Stories contain many things; plots, scenery, antagonists, protagonists, ect. However, what makes a story is the characters, and what make the characters are their actions. In both Ethan Frome and Romeo and Juliet, very strong characters are present throughout the novel; and want one thing, to love. In both stories, the characters end up in tragedies of their own. Although they both wanted love, only did the characters in Romeo and Juliet act upon their desire for romance. They ultimately ended up dead, but spent their last days loving each other. The characters in Ethan Frome did not, resulting in an ultimately miserable state that would accompany them for the rest of their lives. Ethan was brief and childish with his actions. He held back …show more content…
Due to Romeo's strong, bold actions resulting from his undying love for Juliet created a passionate love story with intense connections between the two characters.
Despite the differences in the characters actions, both stories end up being tragedies. In literature, a tragedy occurs when multiple sets of misfortunate events eventually blows up into one horrible one.
Throughout Ethan Frome, we learn that Ethan is stuck in an unhappy relationship with his sickly wife, Zeena. She visits a doctor who announces her health is rapidly declining, although some may argue this is a lie to win over attention and sympathy from Ethan. Mattie and Ethan find themselves in a series of tension-filled moments, where it is clear Ethan has a desire for her, yet never does anything about it. Eventually, Mattie persuades Ethan to crash their sled into a tree, killing them both, allowing them to spend their final moments together. Much to the characters (and some reader's) dismay, this plan goes terribly wrong, resulting in Ethans broken back, and Mattie’s paralysis, “She sat huddled in an arm-chair near the stove, and when I came in she turned her head quickly toward me, without the least corresponding movement of her body (Wharton, 59.)” Each of these small misfortunes found throughout each character in the book each eventually lead up to the horrible ending, causing a
There are many tragedies to be found in literature, but only a few are like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It is a story of forbidden love in which a young couple are torn apart by their families’ feud in Renaissance Italy; the play’s tragic ending has both main characters die. Many aspects of this play have sparked a heated debate: is Romeo and Juliet a tragedy or is it simply tragic? Some critics claim that the play lacks elements that are necessary for a tragedy. Yet Aristotle explicitly states the essential components of a tragedy in his Poetics, and Romeo and Juliet meets those requirements. Romeo and Juliet can be considered an Aristotelian tragedy because of Romeo’s impetuousness, Juliet’s loyalty to Romeo, and the play’s peripeteia.
The book says, “His wife had never shown any jealousy of Mattie, but of late she had grumbled increasingly over the house-work and found oblique ways of attracting attention to the girl 's inefficiency(Wharton, chpt 1).” This means Zeena knew about the love affair. Because Ethan and Zeena did not honestly love each other, the affair did not bother Zeena. Eventually, though, Zeena wants to force Mattie to go back home. Ethan and Mattie are extremely devastated by this. Ethan is not in love with either girl, but cannot leave either one. What happened next was a sleigh riding accident. Ethan purposely drove a sled into a tree hoping to kill Mattie and himself. By doing this he could escape all his responsibilities. He would not be abandoning anyone technically. The immaturity in Ethan 's personality is shown through this event. The accident caused Ethan and Zeena to be obligated to care for Mattie for the rest of their lives. Because the accident was intentional Ethan should be held accountable for it. He was supposed to be a mature adult who made the right decisions. He failed at this. Ethan should have been put in jail for this mishap. Moreover, Mattie did die that day because her liveliness
Several Years after their marriage, cousin Mattie Silver is asked to relieve Zeena, who is constantly ill, of her house hold duties. Ethan finds himself falling in love with Mattie, drawn to her youthful energy, as, “ The pure air, and the long summer hours in the open, gave life and elasticity to Mattie.” Ethan is attracted to Mattie because she is the opposite of Zeena, 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 undermines Ethan, while Mattie’s feminine, lively youth makes Ethan fell like a “real man.” Ethan and Mattie finally express their feeling for each other while Zeena is visiting the doctor, and are forced to face the painful reality that their dreams of being together can not come true.
