The relationship between Edna and Mademoiselle Reisz was especially interesting to me throughout The Awakening. The man Edna conducted her first physical affair with, Alcée, made a mention about how he’d “heard she’s partially demented,” on p. 127 when, in stark contrast, we saw on the previous five pages how well Mademoiselle Reisz and Edna got along. In a way, they were both two social outcasts who had frankness that drew one to the other. At first Edna was only described as sometimes “capricious” on p. 43, and that character trait only grew along with her independence, which was similar to Mademoiselle Reisz’s in a sense. Not only were there numerous mentions of Mademoiselle Reisz’s poor fashion taste, but her standoffish nature set her apart from the idealized women that Edna usually kept in her company towards the beginning of the book (like Adele Ratignolle). Edna began to slowly mirror Reisz more and more through her independence and through the way she seemingly only did things that she wanted to do for the sheer pleasure of it.
While it’s undeniable that after the protagonist found out that she was the subject of one of Robert’s letters her interest in Reisz grew exponentially, even in one of their first meetings it’s clear that Reisz holds Edna in high regard. On p. 39 she personally inquired if the married woman liked her music and remarked, “You are the only one worth playing for. Those others? Bah!” In almost all of their interactions they banter together, and (besides Edna’s passing fancy in Alcée and her deep obsession with Robert) she appeared to be the only close connection that Edna consistently held regardless of outside influences or public perception. They both pursued interests in the arts, Edna with painting and Reisz with being a pianist, ended up living alone, lived their lives (in Reisz’s case this was true) like they were single, became disenfranchised with the pleasantries of polite society, and had a stubborn streak. While Edna had her most emotional connection with Robert, I think that she had her deepest intellectual connection with Mademoiselle Reisz.