Who Is Ethan Frome A Victim Of Fate

The novel Ethan Frome is a short story packed with detail. It takes place in Starkfield and is about a farmer named Ethan Frome. Ethan made poor decisions because he was trapped living with two women; his wife, Zeena, and his wife’s cousin, Mattie. Ethan fell in love with Mattie. When Ethan and Mattie fell in love, they made a horribly rash choice making this novel a tragedy. A tragedy in literature is wherewhen a main character or hero suffers a downfall because of a character flaw, error in judgement, or forces beyond human control. The short novel, Ethan Frome, written by Edith Wharton, is a tragedy because of Ethan Frome’s character flaws, errors in judgement and the forces beyond his control.

She provides the conflict by causing Ethan’s inner turmoil. She helps move the story along because of the thought she evokes in Ethan such as the thought of leaving his wife. However Ethan’s morals would never let him actually leave his wife supporting the theme of Moral Isolation

The character Ethan Frome in the novella, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton can be classified as an archetypal tragic hero. Ethan is archetypal, as the issues which confront him are universal. He draws on thoughts, feelings and concerns that have been part of humanity since the start of mankind. Ethan is a tragic hero as he shares in common, some of the characteristics required to be so. Two of these characteristics include that he has a noble stature and that he succumbs to hamartia. While Ethan Frome may not conform to a strict definition of tragic hero to be found in classical literature, he is an archetypal tragic hero nonetheless. What is particularly tragic about Ethan Frome, however, is that in order to be good, he has to be miserable.

In //Ethan Frome// Edith Wharton illustrates how Ethan views Zeena versus Mattie through the parallel scenes of when Ethan is greeted by Zeena/Mattie at the door of his farmhouse first coming home from the dance and second coming home from. Although both scenes play out almost identically, Wharton uses the slight differences to emphasize how Ethan sees Mattie as beautiful, submissive, and attractive compared to Zeena who he only sees as an obstacle. As Ethan comes up to the door the first time when Zeena waits for him, he is so infatuated by Mattie that Zeena has become but a hurdle for him to overcome. He even dreams about if a dead vine dangling was a"crape streamer tied to the door for a

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.

Forces beyond human control are the most important aspect to the downfall of Ethan Frome. Fate is the major force beyond his control. The night before Maddie had to leave Ethan and her were discussing going down the hill eventually. Then the next night it was fate that, in order to get to the train station, they had to drive past the hill. Ethan comments, "We were to have gone down last night" (79), so they decided to go down then. If fate had not taken them past the hill they would not have gone down. It was also fate that there was a sled by the tree; if there had been no sled they could not have gone down. Maddie says, "'but there isn't a sled round anywheres' 'yes, there is! Right over there under the spruces'" (79). If there was not a sled then they would not have been able to go down the hill. However fate allowed the sled to be there.

in to take care of his mother. He never did return to the college to

Secondly, Ethan Frome has had many failures within his life such as his marriage to Zeena. One may ask how is Zeena and Ethan’s marriage a failure? Ethan only marries Zeena after she could not nurse his mother back to health and she ends up passing away. When Ethan mother dies, Ethan is in a sullen mood or funk and in turn

In the story Ethan is married to Zeena while he is in love with her cousin, Mattie Silver, that lives with them at the moment. In the book it states, “All his life was lived in the sight and sound of Mattie Silver, and he could no longer conceive of its being otherwise”(Wharton 49). To what was stated before, Ethan was in love with Mattie. He felt that his marriage with Zeena was dead and there was no fixing it. The second cited text states, “He was a poor man, the husband of a sickly woman, whom his desertion would leave alone and destitute; and even if he had had the heart to desert her he could have done so only by deceiving two kindly people who had pitied him” (97). Ethan was going to leave Zeena and move out West with Mattie, but he would have to hurt two friends to do that. This whole book really falls under the theme of courage. Ethan took bold measures to do what was right verses following his heart and hurting people that felt for him. Courage is to be defined as, “Strength in the face of pain or grief”(google). Ethan stayed courageous throughout the whole book by not following his heart and

Ethan Frome also has a sense of duty to stay with his current wife Zeena. Ethan wishes to leave Zeena immediately and to run away with his true love Mattie, but he knows that Zeena could not possibly support herself on her own. Edith Wharton shows this by writing, “…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 96). This distinctly explains that Ethan’s sense of duty conquers once again and controls him to stay with his bitter wife Zeena. Most have a universal opinion that Ethan has to stay with his wife Zeena. Another author agrees with the fact that Ethan’s plans to run away with Mattie have become thwarted by saying, “But immediately his plans are set afoot, things begin to close in on him again: farm and mill are mortgaged, he has no credit, and time is against him” (Howe 132). The author states that Ethan’s small estate will not support Zeena, and so Ethan’s sense of duty prevails over him again.

For at least the young Ethan Frome, his desire to make others happy is a defining feature of his personality. The seemingly contented man introduced to readers contrasts with the unfortunate description of his education: “his father’s death, and the misfortunes following it, had put a premature end to Ethan’s studies…” (14). Even in his youth, Ethan prioritizes the needs and wants of others over his own. While dropping out of school was inevitable once the funds stopped flowing, his decision not to sell the family farm and remain in Starkfield is the most socially acceptable thing to do. With the whole town of Starkfield watching, Ethan accepted his duties as a son and eventual husband. These obligations corned Ethan, so much so that he was not able to elope with Mattie. Although Ethan despises his wife, his concern for her is demonstrated when he thinks: “and what of Zeena’s fate?...how could she keep the farm going?” Even when he’s about to leave her, Ethan is still worried about her prospects and position in society. In this respect, Zeena personifies all inhibitors of dreams: time, money, education and ability. Ethan’s failure to get away from Zeena is indicative of his resignation to fate.

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.

With reference to at least two characters in the novel Ethan Frome, show in detail how Wharton uses setting to reflect character.

Ethan meets Zeena when she serves as a nurse to his dying mother. Though he does not know her very well, Ethan decides to propose to her, out of the fear of loneliness and desperation, caused by the effects of an undesired life in Starkfield. At first, Zeena and Ethan seem happy, but eventually, Zeena develops into a harsh woman. Ethan does nothing but complain about her. She does not want to move to the city, since she has no hope of being the center-of-attention there. So, Ethan has no choice, but to stay in Starkfield and make a living off of the mostly fruitless farm. In addidtion, whenever Ethan is around Mattie, the setting (weather) is “clear as a crystal.”(Wharton 49). Whenever he is around Zeena, it is nasty and stormy.

One’s moral duty is often conflicted with an emotional drive or a strong passion. The drive it takes to deviate from knowing what is right and wrong can lead to unfavorable outcomes, such as suffering. Not only does this engagement establish a war within the mind, but it also hinders certain responsibilities. In Edith Wharton’s novel Ethan Frome, the protagonist, Ethan, encounters a dilemma: his strong feelings for his wife’s cousin, Mattie, compels him to reconsider his devotion to Zeena. Ethan allows himself to seize feelings for Mattie, through which he disregards his moral duties to his wife, typifying that addressing a private passion over responsibility can lead to suffering.