Morality in Ethan Frome Essay examples

Ethan’s ignorance and hopefulness. He doesn’t fully comprehend his actions which also emphasizes his immaturity.

Edith Wharton, author of the novel Ethan Frome, speaks through her narrator to tell the ironically realistic tale of a poor, wishful New England farmer, who quickly realizes that his desire for happiness is futile. Ethan Frome’s acquaintances in town describe him as a man who has lived in the small town of Starkfield, Massachusetts for “too many winters,” yet Ethan is only fifty-two years old (Wharton 10). As the narrator relates the “tale of unremitting isolation, loneliness, intellectual starvation, and mental despair,” it is obvious that Ethan’s suffering is something “neither poverty nor physical suffering could have put there” (Faust 817; Wharton 13). The misery from which Ethan suffers is the heartbreak over the unaccomplished dreams of his past. In Edith Wharton’s novel Ethan Frome, the author examines the effects of reality on the fulfillment of the dreams of the characters and the narrator through social conventions, isolation, and fatalism.

In summation, the novel Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, can be classified as a tragedy. A man named Ethan Frome suffers many downfalls and short comings because of errors in judgement and character flaws. Ethan could not even kill himself and his true love without screwing it up. Because of these suffered tragedies, Ethan becomes a different man, paralyzed physically and emotionally and racked with guilt.

In the book Ethan Frome, the characters are caught between what is right and wrong. Mattie has a torn desire to be with her sister’s husband and Ethan does not stop her because he feels the same way. The theme for the book is duty and desire. Ethan has a desire towards Mattie because she does not complain and is thought of as

In Ethan Frome readers watch a man struggle with his conscience. It seems as if throughout the short book he has a little devil on his left shoulder and an angel on his right, whispering to him. He deals with everyday things, one of the most prevent being regret. Ethan's biggest regret thus far comes from his left shoulder devil. The voice tells him to make his move on Mattie and tells Ethan he is wrong for not kissing her when walking her home or showing affection to her at their dinner while Zeena was away.

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.

Isolation can be the determining factor in changing one’s mindset. In Ethan Frome, Ethan faces many disappointments throughout the novel. In the novel, Ethan is an orphan since both parents have passed. His wife Zeena who is also his cousin has become the dominant one in the relationship taking over full control. While living in Starkfield, Zeena has suddenly become “sick” and is forced to bring in her cousin Mattie for help around the house. Zeena is depicted as a bitter prematurely old woman who is always “sick” while Mattie is the picture of health as well as the sweetest woman alive. When Mattie comes into the picture, she becomes the speck of happiness in which Ethan longs for but Zeena keeps taking away. This brings up a theme of failure throughout the novel.

Edith Wharton’s brief, yet tragic novella, Ethan Frome, presents a crippled and lonely man – Ethan Frome – who is trapped in a loveless marriage with a hypochondriacal wife, Zenobia “Zeena” Frome. Set during a harsh, “sluggish” winter in Starkfield, Massachusetts, Ethan and his sickly wife live in a dilapidated and “unusually forlorn and stunted” New-England farmhouse (Wharton 18). Due to Zeena’s numerous complications, they employ her cousin to help around the house, a vivacious young girl – Mattie Silver. With Mattie’s presence, Starkfield seems to emerge from its desolateness, and Ethan’s vacant world seems to be awoken from his discontented life and empty marriage. And so begins Ethan’s love adventure – a desperate desire to have

An ineffective hero, known as a tragic hero, possesses many characteristics. Ineffective heroes are doomed from the beginning, but most importantly, are wounded physically or emotionally, in most situations, as a result of their own flaws. Ethan Frome of Edith Wharton's novel, Ethan Frome, possesses characteristics of an ineffective hero. He suffers from the beginning of the novel, stuck living with his sick parents, and as a result of his flaws, he marries Zeena and falls for Mattie, resulting in both his physical and emotional fracture. However, Ethan cannot succeed and ultimately suffers, as a result of his neediness.

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

Many people oppose society due to the surroundings that they face and the obstacles that they encounter. Set in the bleak winter landscape of New England, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is the story of a poor, lonely man, his wife Zeena, and her cousin Mattie Silver. Ethan the protagonist in this novel, faces many challenges and fights to be with the one he really loves. Frome was trapped from the beginning ever since Mattie Silver came to live with him and his wife. He soon came to fall in love with her, and out of love with his own wife. He was basically trapped in the instances of his life, society’s affect on the relationship, love, poverty, illness, disability, and life.

The novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton tells the story of Ethan Frome and the tragedy he faces in his life. The story mainly focuses on the relationships between and among Ethan, his wife, and his wife’s cousin, with whom he is in love. Wharton uses different literary devices to develop the plot, including irony as one of the most effective. The use of irony in the novel, especially in the climatic sledding scene, greatly adds to the development of the tragedy.

Ethan Frome, who this fictional biography is about, is dominated by his id, or inner child and consequently makes very impulsive, childish decisions. His first major mistake that the reader learns about was his hasty decision to marry Zeena. Wharton explains,

Ethan, while possessing a shy and reserved demeanor, is likely more intelligent than most would assume of a poor farmer from the countryside. The narrator offers Ethan a scientific journal, and he accepts with a polite “Thank you-I’ll take it”(6). This adds another dimension to Frome’s character, adding to his quiet, pensive, and conspicuously intelligent personality. His reserved intelligence also manifests itself in his manipulation of Mattie, casually implying that she would “‘have found me right off if you hadn't gone back to have that last reel with Denis,’ he brought out awkwardly”(16). Ethan resorts to this kind of manipulation to find out how Mattie really feels about him. His plan is to

After her husband and cousin’s accident, despite her previous ailments, “… she seemed to be raised right up just when the call came to her (Wharton 76)”. Ethan, blind to his wife’s fabrications regarding her health, never gave her the attention she desired to have through her complications. This forced her to gradually worsen her condition in a desperate attempt to gain attention from her husband. Ethan, instead of coddling his sick wife, drew further away from her. However, this plan did not have the desired outcome because Ethan felt he had spent “…all of his years at the side of a bitter querulous woman (Wharton 56),” and notwithstanding, felt no sympathy towards her. The sterile nature of being her caretaker without receiving any spousal affection resulted in a loveless marriage, due largely impart to her actions. Zenobia became his chore, just another responsibility of the farm, effectively making him “…a prisoner for life (Wharton 57)”, or at least for the rest of hers. Further more, Ethan’s passion for his wife’s cousin Mattie ruined his own marriage and also any hope Mattie had for finding a happy marriage of her own. Pretty hair, eyes, and a smile, Ethan loved