Ethan Frome

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Throughout “Ethan Frome,” Edith Wharton renders the idea that freedom is just out of reach from the protagonist, Ethan Frome. The presence of a doomed love affair and an unforgiving love triangle forces Ethan to choose between his duty and his personal desire. Wharton’s use of archetypes in the novella emphasizes how Ethan will make choices that will ultimately lead to his downfall. In Edith Wharton’s, “Ethan Frome.” Ethan is wedged between his duty as a husband and his desire for happiness; however, rather than choosing one or the other, Ethan’s indecisiveness makes not only himself, but Mattie and Zeena miserable.

Throughout the novel Mattie and Ethan are genuinely in love with one another. This can be proven when Mattie turned down Denis Eady the “rich Irish grocer” for Ethan. Another example was when Mattie “had an eye and an ear to hear” that not only listened but also understood Ethan. However it was the “lover” archetype that Wharton incorporated into Ethan that blurred the image of Mattie in Ethan’s eyes. Mattie is a manipulator that dragged Ethan into his predicament and...

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    This quote was found on page 13, in the introduction when Harmon Gow is explaining to the narrator who Ethan Frome is.

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  • Free Essays on Wharton's Ethan Frome: Weakness of Character

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    Ethan Frome, the main character in the book entitled Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, has many complex problems going on at the same time. His family has died and he has a wife that is continually sick, and the only form of happiness he has is from his wife's cousin Mattie. This, however, at times proves to be hard because of Ethan's wifes interference. Nothing seems to be going in Ethan's favor. One theme of the book is weakness of character; this is shown by Ethan’s marraige, his inability to stand up to his wife, and his involvement concerning the "accident."

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  • Weaknesses In Wharton's Ethan Frome

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    Ethan Frome the main character from the book entitled Ethan Frome has many signs of weakness throughout the story. His family died, and his wife is sick. His only source of light is Mattie one of Zeena’s, his wife, cousin. In this case, Ethan suffers from the tragic flaw that he lacks strength. He doesn’t take control and shows great weaknesses by surrendering to his loneliness, not standing up to his wife to fix his past mistakes, and his inability to live without Mattie.

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  • Symbolism Of Isolation In Ethan Frome, By Edith Wharton

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    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

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  • Archetypes In Ethan Frome

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    Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is designed to be read like a fairytale. The novel contains many archetypes of a classic fairytale. These archetypes are brought to life in Starkfield, Massachusetts by the three main characters: Mattie Silver, Ethan Frome, and Zeena Frome. They can be compared to the archetypes of the silvery maiden, the honest woodcutter, and the witch. These comparisons allow the reader to notice similarities between Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome and the classic fairytale Snow White. The character Zeena Frome from Edith Wharton’s novel, Ethan Frome, resembles the evil witch from the fairy tale Snow White.

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  • Failure In Ethan Frome

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    The main theme of the book Ethan Frome is failure. It is shown in three ways throughout the story: Ethan's marriage, him not being able to stand up to Zeena, and his involvement in the "smash up".

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  • Ethan Frome’s Irresponsibility: Edith Warton's Ethan Frome

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    Ethan is conflicted between giving in to his desires and maintaining social and moral order. He loves Mattie, and is desperate to express his passion. He has plenty of chances to do so, yet, his conscience and the limitations he imposes on himself tell him that it would be wrong:

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  • Trapped in Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

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    ...ss for yourself because in the end, one will regret it. Ethan’s morals prevent him from leaving Starkfield to pursue and achieve his dreams. He cannot baffle the traditions of his town. After Zeena tries to "foist on him the cost of a servant", forcing Ethan to let go of Mattie, he chooses to “leave with Mattie”. However, he cannot go through with the plan because he cannot bear to leave Zeena alone with her sickness. He knows she would not be able to take care of herself and cannot afford her own medicine. It is inappropriate to leave his wife in this bad condition. Therefore Ethan chooses to live an unhappy life instead of deceive his family and friends. Wharton portrays that by following society’s standards they will lose their hope and end up living in misery. Ethan chose to embark the obstacles and in the end it ruined him to a life of unhappiness and failure.

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  • Fantasy is an Escape from Fear in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome

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    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.

