"It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell."
-Buddha
Throughout most of the story, one of Edna's main goals was to become independent, as evidenced by the joy she expresses while swimming and painting alone, and by the unhappiness she feels anytime she has to do things without being given options. She realizes she will never truly be free as long as she lives, and kills herself to escape the cage that is life itself. Though she is technically speaking free, this is neither a victory nor a defeat.
For someone to achieve victory, there has to be an opponent to win against. The only people who actively push Edna away from her goals are only in the novel for short periods of time, with the major example of this being her father attempting to force her to come to her sister's wedding. Her husband only puts up slight resistance due to the lack of care she gives towards the house. Since they were not "fighting" against her, it is impossible for her to have achieved victory against these characters. However, there is a single character in the novel that Edna has constant arguments with.
Throughout most of the novel, Edna is constantly asking herself what she should do and internally debating what she wants. As stated, her main goal is to become completely independent from men, yet she can not shake her love for the ones who want to have control. She doesn't want to give up Robert; she can't resist the temptation of Mr. Arobin. The only character in the novel she can truly defeat is herself. She both fails and succeeds in this regard, as her suicide brings about the end of her attachment for men who want control. As such, Edna's suicide is a stalemate: no one can win, and no one can lose.
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