This character struck me as particularly annoying because I know several people just like her in my own life, and I think everyone knows such a person.
Madame Ratignolle serves as a good foil to Edna - Edna has gone down the root of a typical privileged housewife, but found no fulfillment in such a life or the duties accompanying it, particularly housekeeping, socializing, hosting, and secondary child rearing (many of the primary duties were performed by servants). Madame Ratignolle, on the other hand, has adjusted very well to the role and indeed enjoys it.
Before I proceed any further, I want to make it clear that as a feminist, I am not what one might call a "hyper feminist," "pseudo feminist," or, for the extremely politically incorrect (and often insensitive) "feminazi." By this I mean I am for true equality in opportunity, and not for women to keep the privileges of chivalry but still receive the benefits men receive. If you want to be a female CEO, then open your own doors and pay for your own dinner. I also mean that I acknowledge the differences between men and women, and thus there must sometimes be differences in our roles simply due to the fact that we are different.
I bring this up because I want to make this very clear: I have nothing against mothers, housewives, homemakers, whatever. I was raised by such a person, in fact most of us were. Being a mother can be a very noble calling. What I don't like are the politics associated with it, and by that I mean the social (to be frank) bs that goes on between rich housewives. Their lifestyle is pathetic; I'd almost call their lifestyle a constant state of paranoia. They constantly run in circles looking at each others possessions, primarily cars, houses, and boats in today's age, and try to outdo each other. The people from Edna's time called on each other to maintain proper social relations and to make sure they were of proper standing with each other. They bragged of their associations with cultured people, avoided uncultured people, and so on and so on. These exercises, in my opinion, are shallow, petty, and a waste of time. It's no wonder Edna was so miserable always; she found no joy in the "exercises," and it seems she wasn't cut out to be a mother either, so she felt purposeless.
However, Madame Ratignolle seemed to enjoy being a housewife quite a bit, and to me, it seems she enjoyed the "politics" more than the actual duties of homemaking and motherhood. This is where housewives disgust me; I see them so entrapped in politics that their actual duties, being a good mom and wife, become secondary. Suddenly it's all about looking good to the neighbors, having the best car, getting plastic surgery, making your kids be what you want them to be instead of what they want to be, etc. and before you know it, your kids become far less important than your politics.
Madame Ratignolle reminds me of such people. I've met many a Madame Ratignolle. Women who are all about gossip, are "weak" and have to rest constantly, and are always complaining they are sick to get attention. Women who are all about the drama of being a socialite rather than being a useful career woman or a loving mother. Women who, in my opinion, are a big fat waste of space.
So I commend Chopin for including Madame Ratignolle in her story, because I feel that she serves as an excellent foil to Edna.
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