ethics such as angst and despair. The research is presented through feminist methodology by taking into account the notion of existential feminism by Simone De Beauvoir. The western and Indian notions of feminism are juxtaposed citing disparity among the socio- cultural situations working towards a presentation of a larger picture of the condition of women.

It is believed to have been coined by Soren Kierkegaard relating to a feeling of anxiety or inner turmoil. However, it is different from fear as the latter has an object and can be worked upon unlike angst whose source cannot be manifested while despair is the loss of hope, the disintegration of one’s defining self or identity. Kierkegaard in his work Either/Or, states that the external conditions makes one unhappy as they are beyond control and hence causes despair. The existential angst which awakens the knowledge of Edna’s solitary self proves redundant as she chooses to commit suicide in order to end her ignominy. And the further stage of angst is despair which relates to complete hopelessness. Albert Camus, the famous Existential thinker opined that one commits suicide not of one’s own free will but due to circumstances which oppress upon one’s own will. While the feminists like Helen Cixous and Clement claim that “either the woman is passive or she doesn’t exist” (Cixous,