Literary Criticism: "Cold Ethan and 'Hot Ethan'"

In this particular essay, entitled “Cold Ethan and ‘Hot Ethan’”, Cynthia Wolff explores how two of Edith Wharton’s novels parallel the author’s own life.  Cold Ethan represents the novel Ethan Frome, which is set in winter, and Hot Ethan represents the novel Summer, set in the season of the same name.  Wolff’s purpose for writing this essay is to make the reader aware of Wharton’s own personal experiences, with hopes that they can use these examples to better understand her works.  In this article, Wolff poses one very important question: what role does love play in a marriage and in relationships in general?

The anguish Wharton felt at the time she wrote Ethan Frome bleeds out through the character of Ethan, who struggles with his obligations to his wife, Zeena, and feelings for his wife’s cousin, Mattie.  Wolff uses much information to support her arguments and does it well.  There is an equal balance of information presented about Wharton’s personal life and about the novella. Wolff draws many similarities by citing several instances from Wharton’s past and connecting them to various points in the novella.  Like Ethan, Wharton married for reasons other than love, and as a result found herself trapped in a loveless marriage.  In addition, both Wharton and Ethan longed for an escape from their own discontent, so they searched for fulfillment elsewhere.   Social standards and moral obligations prevented both Wharton and the protagonist in her novel from ever reaching true happiness; divorce was out of the question, as was a life with their lovers.  Wharton’s lover, Morton Fullerton, provided her with happiness that she never found with her husband Teddy, just as Mattie provided Ethan with an escape from his marriage.  It is in this respect that Wharton and Ethan made their most perilous mistakes.  Searching for love outside of their marriages is what sealed their tragic fates.  

I both agree and disagree with the arguments that Wolff presents in this article.  I strongly agree with Wolff that a person’s past is imperative in determining their future. Wharton’s personal experiences and Ethan Frome support this notion.  However, I disagree with Wolff’s belief that one’s surroundings do not play a crucial role in one’s life.  I believe that the setting of the novel is crucial in determining Ethan’s fate.  Ethan chose to marry Zeena because she offered an escape from the solidarity and bleakness that had characterized Ethan’s life until her met her.  Had the novella taken place somewhere else, someplace far less bleak and barren, the outcome might have been drastically different.  Wolff asserts that Ethan was never a victim of his fate, but I disagree.  I do not think Ethan had the option to choose his own fate; rather, fate chose him.  Ethan and Wharton are strikingly similar in that they both settle, and thus surrender themselves to a life of unhappiness and, oddly enough solitude- which was precisely what they had hoped to end when they married.  However, their oppressive and loveless marriages lead them to feeling even lonelier than they had when they were single.  Considering this, I feel that I can now answer the question that Wolff proposes at the beginning of the article.  I believe that love is the utmost concern in any relationship.  It is better to be alone and happy than to be in a relationship that makes you absolutely miserable.