Consulting Edna: The Role of Doctor Mandelet in Kate Chopin’s 'The Awakening'

This paper deals with the role of Doctor Mandelet in Kate Chopin's novel The Awakening. I argue that Mandelet is a mixed character – understanding and at the same time misunderstanding Edna Pontellier’s predicament – who portrayed therefore rather ambiguously. Although Chopin is critical of Mandelet and the other male characters in her novel and characterizes them at times negatively, Chopin also reveals that their inability to comprehend Edna’s inner life and her transformation in the course of the novel is not inherent. Rather, Edna’s men are victims of their circumstances and – to use a Naturalist notion – are controlled by outside forces beyond their control.