Theme Of Confinement In Ethan Frome
In both novels, the Crucible and Ethan Frome, the main characters are stuck in pointless marriages, however revenge and love led the two plays into slightly different paths. In the crucible John Proctor has a seemingly miserable marriage with Elizabeth Proctor. She was an unhappy, depressing wife, and the cold house she kept led to John having an affair with the housekeeper Abigail Williams. Similarly in Ethan Frome, Ethan is married to a mean, sickly, and depressing wife, and found a way to escape from his misery through the housekeeper Mattie. We can see that in both plays, the two main characters are not happy with their marriages and lives, therefore they try to get away from them by having an affair with other women who seem to be their
“Is fate getting what you deserve, or deserving what you get?” (Jodi Picoult). Ethan Frome, written by Edith Wharton in 1911, embodies this quote. In Ethan Frome, all three main characters, Ethan, Mattie and Zeena have made decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. Ethan and Mattie had an inappropriate relationship behind Ethans significant other, Zeena 's, back which caused each of them to be emotionally distraught.
Edith Wharton is an American author of the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. In her novella Ethan Frome, Wharton uses symbolism to develop the theme of her story. Ethan Frome takes place in Starkfield, Massachusetts in which there's little tolerance towards sinful deeds. Around the Frome house many objects take a symbolic meaning to the importance of the story. Therefore Wharton uses much symbolism and imagery in the story to explain to the readers what is going on emotionally inside the characters and what is going to happen.
The epilogue held many interesting sections but the statement that Mrs. Hales made about how miserable Ethan Frome’s life has become with two women that have imprisoned him with their issues. The quote is an inside about life for Frome after the incident, Mattie who use to be his joy has become an exact copy of his wife and the statement illustrates that his imprisonment of the two women has become in a way like death to him. The importance of the statement of Mrs. Hales is that it allows the reader to understand the events that have lead on after the incident and that things are not as they use to be, instead of Frome and Mattie having a loving life it has become full of misery. Mrs. Hale mentions how if Mattie had died Frome’s life would've
This not only causes a fake relationship, but makes their view one-sided with each other. With this, Edith Wharton proves that people are afraid of how others perceive them, which causes them to hide who they are like Ainsley and Alida. Another common theme in Edith Wharton's writing is forbidden desires. One major example is when Ethan loves Mattie while married to Zeena, this can be seen in this quotation “It pleased Ethan to have surprised a pair of lovers on the spot where he and Mattie had stood with such a thirst for each other in their hearts, but he felt a pang at the thought that these two need not hide their happiness.” Ethan is in love with Mattie and explains how she makes him happy, But instead, he has to keep his love a secret, comparing himself to the other people in town who can show openly.
In Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton depicts Ethan as a tragic hero who gets downtrodden by his circumstances and mainly, his personality. He has the tragic flaw of not being willing to put anyone in pain even if he benefits from it. Through this, he gets blocked from pursuing an education when he must care for his ill parents. Consequently, he also doesn’t get to socialize with other people of his age, making him feel awfully lonely. To further his tragic predicament, he marries Zeena, his cousin who arrives to take care of his mother and unfortunately, she prevents him from pursuing his love for nature and engineering by wanting to stay in Starkfield forever for her own ego.
Wharton uses this immolation to display that one should do whatever it takes to be jubilant and not live a life of isolation. Ethan’s quest for happiness started when he met Mattie, but he soon ran into a roadblock
Edith highlights the consequences of not pushing forward and not putting in effort into life by creating her character Ethan and making him fail in his decisions to make a point showing how to get nowhere like Ethan, and how to become satisfied like herself. Edith is trying to say in this novel that a perfect opportunity is not just going to slide by, it has got to be made, however Ethan does not make his own opportunity and decides to marry Zeena, waiting for the opportunity to come to him like “when they married it was agreed that … they would sell the farm and saw-mill and try their luck in a large town” (Wharton 27). This is important because it shows his acceptance to waiting for time to pass instead of going for what he wants as soon as he can unlike Wharton. Wharton did not stop writing and did not stop striving to become a great author and she juxtaposes her experience with Ethan’s decision to wait and to try to make everything work out before he strives to become a great engineer.
This way of thinking is the wrong way to analyze the novel. The novel Ethan Frome needs to be analyzed through the eyes of the unnamed narrator that starts the novel. In the beginning of the novel, the reader learns about who the narrator is but we learn of the events as he lives temporarily in Starkfield. He becomes interested in Ethan and eventually pays Ethan to drive him to work. On a severe winter night, the narrator is forced to stay the Frome’s house and says “It was that night that I found the clue to Ethan Frome, and began to put together this vision of his story………” (Wharton 12).
The nature of the Frome’s marriage was made transparent when Ethan fell in love with another woman. When the novel begins, Frome demonstrates his cowardice when confesses that he
This unexpected, bizarre lead-up really conflicted me. I started making predictions about the aftermath which made me question whether I'd like the book. I had big hopes for Ethan and Mattie to work out; the book reveals they don't. Due to Ethan being morally bound to his wife and restricted from his desires by caring about rules set by society's opinions, he accepts and encourages the ill fate suggested by Mattie in order to avoid the problems being with Mattie would impose. They nearly hit the elm tree on their way down from the hill.
In Edith Wharton’s most remarkable novel, Ethan Frome, the main character, Ethan Frome, is in love with a prohibited woman… his wife's cousin. His wife, Zeena, is a sick woman who has a villainous essence to her and an irrevocable hold on Ethan. Mattie Silver is Zeena’s cousin and the woman Ethan is infatuated with. Through Ethan’s eyes, Mattie is described as youthful, attractive, and graceful basically everything Zeena isn’t.
Melissa Palacios English 3A Feb. 21 2017 The novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is about a tragic hero, Ethan who is not in love with his wife, but another person named Mattie. An important symbol in this novel is a pickle dish. This dish symbolizes Ethan’s relationship with his wife. The pickle dish first appears in chapter 4 of the novel.
In Edith Wharton’s novel, Ethan Frome, setting plays an important role. The novel takes place in the fictional town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, in the winter and most likely during the early 1900s, a time better known as the Progressive Era. The Progressive Era brought about change and innovation in many areas, such as education and transportation. This change doesn’t really occur in Starkfield, however. Due to poor transportation, the residents of Starkfield become stuck during the harsh winter, and the majority of the rest of the year in this isolated town.
The tragic novella of Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton focuses on adultery in rural New England. Stressing the importance of relationships, the narrator tells the story of Ethan Frome, a man searching for love. Despite being married to his cousin Zeena, he only views this civil union as a moral obligation. Then, he ventures into an adulterous relationship with Mattie Silver, and begins to understand what love is really about. The author often focuses on a red pickle dish, a treasured wedding gift, which unexpectedly shatters.
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