Madame Célestin's Divorce (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Kate Chopin
- First Published: 1894
- Type of Plot: Regional, sketch
- Time of Work: The 1890's
- Setting: Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana
- Principal Characters: Madame Célestin, Mr. Paxton
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Wives, Mothers, Abused persons, Nineteenth century, Domestic violence, Creoles, Violence, Divorce, Catholics or Catholic Church, Homemakers, Louisiana
- Locales: Natchitoches, LA
The Story
“Madame Célestin's Divorce” relates several brief encounters between the title character and a lawyer, Mr. Paxton, through an omniscient narrator. The plot revolves around Paxton's growing infatuation with the very attractive Madame Célestin, while he counsels her to divorce Célestin, her abusive husband. As is typical in most of Kate Chopin's writing, the characters’ emotional situations, as well as their regional idiosyncrasies, direct the outcome of the plot.
The story begins with a description of Madame Célestin, a young Creole housewife, busy...
[The entire page is 1469 words long]
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