.. him the love and care that a wife should. Their marriage resembles a one way street, where only Ethan works to appease Zeena. Afterward, Ethan tries to build the courage to speak his mind to Zeena, as he becomes conscious of her malicious intent to send away his life’s last joy. Ethan explains to Zeena that he cannot afford another hired hand, but he pledges to do much of the work himself along with Mattie. Zeena wickedly laughs at Ethan’s face out loud and successfully deals him another blow below the belt.
She signals her triumph over Ethan. Astonished, Ethan sweeps to Mattie’s defense and vehemently cries, “You can’t put her out of the house like a thiefa poor girl without friends or money. She’s done her best for you and she’s your kin but everybody else’ll remember it. If you do a thing like that what do you supposed folk’ll say of you” (58). Early in the novel, Zeena has the knack of making Ethan feels guilty about almost everything he does and thinks, especially after Mattie arrives.
A certain look gives him an eerie feeling that Zeena can read his thoughts and he cannot bear to have his relationship with Mattie exposed. Now, Ethan sees through Zeena’s cold, conniving scheme and realizes that he might lose the one joy in his life for ever. He forces himself to speak up, even if it gives away his secret. Still yet, Ethan fears to fully admit to his misery in front of Zeena.
Even more important, he fails to tell Zeena his true feelings, not only about his life and marriage, but about Mattie. In fact, he pretends to worry about Zeena’s reputation in order to conceal his defense of Mattie. In short, Ethan does not fully let go of his fear and submissiveness, but his very attempt signals development. Suddenly and unpredictably, Ethan comes to his senses and recognizes how Zeena oppresses him. Ethan knows that when Zeena makes her up her mindit’s final.
Hence, he dwells on how arid life might be if he loses Mattie. Wharton reveals the depth of Ethan’s reaction with great passion and intensity: Ethan looked at her loathing. She was no longer the listless creature who had lived at his side in a state of sullen self-absorption, but a mysterious alien presence, and evil energy secreted from the long years of silent brooding. It was the sense of his helplessness that sharpened his antipathy.
There had never been anything that one could appeal to . . . Now she had mastered him and he abhorred her . . .
For a moment such a flame of hate rose in him that it ran down his arm and clenched his fist against her. He took a wild step forward and then stopped. (59) Violence wells inside of the once emotionally stiff Ethan. He finally assures himself of Zeena’s true character: an evil, brooding woman who robs him of a happy life.
He blames Zeena for ruining his life and holding him captive. He never tasted happiness until he meets Mattie. Now, Zeena intends to deprive him of the one thing that makes up for every hardship he has suffered in the past seven wretched years. While Mattie is young, happy, healthy, and beautiful like the summer, Zeena is seven years older than Ethan, bitter, ugly and sickly cold like the winter. Zeena’s strong dominating personality emasculates Ethan, while Mattie’s feminine, effervescent youth makes Ethan feel like a “real man.” In brief, Ethan’s gradual realizations of his unhappy marriage to Zeena and happiness in the company of Mattie, precipitate his desire to build confidence. Contrary to his characteristic passiveness, Ethan now defies Zeena and expresses his affection for Mattie.
After Ethan and Zeena finish fighting, Ethan comes downstairs where Mattie serves him his dinner, but he cannot eat. He rises from his chair and walks around the table to her side. Frightened, Mattie questions Ethan’s terrified facial expression. In answer, Ethan presses his lips against hers and weeps, “You can’t go, Matt! I won’t let you! She’s [Zeena’s] always had her way, but I mean to have mine now” (61).
Before, Ethan could only flash rapport and speak of his feelings bashfully. Now, Ethan emboldens and makes his first amorous advance to Mattie. Only now does the mutual passion between Ethan and Mattie ceased to be incommunicative. Ethan’s desperate cry and confession demonstrate all that Zeena had suppressed. Now, he is free from his cage, and he has the courage and confidence to speak his thoughts. For Ethan, Mattie radiates energy into his life.
He sees possibilities in her beyond his trite life in Starkfieldsomething truly worth standing up for. Her energy and warmth excite him and allow him to escape from his lonely, monotonous life. Ethan further displays his newfound valiancy when he stands up to Zeena and gives priority to his feelings over hers. Each minute pushes Mattie and Ethan closer to the moment neither can face. Ethan hoists Mattie’s trunk onto the sleigh.
He tries to put off the time when he must say good-bye by deciding that henot Jotham Owellwill drive Mattie to the train station. Zeena, alarmed, demands Ethan to stay and let Jotham drive Mattie. Ethan, determined and no longer intimidated by Zeena, repeats, “I’m going to drive her myself”(73). Zeena insists that Ethan should stay and fix the stove for the new servant.
However, Ethan raises his voice and indignantly flings back, “If it was good enough for Mattie I guess it’s good enough for a hired girl” (73). Ethan no longer cares about what Zeena thinks or feels; nor does not bother him that Zeena is aware of his feelings for Mattie. He openly and clearly importunes that he will drive Mattie. Now, Ethan’s words are final rather than Zeena’s.
Ethan, determined to do what he wants, no longer allows Zeena and her illnesses to control him. He sees through her mask now and seeks to control his own destiny. Later that night, Ethan finally moves his relationship with Mattie to a new stage and speaks to her candidly about his feelings. On the way to the train station, they stop by Shadow Pond, the place where they once picnicked together. Seeing the place again warms Ethan’s heart and he whispers into Mattie’s ear: “I want to put my hand out and touch you. I want to do for you and care for you.
I want to be there when you’re sick and when you’re lonesome” (78). Although he must face the reality that his fantasy cannot come true, Ethan spills his heart out to Mattie, like a free man wooing a girl he wishes to marry. Despite his loving feelings at the start of the novel, Ethan never told Mattie how much he loves her because he never learned how to express love. Now, he can share the depths of his feelings and declare his love openly. For once, Ethan sings his passion without the restraint of guilt or fear. In short, trapped in a loveless marriage to an uncongenial spouse, Ethan achieves his sweetheart by sloughing off his shyness and building the strength to communicate his feelings.
On the whole, does Ethan Frome ever set himself free from the weakness that traps him in a hopelessly burdened and branded life? Contrary to popular belief, solitude and the human need for passion cause Ethan Frome, the title character of Edith Wharton’s tragic novel, Ethan Frome, to cast off his shy, feeble nature and embolden into an emotional man. At first, Ethan exhibits self-doubt and fears emotional expression. Upon Mattie’s arrival, Ethan realizes the burdens of his depleted life. In the end, his thirst for Mattie’s love encourages him to blossom into a free, strong, passionate man.
For Ethan Frome, life cannot be a loveless and tragic trap. At least he hopes so as struggles and succeeds to free himself from his passivity throughout the novel.
