Explore the Ways in Which Edith Wharton Presents Themes of Imprisonment and Entrapment in Ethan Frome and Consider the Ways in Which the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Illuminates This.

In Edith Wharton’s novel Ethan Frome, setting is an important element. The setting greatly influences the characters, transportation, and activities.

1979. Choose a complex and important character in a novel or a play of recognized literary merit who might—on the basis of the character’s actions alone—be considered evil or immoral.  In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we might otherwise think.  Avoid plot summary.

The Novella of Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome, is a tragedy. Ethan Frome suffered tragedy because of his character flaws, errors in his judgment, and forces beyond his control. Ethan Frome married a woman, Zeena, he was lonely and not truly in love with her. When her cousin, Maddie comes to live with them Ethan becomes infatuated with her. When Maddie has to leave, Ethan and Maddie decide to kill themselves so they never would have to leave one another. In the novella of Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome, Ethan is a unique character who suffers a downfall due to character flaws, and errors in judgment, and most important forces beyond human control to in which he gains wisdom.

In the novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, the minor character Mattie Silver serves as a foil towards the main character Ethan Frome. Throughout the novel, Ethan is a man who faces many challenges in his path causing what little happiness he has to vanish therefore illuminating the work as a whole. One may realize the faults of Ethan’s ways through theme, symbolism and irony.

However, the restraints that moral and societal concerns imposed by society on the desires of an individual are arguably the novel's most noticeable theme since the plot of the prose is centered on Ethan’s desire of a lady who isn't his better half. The novel describes ravaging soul of Ethan as he is torn between the obligation to his wife and the desire of his heart. Ethan describes Zeena as the epitome of coldness and despondency. When he saw her before she embarked on her journey to Bettsbridge, he found "the pale light reflected from the banks of snow made her face look more than usually drawn and bloodless (Wharton 39). On the other hand, Wharton’s discerption of Mattie in the eyes of Ethan is related with natural life, warmth, and summer. At the start of the Novel, He perceives Mattie's face as "like a

Throughout the novel, Ethan Frome’s sense of responsibility lives strong enough in him to forget about his own happiness with Mattie, to stay with his wife Zeena, and to take care of the town when all of the others have passed away. In Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, Ethan’s sense of responsibility to his wife and land prevents him from achieving true happiness and causes his ultimate emotional death.

Ethan Frome is portrayed as a tragic hero to a contemporary audience. By definition, a tragic hero is one who makes a decision that later affects he or she greatly in a critical way. In the novel, Ethan decides to marry just for the very reason to get rid of being alone. In comparison, the winters of Starkfield already make him feel lonesome and unworthy. As mentioned in the beginning of the novel, "Guess he 's been in Starkfield too many winters." (Frome 23). In the end however, Ethan 's decision was inevitable. He is just like any other individual who could not bare the fact of being alone. In agreement to the loneliness, Ethan faced throughout the novel, The Sacramento State University states, “This person is fated by the Gods or by some supernatural force to doom and

Denied a normal life, Ethan is shown he is noble by putting his life on hold to go help his family. “Somebody had to stay and care for the folks. There warn’t ever anybody but Ethan. Fust his father-then his mother-then his wife” (Wharton,11). Ethan had a dream to settle in a

In the novel, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome conflicts with facing reality as opposed to obtaining a false dream. Ethan has to face the reality that he is not allowed to leave with his new founded love, Maddie. He had tried to obtain the false dream of running away with her, but this love is forbidden and he was left to stay at home with his wife, Zeena.

Literature is compiled of a multitude of ways the phrases can be interpreted by the one invested into the story through different views and experiences. In Edith Wharton’s novella Ethan Frome, symbols are evident throughout, but every one of them can have numerous meanings depending on the angle a reader makes. The symbol of the pickle dish can be derived to symbolize the unhappiness and delusion in someone’s life and rebellion from the familiar every day actions.

As Aristotle once said, “A tragic hero is not an ordinary man, but a man with outstanding quality and greatness about him. His own destruction is for a greater cause or principle.” The character Ethan Frome in the novella, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton can be classified as a tragic hero. After being physically and emotionally isolated in a loveless marriage for seven years, the protagonist, Ethan Frome, began his descent as a result of an error in judgement. As an effect of this isolation, Ethan follows his instincts instead of his intellect, leading to a punishment much more harsh than his initial crime. By making poor choices, Ethan poses a threat to society and causes suffering to family members, friends and associates. The common characteristics of a tragic hero include the character beginning with noble stature, enduring his “hamartia” (tragic flaw), and suffering a punishment that is worse than the crime. The character of Ethan Frome fits into the archetype of a tragic hero. Through using Ethan as a tragic hero, the author, Edith Wharton, is trying to convey the

In Edith Wharton’s novel, Ethan Frome, one major critical theory revolves around the psychological criticism. The novel revolves around this critical theory because Wharton wanted the reader to observe how the setting becomes dependent on the emotional state of the character and vice versa. Throughout the novel, Wharton makes changes to the environment to represent Ethan’s fondness for certain characters. On the contrary, Wharton displays how the setting directly influences Ethan’s mental state. As the reader perceives this influence that each character has on Ethan Frome, they can develop an understanding of the relationships established in the novel. This critical theory will be expressed throughout the literary analysis paper, specifically in the Novel Summary section and Literary Criticism sections. The following text will analyze the drastic changes in the environment and compare it to Ethan’s mental state.

Throughout the story Ethan lets Zeena be in charge and never fights his own case against her. This reveals a flaw in Ethan’s character. When Zeena tells Ethan that she is kicking Mattie out and hiring a servant to help with her with her sickness Ethan tries to find many solutions but does not directly tell Zeena she cannot kick Mattie out. Ethan Frome recalls when he left Zeena alone that night and how helpless he felt going against her “he shut the door and turned back into the room. His wife’s attitude was unchanged, her face inexorable and he was seized with the despairing sense of his helplessness” (73). Also their actions prove that Zeena manipulates Ethan including using his money. When Zeena was leaving to visit a doctor Ethan didn’t take her because he was to collect money and regrets his lie “’I’d take you over myself, only I’ve got to collect the cash for the lumber.’ As soon as the words were spoken he regretted them, not only because they were untrue—there being no prospect of his receiving cash payment from Hale—but also because he knew from experience the imprudence of letting Zeena think he was in funds on the eve of one of her therapeutic excursions” (41). He lets Zeena take advantage of him and use his money on her false illnesses which eventually causes him to resent his and Zeena’s marriage and fall in infatuation with

Rene Denfeld’s novel The Enchanted applies a creative method of storytelling to an intriguing subject. While discussing the corrupt inner workings of a prison, the unfortunate and sickening lives of all the characters, and what justice happens to be, Denfeld alludes to several other works to help her express the points being made. Due to the narrative aspects of this novel the reader is subjected to a wide range of emotions including sympathy, sorrow, and scorn and kept in the dark while somehow knowing everything there is to know.

We named our child Ethan Leonard Rochester, whose bearing became the symbol that defined me and Edward’s overcoming our struggles. Quite literally, our son’s title means “Strong lion strength fortress” and this seemed oh so quite appropriate to me –I wanted my son to be firm against the evils of life to come. Reader, two years have passed since I married Edward, and Ethan is a blooming one year old, with honeysuckle blonde hair, --a recessive trait Edward tells me –a bright cheerful smile and large, brilliant and black eyes that I cannot help repeating, for they are dark as Satan’s eyes, but full of a rich chocolaty feeling.