While navigating through Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, the theme of death is at the forefront. Early in the novel, Ethan comes to realize that he will most likely die in the same town as his ancestors while also dragging through the same long depressing lives. However, when life with Zeena becomes too hard, death becomes a sweet escape from his troubles. When his self-righteous suicide attempt fails to come to fruition, his struggles are only enhanced, resulting in a life that is worse than he could have ever imagined. One major line that completely summarizes his new lifestyle comes in the closing line of the novel when Mrs. Hale claims, “I don’t see there’s much difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard; …show more content…
Because of his infatuation with his wife’s cousin, he is often blind to the fact that his wife knows he is in love with another women, setting him up for his ultimate demise. When Zeena is finally able to deliver a crushing blow to her husband’s fantasy by telling him that he must get rid of Mattie, Ethan regresses to a state of rebellion in which he ultimately decides that he and his mistress must kill themselves in order to be happy. However, while trying to complete this dark plan, Ethan makes a crucial flaw in his execution, resulting in an outcome far worse than his intended goal. Becoming a cripple and falling under the care of the women he so desperately tried to run from, Ethan finds himself in a situation that is unbearable; he now must live in a house with his wife that he no longer loves and his mistress than he can no longer enjoy. With the reference made by Mrs. Hale in mind, I argue that even though he did not die, Ethan’s life ultimately ends up worse than actual death. Being that he is a man that is willing to leave a wife that has been sick since the beginning of their marriage and to run away with a younger woman, his punishment is completely justified. Death in his circumstances would be too sweet of a relief for his wrongdoings to his wife. Instead of being a man with enough
He could not get away from Zeena, nor run away with the girl he felt drawn to. There was no way Ethan could afford to get away even if he tried. Ethan could not afford to pay for himself to leave town, nor could he provide for the woman he desired. He also imagines life as if he were suddenly resolved from all the issues going on in his life. All the issues that went on, Ethan brought upon himself due to the way he managed his life.
Mrs. Hale tells the narrator that if Mattie had dies, Ethan may have lived, but as things are, his existence is a kind of a living death. In addition, in chapter two, he had asked his dead ancestors, at their graves, to help him keep Mattie with him. We find that his natural ally is death and life is his enemy. Mrs. Hale believes that Mattie? surviving the accident is literally a fate that is worse than death, since the dead hold their peace, whereas Mattie and Zeena are often mad at each ther, adding to Ethan?s suffering and unhappiness.
He deals with her complaining, overpowering and demanding personality, and she acts like she is always ‘sick.’ However, he didn’t ignore his feelings for Mattie and he wasn’t strong enough to run away and escape. When he was planning to run away with Mattie, he had to go get money from Mr. Andrew so they could run away but on his way there he met Mrs. Andrew. She told Ethan, “I always tell Mr. Hale I don’t know what she’d ‘a’ [Zeena] done if she hadn’t ‘a’ had you to look after her… You’ve had an awful mean time, Ethan Frome” (Wharton 104). After Mrs. Andrew tells this to Ethan, he doesn’t go ask for Mr. Andrew to pay him and instead goes home. He feels ashamed for for making Mr. Andrew get the money he needs because last time Ethan asked for the money, Mr. Andrew couldn’t get it. He also feels guilty for hurting his friends and he doesn’t want to leave Zeena with nothing when he runs away with Mattie. This displays again, how Ethan is a weak
Ethan wanted to run away with Mattie but after learning that he did not have available funds to go west he couldn’t face the fact that Mattie would go away forever. As soon as Mattie suggest they commit suicide Ethan doesn’t refuse but agrees. “What’s the good of either of us going anywheres without the other one now” (Wharton 121). Mattie and Ethan plan to sled into the Elm tree to die together. Ethan’s job was to steer into the tree to make it appear as an accidental death, however, they didn’t hit the tree square on due to Ethan second-guessing himself. Because of this Ethan, and Mattie, both survive. Although Ethan second-guesses his choice he still knew he couldn’t be without Mattie, and continued towards the elm tree. This was probably the most profound act of weakness because instead of dying with his love he is forced to live with the guilt from his wife, and the now-injured
