LBravo_notes on Ethan Frome's character's anlaysis

ANALYSIS OF THE CHARACTERS OF ETHAN FROME

Things that we should consider making a characterization:

• name (which may anticipate some characteristics about the character)

• social status

• professional background

• family and cultural background

• his/her behaviour (what he/she does, his/her attitude)

• his/her likes and dislikes

• the way the character looks at the world (his/her feelings and thoughts, that usually are strictly connected to the environment)

• the physical appearance

• the interaction with other characters

These elements make us like a character or not.

Zenobia (Zeena) Frome

First of all, we have to consider the etymological origin of her name, because in English literature the choice of proper names is fundamental, since without name you haven’t an identity. Zenobia derives from the name of the Greek god Zeus, which is “Zeno”, and this gives us the clue that at the end she will be a “winner”, a person that imposes her will among the others.

Her surname is presented only as “Frome”, which is the one of her husband: this could be due to her origins (she is probably an orphan, because, according to the tale, she hasn’t a family second name), but also refer to her condition in the Puritan society. The second explanation is the most important one, because in Puritan society women, as wives, had the only aim to take care of the house and the sons, and were subjected to their husband, which was the figure that, working, took home money. Consequently, it can be said that her social status is “married”.

The only way she can reach attention is acting like a nurse, which coincides with her professional background, because in the past she had worked as nurse of Ethan’s mother. When the latter died, both Zeena and Ethan felt sad because they were alone, so, feeling loneliness and longing company, they decided to marry themselves. Zeena is probably influenced in making this choice of marriage mainly by the fact she was an orphan: she expected a faithful husband to interact with; however, she becomes unsociable and doesn’t interact with her husband. The whole setting of the novel is balanced between solitude (that is negative for society, that always searches for a relationship), getting old, depression and illness.

She’s not physically attractive: she looks old. This implements even more the idea of Zeena as an unattractive woman.

She seems a caregiver: her actions bring you back to her role of nurse and to the idea of a person that takes care of the house. She is victim of awidespread mentalitythat confined women role to these action fields. This mentality is typical of Puritanism, a religion derived from Calvinism, from which had been influenced Manzoni, that created as emblematic character of it Lucia in his novel “I Promessi Sposi”.

According to her position, Zeena was protected by the social institutions of her time, that prevented Mattie and Ethan to manifest externally their love.

Mattie Silver

Her name is shorter, simpler and sweeter than Zeena’s one and her surname sends to her preciosity and “blinding” nature.

Her features (like her voice) mortify Zeena’s ones: the characteristics of the two characters have been created by the novelist as functional according to their contraposition. In addition, if Ethan and Zeena have mediocre dialogues, the ones between him and Mattie are more interesting.

Mattie is the only solar, happy, young (she’s 30 years old) and active character in a negative and desolatesetting; for this reason she lights up Ethan’s days.

She is called from Stanford to Starkfield in order to help Zenobia and become a sort of caregiver for the Fromes family, but, arrived there, she only searches for fun (even if in a place like that is difficult to find it), for example singing (the author constantly insists on her beautiful voice, that is useful to convey her ability in seducing men).

She represents the object of desire of Ethan, but she’s a need (and not only a desire), because Ethan is ready to sacrifice his life for her. Their love is tragic as Romeo and Juliet’s one (they’re a sort of Freud’s sadomasochists): they have to kill themselves to be together, because in life they have always the ghost of Zeena behind them; however, they don’t succeed in this.

Ethan Frome

We can classify Ethan as unhappy, not satisfied by his existence, manipulated, passive, disable, socially submitted, weak, busy with his job, mysterious, … However, he’s a very complex character and for this reason he’s the protagonist of the novel.

He lived in a poor family with his mother and attended a high school, of which he liked scientific subjects; however, we mainly understand his attitude according to his interaction with Zeena and Mattie. He has a dependent nature, that is due to the dependence he had on his mother, that reflected upon his following relationships with women: he is the product of the Italian language expression “figlio matrizzato”.

Ethan appears first of all as a passive character, unable to make decisions, feared by loneliness and by the undiscovered (that in Hamlet for Shakespeare is the “undiscovered country from which no one returns”). He has worked all life and tried to be good with anyone (his mother, Zeena, Mattie, ...), but is this existence? He has a resigned vision of the world.

He is passive and submitted according to his actions (he works in a farm and is a sort of carpenter, but his work doesn’t satisfy his inner side, that tends to interest for science) and his behaviour (he’s constantly undecided, unable to make decisions), that is conditioned by other people or Faith.

He’s unable to make decisions because he feels too much other’s consideration (that is typical of a citizen of a Puritan community), so he’s affected by other’s judgment, and he hasn’t strong convictions, because, since he was born, the situation in which he has been inserted made him subjected. This is partly good because he takes care of the others very carefully, but it is also bad because he doesn’t know what he wants.

However, nobody compelled him to marry Zeena: he decided it by his own, and he made this choice because men always choose what costs them less; however, it is also a choice in which he was influenced by his life and his environment.

He’s an idealist who has given up his real nature on the basis of circumstances (a sort of fatalist), because he didn’t want to feel alone: in order to do not feel loneliness and survive, he has adapted to reality (this is a nod to Darwin’s theory).

He loves stars, but they are way too much far from him, so, his man characteristics make him adapt to circumstances. He’s not completely satisfied, but he prefers face up to what he knows instead of what he doesn’t know.

Ethan is half way between Morgan Foster’s distinction between “flat” and “round” characters, so between a character that remains the same from the beginning to the end and a character that changes. Indeed, Ethan wants to change, but he isn’t able to do it. For example, he feels he’s different from Zeena, because he loves studies, but he has never the courage to escape from his situation.

It can be said that he tries to change, but according to his needs, and not to his desires (his ideals).

He cannot manage to succeed in changing because he hasn’t the emotional strength to go over the common sense and he’s weak because he’s afraid of what he doesn’t know and can’t imagine (he’s similar to Hamlet).

He takes home a stranger for the climatic conditions and this is emblematic for the fact that he always need a justification to do something.

The harsh climate of the setting sends back to the frequent block that people feels in making choices (typical of Ethan): humans are weak and what make them love a person are his/her weaknesses, because they have a sense of beloving for this sphere of people, that are similar to themselves.

Even if every character is a victim of the situation presented, the narrator punishes first of all Ethan and Mattie (according to the novelist’s Puritan mentality).