Ethan Frome

3 Pages 663 Words

PURPOSE: To examine the character of Zenobia Pierce in the novel “Ethan Frome” by Edith Wharton.


AUDIENCE: Readers who have not read the book “Ethan Frome and Other Short Fiction” and are interested in the character of Zenobia Pierce, Ethan Frome’s wife.



THESIS: Zenobia Pierce represents a character that is bitter and cold, making everyone around her miserable.

The Character of Zenobia Pierce in Wharton’s “Ethan Frome”
Zenobia Pierce, known as Zeena throughout the novel “Ethan Frome” by Edith Wharton, is a very unhappy, bitter woman. Wharton seems to depict her ex-husband, Edward Wharton, through the remarkable details she uses to characterize Zeena. Zeena, Ethan Frome’s cousin, comes to help Ethan during his mother’s illness. She is a great relief to Ethan during this time. As Wharton remarks, “Zeena seemed to understand his case at a glance. She laughed at him for not knowing the simplest sick bed duties and told him to “go right along out” and leave her to see to things” (35). Zeena at this time is attractive, healthy, and fun for Ethan to be with.
Then Ethan’s mother dies during the winter and Ethan can not bear the cold, harsh Massachusetts winter alone, so he asks Zeena to marry him. After Zeena’s marriage to Ethan, the relationship changes, as Zeena becomes silent. She goes to bed immediately after supper leaving Ethan without any companionship. Wharton describes the change “When she came to take care of his mother, she had seemed to Ethan like the very genius of health, but he soon saw that her skill as a nurse had been acquired by the absorbed observations for her own systems” (36). Throughout the entire story, Zeena is described as sickly. She is a hypochondriac who takes medicine and visits doctors all the time causing Ethan to become attracted to Mattie Silver, Zeena’s cousin and caretaker during her illnesses.
What attraction Ethan has to Zeena ...