Ethan Frome, a novella written by Edith Wharton, communicates a story of Ethan and his life living with his ill wife, Zeena, when a new lover comes into his home. Ethan and Zeena live in a place called Starkfield, a cold and lonely location situated in the New England area. Mattie comes into Ethan’s life to help her cousin, Zeena, around the house as her sickness has obstructed her ability to do housework. This causes problems for Ethan because he starts to fall in love with Mattie as she stays with the Fromes. The isolation of Starkfield prevents Ethan from living his life the way he wanted to. That causes Ethan to abandon his dreams of college and moving away from Starkfield. Ethan becomes hindered by the isolation of Starkfield because of
Ethan marries Zeena so he won't be alone after his mother dies. She seemed like a very cheerful, vivacious person while his mother was sick. After their marriage all this changed. She became a very nagging, sick wife. Because of Zeena's "complications" they had to hire someone to help around the house. Mattie, Zeena's cousin, needed a place to live and seemed fit for the job. She moved in and Ethan took and immediate liking to her. He found someone that cared for him, was always happy, and could share his youth. All of which, Zeena was incapable of doing. Ethan longed to be with Mattie, but he was loyal to Zeena. Being married to Zeena was Ethan's first failure.
Meanwhile, how could she keep the farm going? It was only by incessant labour and personal supervision that Ethan drew a meager living from his land, and his wife, even if she were in better health than she imagined, could never carry such a burden alone" (Wharton 73). This evidence demonstrates Ethan's quality of his kind and loving nature towards others. The reason is when he wants to leave Zeena, he thinks about her future and how she will suffer to support herself. He cannot bear Zeena's pain, so he puts her future and their marriage before his dreams. His dream is to "leave with Mattie the next day" (Wharton 72). Another example when Ethan is a very concernful person is when "she would have suffered a complete loss of identity" (Wharton 38). This quote demonstrates Ethan's concern for Zeena because Ethan's dream is to move to the metropolitan area, but Zeena's sickliness will make her look inferior to the city. Ethan's concern for Zeena's image prevents him to "sell the farm and saw-mill and try their luck in a large town. Ethan's love of nature did not take
The book says, “His wife had never shown any jealousy of Mattie, but of late she had grumbled increasingly over the house-work and found oblique ways of attracting attention to the girl 's inefficiency(Wharton, chpt 1).” This means Zeena knew about the love affair. Because Ethan and Zeena did not honestly love each other, the affair did not bother Zeena. Eventually, though, Zeena wants to force Mattie to go back home. Ethan and Mattie are extremely devastated by this. Ethan is not in love with either girl, but cannot leave either one. What happened next was a sleigh riding accident. Ethan purposely drove a sled into a tree hoping to kill Mattie and himself. By doing this he could escape all his responsibilities. He would not be abandoning anyone technically. The immaturity in Ethan 's personality is shown through this event. The accident caused Ethan and Zeena to be obligated to care for Mattie for the rest of their lives. Because the accident was intentional Ethan should be held accountable for it. He was supposed to be a mature adult who made the right decisions. He failed at this. Ethan should have been put in jail for this mishap. Moreover, Mattie did die that day because her liveliness
Ethan Frome is the main character of Edith Wharton’s tragic novel. Ethan lives the bitterness of his youth’s lost opportunities, and dissatisfaction with his joyless life and empty marriage. Throughout the story Ethan is trapped by social limits and obligations to his wife. He lives an unhappy life with many responsibilities and little freedom. Ethan Frome studied science in college for a year and probably would have succeeded as an engineer or physicist had he not been summoned home to run the family farm and mill. Ethan quickly ended his schooling and went to run the family farm and mill because he feels it is his responsibility. He marries Zeena after the death of his mother, in an unsuccessful attempt to escape silence, isolation, and loneliness. Ethan also feels the responsibility to marry Zeena as a way to compensate her for giving up part of her life to nurse his mother. After marring Zeena he forgets his hope of every continuing his education and he is now forced to remain married to someone he does not truly love.
