Ferda Asya, the author of the essay "Edith Wharton's Dream of Incest: Ethan Frome.", believed that Edith Wharton's unconscious guilt feelings of having incestuous desires gave her the drive to write the novella Ethan Frome. She uses Freudian analysis, statements from Edith Wharton in her autobiographies, and interprets Ethan Frome to support her thesis. Edith Wharton's failure to have a positive relationship with other men may have moved her to have incestuous feelings for her father, and social restraints along with her mother's strict upbringing caused her to have a need to be punished for having those feelings.
Edith Wharton was brought up by her mother, whom she stated as being more difficult to please than God. She also says that her mother caused her father's life to be miserable. This leads one to believe that Zeena probably represented her mother, and Ethan represented her father. Mattie would be Edith Wharton herself, who has a great connection with Ethan (her father). Edith Wharton had a failed marriage and a failed relationship with her lover. She wished for the company of her father now, who was the one man that she had a good relationship with. Since she had experienced a sexual love when she had her extra-marital affair, she now wished for that type of relationship with her father, along with the intellectual connection. Her father, like Ethan with Zeena, did not have an intellectual or emotional connection with his wife. The missing "L" of the Frome house represents the missing warmth and substance of Ethan's marriage, which represents the marriage of Wharton's parents. Wharton thought she would be able to fill that void in his life, and she longed to do so.
Another important part of the Freudian analysis is the idea of "punishment dreams". If we can regard Ethan Frome as a type of dream, then it becomes clear that Wharton may have been using the novel as a way to punish herself for having "naughty" thoughts towards her father and as a result, towards her mother. According to Freud, dreams only exist as a way to fulfill wishes. The punishment dream is also a fulfillment of a wish. Wharton wanted to be punished because she believed she deserved it, and if she was punished then she might be able to forgive herself, or God might be able to forgive her. However, we see Ethan being punished more than Mattie is. Ethan has to endure the life with Zeena for seven years prior to Mattie's arrival. This may be a case of "displacement", when guilt feelings are moved from herself onto her father. Displacement occurs due to censorship from the dreamer. Wharton was unaware of her guilt, since it only existed in her subconscious mind. Therefore, displacement could have easily occurred in Wharton's mind since she was unaware of her guilty conscience. Ethan is not only punished through his tortured life with Zeena, but through his moral weakness as well. Ethan's morals are not strong as he is easily swayed by Mattie to kill both of them and leave his wife to a difficult life. In the end of the story, however, both Ethan and Mattie are punished. They go down the sled hill first just to enjoy themselves, and they come out fine. The second time, they intend to kill themselves. This is in direct defiance of Zeena. This calls for the ultimate punishment- being stuck in Starkfield with Zeena, physically with each other but unable to be together truly. They really deserve to be punished for attempting to rebel against the "mother", who Edith Wharton feared most throughout her life. Social norms, however, also played a part in Ethan and Mattie's downfall. Incest is an extreme taboo in society. Divorce was never much of an option either in the 1900's, so unless Edith wanted her father to commit adultery with her, another taboo, she had to ignore her feelings for him.
I believe that the author of the article presented her point very well. She was a bit repetitive, however. That did not take away from the overall quality of the article and I thought it was very worthwhile to read. I agree with the opinions of the author, or to an extent at least. I believe that an incestuous desire for her father may have influenced her writing a bit, and the desire to be punished also influenced her. The article did get confusing at one point when it kept claiming that Wharton was completely unconscious of her guilt, but at one point it claimed that she was semi-conscious of it. I am unsure of if I agree with the author at this part, but I believe that Edith Wharton was somewhat conscious of her feelings of guilt due to her desire for her father.
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