By the end of the story 'A Respectable Woman', do you still believe that Mrs. Baroda really was a respectable woman? or has your opinion changed because of her affair with Gouvernail?
Mrs. Baroda then undergoes a mental conflict within herself, and the climax of the story occurs at her decision to leave Gouvernail and take the train to the city--while she reminds herself that she is a respectable woman. She does not choose to see Gouvernail again until, some months later, she determines that she has defeated her baser emotions, and her assurance to Gaston Baroda indicates that she will feel free to treat Gouvernail with more courtesy, since she is no longer attracted to him. I think that Mrs. Baroda is, in the end, a human being who, like all of us, has conflicting emotions. Within the context of the era this was written in, Mrs. Baroda strives to do the right thing but Chopin purposely leaves the "respectability" up to the reader.