From the beginning of the story, society opposed Ethan Frome in any ways. To begin with, he was a prisoner with his wife, Zeena. Just because Zeena took care of his mother as she was dying, Ethan felt like she was the woman for him. However, when Zeena’s cousin Mattie came to live with them, he instantly fell in love with her, and felt nothing but audacity towards his wife. When Zeena goes away due to her illness, Ethan and Mattie sit at home planning their future ahead of them. He plans to elope and run away with Mattie, but he cannot lie to his neighbors, Mr and Mrs. Hale in order to achieve the money he needs. In the end, Ethan decides to abandon life itself along with his true love Mattie. Ethan was a prisoner to poverty. When he was young, he wanted to leave his family farm in order to move to a larger town to become an engineer. However, that plan backfired and he was trapped in Starkfield for life. Society does not want Ethan to be happy for he committed adultery and treated his wife like she didn’t matter. The gravestones in his yard are a reminder t...
...controllable circumstances brought him back home, it was he who chose to stay and risk losing all hope for the life he had dreamed for. Ethan's decision to be with Zeena did nothing but make his already dreadful life worse. When Mattie finally arrives, it's almost like a small burden has been lifted from Ethan's shoulders and he is almost allowed to live again. Lacking the ability to make decisions, Ethan worsens his life by letting things just slide by; and by not standing up to Zeena, the outcome leaves Ethan more desperate and lonelier than he was before.
Mrs. Hale tells the narrator that if Mattie had dies, Ethan may have lived, but as things are, his existence is a kind of a living death. In addition, in chapter two, he had asked his dead ancestors, at their graves, to help him keep Mattie with him. We find that his natural ally is death and life is his enemy. Mrs. Hale believes that Mattie? surviving the accident is literally a fate that is worse than death, since the dead hold their peace, whereas Mattie and Zeena are often mad at each ther, adding to Ethan?s suffering and unhappiness.
Only the ruthlessly devoted and heartless can make it to the top without feeling bad about who they knocked down to triumph. Ethan cant strive for a higher level of happiness because so many factors pull him down. To leave Starkfield with his love, Mattie, he would need more money than he can afford, and to get this he would be forced to lie and compromise his friendships. Ethan decides not to lie about a loan from the Hales, and in this decision he proves he cannot let go of his morals, because that would make him more miserable than he was to begin with. His conscience holds him back even more, as he is constantly reminded of what would become of Zeena if she was left alone to care for herself. His inescapable fate is foreshadowed by the gravestones that lie on his property, which echo the lifestyle he is obligated to live with Zeena in Starkf...
Ethan marries Zeena so he won't be alone after his mother dies. She seemed like a very cheerful, vivacious person while his mother was sick. After their marriage all this changed. She became a very nagging, sick wife. Because of Zeena's "complications" they had to hire someone to help around the house. Mattie, Zeena's cousin, needed a place to live and seemed fit for the job. She moved in and Ethan took and immediate liking to her. He found someone that cared for him, was always happy, and could share his youth. All of which, Zeena was incapable of doing. Ethan longed to be with Mattie, but he was loyal to Zeena. Being married to Zeena was Ethan's first failure.
