Edna felt herself to be in love with a famous tragedian, even kissing the "cold glass" of his picture when she was alone. However, Leonce Pontellier "pressed his suit with an earnestness and an ardor which left nothing to be desired." The warmth of Leonce's "ardor" stands in stark contrast with the cold glass of the tragedian. In short, "He pleased her," and she felt flattered by his evident devotion to her. She also thought, at the time, that they shared similar tastes and ways of thinking, though she learned only later that she was wrong about that. In addition to feeling flattered and thinking she and Leonce were a good match, the "violent opposition of her father and sister" meant that "we need seek no further for the motives which led her to accept Monsieur Pontellier for her husband." In other words, then, it sounds as though the final factor in driving Edna to accept Leonce was the fact that her father and sister (who was like a mother-figure at that point) were adamantly opposed...

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