Music And Ednas Awakening :: essays research papers

In Kate Chopin& amp8217s The Awakening, the romantic and lyrical nature of Frederick Chopin&8217s spontaneously, as well as its originality, ar the vehicle by means of which Edna realizes her love for Robert and her desire to be free and self-determined.Chopin&8217s Impromptu arouses "the very passions ... within Edna&8217s soul"(p.34). The harmony, fluidity, subtle turn and poetic beauty of the Romantic composer make Edna loose herself in the unison that stirs her emotions. The art completes, for her, what nature cannot bring to a finish. The exquisite, looping, and often fiery melodies of the Impromptu make a cut in Edna&8217s wit through the conventional beliefs about people and society. Because she is not a musician, her comprehend is based on intuition, allowing for a direct apprehension of the music by the soul and leading to a confrontation with the mankind itself &8212 the realism of "solitude, of hope, of longing, ... of despair"(p.34) . This is the beginning of Edna&8217s awakening, for such emotions, especially despair, are not an end but a beginning because they take outside the excuses and guilts, those toward herself, from which she suffers. This revelation of previously hidden conflicts gives birth to dramatic emotions within Edna. It is so powerful that Edna wonders if she "shall ever be stirred again as...Reisz&8217s playing moved" her that night (p.38). For Edna, the times that Reisz plays are times when she "takes an form of the abiding truth" and realizes her true desires(p.34). When Edna visits her, Reisz first improvises at the instrument and hence plays the Impromptu which itself has original and adventurous themes. Through music Edna realizes the importance of existence self-actualized and making choices. She again feels the same as that night when "new voices awoke in her"&8212when through music, the way to genuine freedom was revealed to her (p.84). However, hav ing freedom comes with responsibility, which handle giving birth to art, requires special skill. For Edna, the fantasies of freedom are transformed into reality wholly only in music and possibly the inability to obtain the skill to deal with her new emotions in life explains the dramatic result to the journey and exploration of the passions that begin on the island.