26 pages • 52 minutes read
Kate ChopinA Respectable Woman
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1894A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Search for Female Identity
The search for female identity is a running theme throughout many of Chopin’s works, and Mrs. Baroda’s struggle to understand her preexisting identity in conjunction with a newly emerging, alternative one is the main struggle of “A Respectable Woman.”
Women during the Victorian age (1837-1901), especially those of a higher social status like Mrs. Baroda, were expected to obtain, and excel in, the roles of wife and mother. (There were a handful of occupations deemed “respectable” for women of lower social standings, but they did not offer incentives in terms of lifestyle or advancement.) Overall, a prudent marriage was seen as the highest achievement a woman could obtain—but even women who did achieve this had very few individual rights. Throughout most of the 1800s, women had no right to own property or vote. Furthermore, society viewed women as subservient, whether in public or in the home. This began changing in the United States during the late 1800s and early 1900s, as women petitioned for the right to vote and began to speak more openly about women’s rights. (Even so, it was not until the 1965 Voting Rights Act that voting became a reality for Black American women.)
“A Respectable Woman” does not touch on women’s political rights, but it does illustrate the social and mental confines that the role of wife may entail for the protagonist. Like Edna Pontellier in The Awakening, Mrs. Baroda is extremely fortunate in her status in life. By Victorian standards, she has achieved the womanly ideal. Not only is her husband well-to-do, but he also seems warm and caring. Mrs. Baroda’s role as a good and devoted wife makes her a “respectable woman” by society’s terms. Despite her ideal situation, however, Mrs. Baroda’s identity is still largely tied to her husband. She is known only by her married title, and her life revolves around such duties as hosting her husband’s guests.
When Gouvernail arrives, Mrs. Baroda’s preconceptions about him are also shaped by what her husband has told her. However, as the visitor’s stay continues, her ideas change, reflecting new, independent thoughts that her husband does not understand. She also makes the choice to go stay with her aunt until Gouvernail leaves, reflecting an independent action that coincides with her new ideas. From this perspective, the possibility of an affair with Gouvernail could represent a nascent identity full of independent choices that would defy traditional conventions of a wife and respectable woman.
Devotion Versus Desire
Mrs. Baroda’s inner conflict is more than an evolution of identity. It is also a matter of devotion versus desire. Her devotion to her husband involves her duty as his wife, but she also genuinely cares for him. Within the few pages of this short story, Chopin shows the steadiness of their relationship through words and actions. Their dynamic comes across as a consistently affectionate, mutual bond. Mrs. Baroda’s desirous feelings toward Gouvernail, by contrast, are more spontaneous and erotic, whether that passion is physical or emotional. The attraction comes from inside of her, and it is not built on any mutual understanding or preexisting commitment.
Devotion involves affection and loyalty. Mrs. Baroda is bound to her husband not only through her identity as a wife and “respectable woman” but also through their mutual partnership. In addition to their conversations and brief moments of physical affection, the Barodas refer to their friendship at different points in the story: Gaston calls her “chère amie” (Paragraph 32), which translates to “dear friend,” and Mrs. Baroda considers briefly considers telling Gaston about her feelings for Gouvernail because Gaston, while her husband, is “also her friend” (Paragraph 28).
Mrs. Baroda’s desire for Gouvernail, as it holds no element of duty, is entirely different. Desire is associated with emotional and even physical intensity, and it becomes clear that Mrs. Baroda’s reactions to Gouvernail involve desire more than logic. At first, she likes him, and then she does not, and then she finally understands that she desires him. Throughout this range of responses, Mrs. Baroda continues to puzzle over Gouvernail and the nature of her unfamiliar feelings. She refers to herself not just as “respectable” but as “sensible.” She is unaccustomed to experiencing such a purely emotional urge.
The contrast between devotion and desire becomes clearer on the basis of two points. Firstly, the Barodas’ marriage does not seem strained or difficult in any way. Secondly, Gouvernail does nothing to elicit Mrs. Baroda’s amorous feelings; even when he sits next to her and talks, Mrs. Baroda knows that his comments are “not addressed to her” (Paragraph 22). These two distinctions make it clear that there truly is a mutual devotion between the married couple and that Mrs. Baroda’s desire for Gouvernail is both unbidden and unprecedented.
The Allure of the Unknown
The allure of the unknown, a major theme in “A Respectable Woman,” is tied to Mrs. Baroda’s growing interest in the hard-to-know Gouvernail, her fascination with her unfamiliar emergent emotions, and the possibility of an unknown life, or identity, in the future. Particularly as it concerns the possibility of a different kind of existence, this theme typifies other works by Chopin (such as The Awakening) in which the protagonist yearns for a different life without knowing exactly what that might look like.
The allure of the unknown is initially tied to Mrs. Baroda’s preconceptions about Gouvernail, as she forms “an image of him in her mind” (Paragraph 3) before meeting him. She is uninterested in his visit because she assumes that she knows what to expect—but after he arrives and flouts her expectations, she is drawn to him. This is seen first when his physical appearance surprises her, then when he does not respond to her absence as she would expect of a visitor. Gouvernail’s deviation from expectation is what initially fascinates Mrs. Baroda.
Mrs. Baroda is also physically drawn out, or lured, by the mystery of her feelings. She joins Gouvernail on his walks to “penetrate the reserve in which he had unconsciously wrapped himself” (Paragraph 7) but also to satisfy her curiosity about him. Immediately before her climactic encounter with Gouvernail, she seeks physical solitude and sits alone to think because she has “never known her thoughts or intentions to be so confused” (Paragraph 18). When she recognizes her feelings later that night, it pushes her toward action yet again, and she leaves for her aunt’s. While her departure may be a retreat from the unknown, the story’s ambiguous ending leaves it open to interpretation.
Though it is unclear how Mrs. Baroda will act when Gouvernail next visits, it is clear that the possibility of a new, unknown life is tied to her action. Because that possibility is an alluring feature of the narrative, the theme even expresses itself through rhetorical technique: In ending the story ambiguously, Chopin allows readers to share in Mrs. Baroda’s fascination with the unknown.
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By Kate Chopin
