The ideal Victorian women would idolize their children, worship their husbands, and were expected to be devoted and submissive to them. Like angels, they were amiable, delicate, graceful, pious, and before anything else - pure. Motherhood was clearly every woman’s highest achievement, but Edna is unwilling to repress her essential self for the sake of the role of “mother-woman”. Edna not only escaped from a stifling marriage, but also escaped from being spiritually pruned and socially entrapped.
After six years of marriage and two children, it gradually becomes clear to Edna that her life is not fulfilling enough and she finds hope in her love for Robert Lebrun. Her body starts showing her what power and freedom she is capable of possessing:
After six years of marriage and two children, it gradually becomes clear to Edna that her life is not fulfilling enough and she finds hope in her love for Robert Lebrun. Her body starts showing her what power and freedom she is capable of possessing: