Ethan Frome Antagonism
Ethan Frome - Antagonism‘“That man touch a hundred? He looks as if he was dead and in hell now!”’
Ethan Frome was a man whose fate was never meant for him to be happy and satisfied with his life. He could definitely be considered the scapegoat of a situation that could arguably be his own fault. The deaths of his father, mother and, ironically, his marriage to Zeena were all problematic misfortunes that he dealt with each day. And then his sad tale takes a turn for the better and Ethan truly falls in love. Mattie is the woman in charge of caring for Zeena in her, what seems like a lifetime, in sickness. Mattie is young, carefree, and isn’t the antagonist that Zeena proves to be.
‘For the life of her smile, the warmth of her voice…’
How sad is the day when a man yearns for the laughter of a woman other than his own wife. Ethan’s internal conflict is heart wrenching. His allegiance to his wife keeps him bound to her and yet his heart draws him to think unfaithful thoughts. However, Ethan is not and can not be considered a single offender. Zeena herself is not much of a faithful wife, and this is not in the sense of involving another man. Zeena is constantly sick, whether it be physical or mental illness or, just plainly, in her head, and therefore causing her to be self-pitiful and unaware of the needs of anyone but herself.
‘…it would hardly have occurred to Zeena to take any thought for the girl’s amusement.’
Zeena does not go out of her way to keep happiness in their home, she doesn’t treat Ethan as a husband but as some man she has to live with. She goes about her daily complaining and took her marriage for granted.
And then Mattie comes along. She’s not really the domestic type but is willing to learn and through her time spent in the Frome home she wins the heart of Ethan. Zeena is not so naïve and of course realizes what has happened. Suddenly she becomes jealous and her antagonistic qualities not only reflect on Ethan but Mattie as well. The scapegoat in the story becomes the two star-crossed lovers. Zeena’s jealousy and resentment towards Mattie comes out on a large scale when Zeena finds that Mattie has caused a very prized possession of Zeena’s to become broken.
‘“You wanted to make the supper table pretty; and you waited until my back was turned, and took the thing I set most store by of anything I’ve got…and now you’ve took from me the one I cared for most of all.”
Zeena, at first, sounds as if she were mad about her dish, and then it becomes clear that Zeena, more than anything, was upset that she lost her husband. Something that had happened the minute Zeena took Mattie in. From this moment on the antagonistic conflict between Zeena, Ethan and Mattie become the only relationship that exists between Zeena and the other two.
‘“I’d ‘a’ been ashamed to tell him that you grudged me the money to get back my health, when I lost it nursing your own mother!”’
Zeena blames Ethan for her sickness and blames Mattie for the loss of her marriage.
For Ethan, his story is like a ‘Death-Rebirth’ situation. Except in this case he dies twice. The lonely time in which he endured the deaths of his mother and father and his loneliness during his marriage to Zeena gives him a demeanor of pure unhappiness. His love for Mattie makes him feel young and resurrected. He has come back to life. And then they have the accident. Zeena has thrown Mattie own so Ethan and Mattie decide to commit suicide. However, following the treacherous pattern that Ethan’s life follows, they fail to succeed in this task, causing Mattie to revert to the likeness of Zeena and causing Ethan once again to become lonely.
For Zeena, this twist in fate magically cures her many complications. Therefore causing her antagonistic qualities to mellow, especially considering she was once again in charge caring for Mattie as she had once cared for Ethan’s mother.
The conclusion to the story is a sad one, indeed. Ethan, doomed to be the victim has lost any spirit he ever had. Zeena’s antagonism turned out to be just a period in time, coincidentally during the same time in which Ethan was at his happiest. The moral to this story may be on life’s changes or perhaps the fate of two who were destined to love but not to receive. Either way, in this story the evil overcame the good and ended with the deaths of all those who lived in the Frome home.