From the beginning of the story, society opposed Ethan Frome in any ways. To begin with, he was a prisoner with his wife, Zeena. Just because Zeena took care of his mother as she was dying, Ethan felt like she was the woman for him. However, when Zeena’s cousin Mattie came to live with them, he instantly fell in love with her, and felt nothing but audacity towards his wife. When Zeena goes away due to her illness, Ethan and Mattie sit at home planning their future ahead of them. He plans to elope and run away with Mattie, but he cannot lie to his neighbors, Mr and Mrs. Hale in order to achieve the money he needs. In the end, Ethan decides to abandon life itself along with his true love Mattie. Ethan was a prisoner to poverty. When he was young, he wanted to leave his family farm in order to move to a larger town to become an engineer. However, that plan backfired and he was trapped in Starkfield for life. Society does not want Ethan to be happy for he committed adultery and treated his wife like she didn’t matter. The gravestones in his yard are a reminder t...
Book Rags Inc. "Ethan Frome Notes on the Death and Isolation Themes." BookRags. BookRags, n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. .
Perhaps Edith Wharton's reason for writing Ethan Frome, was that it so vividly reflected her own dreary life. Abandoned of any love as a child from her mother and trapped in a marriage similar to that of Zeena and Ethan, Wharton found herself relying on illicit love. This illicit love was also her favorite topic of writing, which helped her to escape her own tragedies. She spent many nights in the arms of other men searching desperately for the love she believed existed, but had never felt, which is evident in all of her writings.
He is physically isolated from the world and is also cut off from the possibility of any relationship. Due to his new situation, he looks for an outlet in order to relieve himself from this isolation. Luckily enough for him, Mattie comes around in order to help Zeena out due to her illness. Wharton writes, “...the coming to his house of a bit hopeful young life was like the lighting of a fire under a cold heart” (Wharton 33). As Smith recognizes in this comparison, he says that “His (Ethan) life of isolation changes, however, when Mattie Silver comes to stay with him and his wife” (Smith 96). Smith correctly analyzes Ethan’s situation, labeling Mattie as this outlet of hope that he can turn to in order to cope with his isolation. Wharton herself shows that Ethan truly did view Mattie as his outlet for hope, mainly due to his love for her, which Mattie shares equally for him. This love sprouts from many things including attractiveness, conversation, understanding, and listening, many of which he lacks for his whole life and where most of his isolation roots itself. Wharton writes, “She had an eye to see and an ear to hear: he could show her things and tell her things, and taste the bliss of feeling that all he imparted left long reverberations and echoes he could wake at will” (Wharton 28). This is a fancy way of saying that they Mattie not only listened to Ethan, but also
When Zeena was there while Ethan's mother was ill to "nurse her", she gave him the "human speech" he longed for because his mother had "lost the power of speech." Ethan felt that he would be "dreadful" if "left alone" if Zeena were to leave him, so he ended up marrying her so she would stay. Ethan is unable to make decisions without thinking of her first or being reminder that she's the one he is loyal to because of this attachment. Even having blissful moments with Mattie, Ethan cannot rid his mind of Zeena. While having supper, the cat "jumped between them into Zeena's empty chair" and when reminded of Zeena, Ethan was "paralyzed." Ethan is happy when with Mattie, but his love for her will never rid him from Zeena. Ethan was even planning o asking the Hales for currency, but the thought of "leaving alone" his "sickly woman" led him to desert his plan in taking money to leave Zeena by herself. This shows that even in his desire to escape her, Ethan values their marriage and is still thinking of her greater good. Ethan's happiness resides in Mattie to the point where he was willing to kill himself to be with her forever, however, midway through the attempt, "his wife's face, with twisted monstrous ligaments, thrusts itself between him and his goal." Due to Zeena showing herself to Ethan near death, he "swerved in response" which may have caused the attempt to fail. This scene demonstrates how Ethan, even when
Garcia, Angela. "Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome." American Writers Classics. Ed. Jay Parini. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. 89-108. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 4 Feb. 2014.