Ethan Frome Gender Roles

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Time and time again, women have consistently been cheated when it comes to being represented fairly in literature. Throughout countless literary works, many female characters are portrayed in stereotypical and submissive roles. Three literary works that break from this trend are Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, and George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. These works examine themes of beauty and marriage, and feature female characters in prominent roles. But what influenced how male and female characters are portrayed in these pieces of literature? Examining Wharton’s Ethan Frome, Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, and Shaw’s Pygmalion from a feminist perspective reveals how gender characterization, author perspectives, and gender …show more content…

The novel focuses on the the titular character and a young woman named Mattie Silver, and how their relationship affects Ethan’s relationship with his overbearing wife, Zeena. Examining the miserable Frome marriage reveals how Zeena Frome is portrayed as the villain. From the start of the novel, Zeena is the “obstacle” in the way of Ethan and Mattie Silver’s relationship. Ethan truly wants to pursue a relationship with Mattie, but is restricted due to his existing marriage. Zeena is a shadowy presence throughout the story, always popping up when Ethan and Mattie least expect it. In this sense, Elizabeth Ammons compares Zeena Frome to a typical “witch” present in common fairy tales, lending further credence to the assertion that Zeena is a villain. “There are women whose occupation in life consists of making other people unhappy,” she says. “Ethan Frome includes three…Zeena’s hypochondria, her frigidity, her taciturnity broken only by querulous nagging, her drab appearance—these things make her an unsympathetic character” (Ammons 139). Edith Wharton portrays Zeena in a negative light through imagery as well. Early in the novel, when Zeena appears for the first time, Wharton lets the reader imagine an ugly woman by describing her as having flat breasts and a puckered throat (Wharton

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