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  • The Theme Of Isolation In Ethan Frome By Edith Wharton

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    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

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  • Character Analysis Of Ethan Frome

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    Ethan Frome is a popular novel written in 1911 by Edith Wharton. The plot of the novel consists of an unnamed narrator who tells the tragic tale of a poor farmer in the New England area. Ethan Frome is married to a cranky old lady, but falls in love with his wife’s cousin who helps out around the house. In the climax of the story the two in love attempt suicide to free themselves from Zeena’s control but end up handicapped for the rest of their life. Even though he isn’t the protagonist of the story the character that needs to be analyzed is the narrator. Edith Wharton uses the narrator to retell his interpretations of the story of Ethan Frome and in turn reveals his inner thoughts.

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  • Character And Characterization In Ethan Frome By Edith Wharton

    3341 Words  | 7 Pages

    When Ethan Frome first sees her, he is easily quite taken with her grace and appearance and he often compares her features to the natural beauty of nature. Mattie is known for her “cherry-coloured scarf” (30) and the red ribbon that runs through her dark, curly hair which is described as “tendrils on the traveller 's joy” (82) and “soft yet springy, like certain mosses on warm slopes, and had the faint woody fragrance of fresh sawdust in the sun” (116). He is fascinated with her beautiful face and loves the way it changes like a “wheat-field under a summer breeze” (75). Her voice is smooth and peaceful, almost calming to listen to, and is a “rustling covert leading to enchanted glades” (76-77). Her laughter “sparkles through her lashes” (67) and when she sews, her hands go “up and down above the strip of stuff, just as he had seen a pair of birds make short perpendicular flights over a nest they were building” (77). Mattie’s appearance of natural beauty and softness represents her warm and affectionate

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  • The Complex and Effective Structure of Ethan Frome

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    Although when we are young, we commonly find ourselves gravitating to books with predictable endings that leave the protagonist and us with what we want, as we mature we develop a hunger for different, more thoughtful or realistic solutions. This is not to say, however, that we can be satisfied solely through the reading of any story that concludes with mere tragedy. The reason why the book Ethan Frome is so widely read is because there is a great deal of technique behind the element of mere tragedy. Edith Wharton is able to distinguish her novel through the use of irony. Irony has been the defining element of many great pieces of literature throughout time. The use of irony dates back all the way to ancient Greece when it was used by Sophocles in the play Oedipus Rex. Irony was also a key element in many of Shakespeare's works and appears in many famous short stories. In Ethan Frome, Ethan ends up falling in love with Mattie who at the time seems young and effervescent in comparison to his sickly, deteriorating wife. In attempting to free himself and Mattie from his commitment to Zeena, Ethan ends up causing Mattie to become paralyzed, taking with it her previous, lively characteristics. All the household responsibilities then fall into the hands of Zeena who is ultimately the most vivacious of the three.

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  • Ethan Frome

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    Ethan Frome written by Edith Wharton in 1905 is a novel about the dilemmas of a poor New England farmer named Ethan Frome, his wife Zeena, and Zeena's cousin, Mattie Silver. The first person narrator, an engineer, comes to the town of Starkfield and becomes curious about the crippled, taciturn Ethan Frome. The tragic consequences of Ethan's unhappy marriage and forbidden love are revealed in a flashback to twenty-four years before the narrators arrival in Starkfield. In 1992, a movie was made of Ethan Frome which kept this plot in tact but included a number of changes in how the story was narrated and in some of the details about the characters and the plot. Some of the changes were effective; others were not so effective. Some of these changes didn't even make that much of an effect on the way the movie was compared with the book.

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  • An Analysis Of Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome

    1128 Words  | 3 Pages

    Not holding much in common makes conversations hard for them, and Ethan admits to thinking of other things every time that his wife speaks as to not hear her drudgery. To have a seven-year marriage without communication is unhealthy at best and can lead to depression, as we start to see in the novel, Ethan Frome. Once you read into the life of Wharton you can see a similar occurrence. Being pressured into marriage at a young age Wharton chose a man who was her senior, who had no job other than sitting on a trust fund and had no hobbies that were similar to hers. She married him simply to make her life easier, with a nagging mother and friends on all sides, she wanted to live the frivolous life everyone wanted her to live. Writing herself in the place of Ethan he is described to have married Zeena, seven years his elder because he did not want to live alone in the house that his parents died in. Zeena was the only option at the time and before he knew it he was married to a woman who held no interests similar to his own. This is what Wharton and Frome have in common and I doubt that it is a coincidence. Purposefully writing Ethan as a mirror to her own situation would act as a consolation to herself. It makes everything Ethan feels about his marriage all the more real, because Wharton herself has felt that way before, and she is writing the character to her thoughts and

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