Edna Pontellier's Trial

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I would like to thank you for your time today. As you can see, we have a very important trial here today. Mrs. Edna Pontellier has been charged with the crime of shirking her duties of a mother-woman and it is your job to convict her of such a crime. We have had numerous witnesses come and testify to Edna’s disregard of her role as a mother woman.

Mrs. Pontellier has shown multiple counts of being self-center, leaving her to think only of herself. She, herself, testified that, "I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself” (Chopin 64). This attitude of focusing of herself shows how she put those who needed her most behind her desires.

We had the authors of The New Housekeeper’s Manual explain how a mother should act. They explained that, “She has a husband, to whose peculiar tastes and habits she must accommodate herself; she has children whose health she must guard, whose physical constitutions she must study and develop, whose temper and habits she must regulate, whose principles she must form, whose pursuits she must guide” (Beecher 221). Edna clearly does not follow this principle. Mr. Pontellier stated that, “He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother's place to look after children, whose on earth was it?" (Chopin 7). The defendant clearly demonstrated a level of neglect for her children. An expert from Conner Prairie testified that, “Women’s God-given role, it stated, was as wife and mother, keeper of the household” (Hartman). The defendant clearly does not fit this description, as described by the testimony of ““In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman. The mother-women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood” (Chopin 10). This shows an obvious neglect of her duties as a mother woman. Edna even testified that she did not enjoy the role by saying, ““Feeling secure regarding their happiness and welfare, she did