Ethan Frome

A detailed Summary of Ethan Frome


All of us have things in our lives we dislike performing, but we must do them on a daily basis because they are part of our existence. Marriage or a relationship with another person should not be a task. It should be a full measurement of enjoyment and pleasure. In Edith Wharton's novel, Ethan Frome, the main character, Ethan Frome, is in a marriage that renders little pleasure or enjoyment. He detests his life and his wife, but falls prey to the belief he is in love with someone he cannot attain. Ethan perceived his life to be unsatiated and because of this his life was out of control and near tragic.

You could call Ethan Frome your average man for his time. He had nothing to smile about. He was fairly poor and was married to a woman he despised. Ethan and his wife, Zeena, were married not for love, but almost as a payoff for Zeena's services to Ethan's ill and dying mother. He hated his bond with Zeena ever since they said "I do." The two had only been married for seven years and positive comments about the couple from the townspeople made him sick. On one occasion Andrew Hale reminded Ethan how it was not too long ago since they fixed


At one point it seems as if Ethan makes an attempt to save his horrid life and run off with Mattie. He would leave behind his wife whom he loathed and and his hidden love for Mattie. But, this wonderful thought pulls him back. "With the sudden perception of the point to which his madness had carried him, the madness fell and he saw his life before him as it was. He was a poor man, the husband of a sickly woman, when 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 tow kindly people who had pitied him." (p. 103) After all of the lying, cheating, and hating, he still cannot leave and enjoy a life full of happiness and freedom. He feels like he owes his wife something, or maybe he loves his misery.

up a place for he and Zeena to live. On Ethan's way home from Hale's home, "He reflected that his seven years with Zeena seemed to Starkfield "not so long "" (p.56) Ethan was always complaining about his relationship with his wife. Probably even after their wedding day. He was the root of his own misery, not Zeena. After all, he had married her.

A miserable wife,

Some common words found in the essay are:
Ethan Ethan, Ethan Frome, Mattie Ethan's, Zeena Starkfield, Andrew Hale, , Mattie Zeena's, ethan frome, Edith Wharton's, zeena married, life poor, ethan happy,

Approximate Word count = 782
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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