Ethan deludes himself because, as a prisoner of circumstance, his only escape is illusion. Often when they are together, he fantasizes that Zeena is dead and that he and Mattie live together in blissful devotion. The night that they are alone, he pretends that they are married. He is happy only when imagining his life with Mattie. Zeena is the cold and ugly reality from which Ethan tries to escape in his dreams of a life with Mattie. Ethan kept silent in his dealings with his wife, “to check a tendency to impatient retort he had first formed the habit of not answering her, and finally thinking of other things while she talked” (Wharton 72).

The total lack of communication between the “silent” couple is a significant factor in Ethan’s miserable marriage.

Just as Ethan lives in silence, so too does his wife. “That the pickle dish has never been used makes it a strong symbol of Zeena herself, who prefers not to take part in life” (Lawson 68-69).Įthan’s response to Zeena’s rage was silence. Zeena’s fury at the breaking of an impractical pickle dish exemplifies the rage she must feel about her useless life. The warmth of their evening together is brought to an abrupt end by the accidental breaking of Zeena’s prized dish. While Zeena is visiting an out of town doctor, Ethan and Mattie, alone in the house, intensely feel her eerie presence. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Her energy and warmth excite him and allow him to escape from his lonely, monotonous life. In her introduction the distinguished critic Elaine Showalter discusses the background to the novel's composition and the reasons for its enduring success.ĪBOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. In its unyielding and shocking pessimism, its bleak demonstration of tragic waste, it is a masterpiece of psychological and emotional realism.

In the playing out of this short novel's powerful and engrossing drama, Edith Wharton constructed her least characteristic and most celebrated book. Set against the bleak winter landscape of New England, Ethan Frome tells the story of a poor farmer, lonely and downtrodden, his wife Zeena, and her cousin, the enchanting Mattie Silver.

it was the careless powerful look that he had, in spite of a lameness checking each step like the jerk of a chain.' `It was not so much his great height that marked him.

Oxford Research Encyclopedias: Global Public Health.

The European Society of Cardiology Series.

Oxford Commentaries on International Law.

Wharton edith ethan frome