Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome is a novel based on a man named Ethan Frome who lives a life of unhappiness because of his marriage with his wife. This novel takes place in Starkfield, Massachusetts during the winter. Ethan Frome is a man of many virtuous qualities and numerous defects. Ethan pursues a life of euphoria and a future of an well-educated man. His intentions for himself are good, but because of Ethan not living to his potential or to what he desires, his life is one big catastrophe. He marries the woman who nurses his mother before her death, but she keeps him from realizing his potential. Because of him not pursuing certain things, Ethan lives a life that is miserable and not what he expects. Ethan Frome shows through the characterization of Ethan Frome that one"s character defects can cause numerous consequences.

             As his mother is close to death, his cousin Zeena takes care of his mother. To Ethan at first, Zeena"s presence makes things seem more optimistic and easier for him to deal with. "After the mortal silence of his long imprisonment Zeena"s volubility was music in his ears. He felt that he might have 'gone like his mother" if the sound of a new voice had not come to steady him" (69, 70). Not realizing that Zeena has control over him, after his mother"s death he marries Zeena. He marries her not for true happiness but only because he does not like the thought of himself being left alone. "After the funeral, when he saw her preparing to go away, he was seized with an unreasoning dread of being left alone on the farm; and before he knew what he was doing he had asked her to stay there with him" (70). Zeena controls Ethan from the get go. She tells him where she wants to live, but it seems that no town is good enough for her. "She chose to look down on Starkfield, but she could not have lived in a place which looked down on her" (71).