When Zeena was there while Ethan's mother was ill to "nurse her", she gave him the "human speech" he longed for because his mother had "lost the power of speech." Ethan felt that he would be "dreadful" if "left alone" if Zeena were to leave him, so he ended up marrying her so she would stay. Ethan is unable to make decisions without thinking of her first or being reminder that she's the one he is loyal to because of this attachment. Even having blissful moments with Mattie, Ethan cannot rid his mind of Zeena. While having supper, the cat "jumped between them into Zeena's empty chair" and when reminded of Zeena, Ethan was "paralyzed." Ethan is happy when with Mattie, but his love for her will never rid him from Zeena. Ethan was even planning o asking the Hales for currency, but the thought of "leaving alone" his "sickly woman" led him to desert his plan in taking money to leave Zeena by herself. This shows that even in his desire to escape her, Ethan values their marriage and is still thinking of her greater good. Ethan's happiness resides in Mattie to the point where he was willing to kill himself to be with her forever, however, midway through the attempt, "his wife's face, with twisted monstrous ligaments, thrusts itself between him and his goal." Due to Zeena showing herself to Ethan near death, he "swerved in response" which may have caused the attempt to fail. This scene demonstrates how Ethan, even when
Ethan wanted to run away with Mattie but after learning that he did not have available funds to go west he couldn’t face the fact that Mattie would go away forever. As soon as Mattie suggest they commit suicide Ethan doesn’t refuse but agrees. “What’s the good of either of us going anywheres without the other one now” (Wharton 121). Mattie and Ethan plan to sled into the Elm tree to die together. Ethan’s job was to steer into the tree to make it appear as an accidental death, however, they didn’t hit the tree square on due to Ethan second-guessing himself. Because of this Ethan, and Mattie, both survive. Although Ethan second-guesses his choice he still knew he couldn’t be without Mattie, and continued towards the elm tree. This was probably the most profound act of weakness because instead of dying with his love he is forced to live with the guilt from his wife, and the now-injured
It wasn’t just the loss of their existence, it was the demise of a dream that had been put on hold forever. Long after their passing, Ethan had married his wife, Zeena, who then became ill. Why would a man who sacrificed everything for the people he cared about need to redeem himself? Ethan and Zeena weren’t the only ones living on the farm; the presence of Zeena’s cousin Mattie seemed to have an effect on Ethan’s behavior. Zeena was sick, and one can imagine Ethan’s affliction. The only youthful, healthy being in his life was Mattie, so he did what he felt could fill the absence of contentment. While Zeena had gone away, it was evident that Ethan was infatuated with Mattie and was capable of doing anything to keep that feeling alive. But he recognized that he couldn’t have that as long as they themselves were still viable. His role as the villain progressed to the point where he took action the moment Mattie was about to be ripped out of his life. Riding off to their demise, “...they took wing for this it seemed to him that they were flying indeed, flying far up into the cloudy night, with Starkfield immeasurably below them, falling away like a speck in space,” (Wharton,
Ethan dreams of a life of leaving his wife Zeena for the housewife Mattie. However, he is never able to fully commit to choosing one woman. In the last chapter, Ethan has decided that he is going to commit suicide with Mattie. When they are going down the hill, the narrator informs the reader that “But suddenly his wife’s face, with twisted monstrous lineaments, thrust itself between him and his goal”. This quote show how even though it seems that Ethan has made his decision to be with Mattie the thought of his wife appears in his
The crash left them both severely injured. The Fromes were poor before, but after, with Ethan only able to do a little work, they were poorer than ever. Never a social man, Ethan cut off the few relationships that he had maintained so his old friends would not see his poverty. The townspeople speak of Ethan, Mattie, and Zeena in the past tense, just like they refer to dead people. When Mrs. Ned Hale talks about Ethan and Mattie she said, "Yes, I knew them both.
Ethan quickly realized that this marriage with her wouldn’t give him the sense of happiness that he wanted, but instead made Ethan feel even more alone and even less happy than he was after his mom had died “.makes him feel further removed from happiness.” (Hoffman). This situation furthers once Mattie arrives at the Frome household and Zeena begins to isolate herself in her room, complaining that she is sick and needs bed rest. This sense of isolation is especially shown when the Narrator tries to talk to Ethan and gain more details about his life, but Ethan won’t talk “, he has trouble obtaining further details. Ethan’s isolation is evident in their conversation.”
Romeo and Juliet is a romantic love story about a young lad named Romeo who has fallen in love with Lady Juliet, but is unable to marry her because of a long-lasting family feud. The play ends in the death of both these characters and the reunion of the friendship between the families. Romeo is in love with Juliet, and this is a true, passionate love (unlike the love Paris has for her or the love Romeo had for Rosaline) that nothing can overcome, not even the hatred between their two families that is the reason for the death of their two children. Throughout the play, Shakespeare thoroughly explores the themes of both true love and false love and hatred. Without either of these themes, the play would loose its romantic touch and probably would not be as famous as it is today.