Ethan Frome is a tragic hero with a tragic life that any psychologist would love to dissect. Just like all other tragic heroes, Ethan is tragically flawed but Erik Erikson, the man who proposed a psychoanalytical theory of development comprised of eight stages, could deeply describe how and why Ethan has turned into the man he is. Erikson’s theory is based on a person’s experiences in life that could have a negative or positive outcome for personality development. The novel surpases five of Erikson’s eight stages. The stages demonstrate the biggest priorities in a person’s life based on their age. Unfortunately, Ethan followed the path of life that all humans do but had many negative outcomes due to the unfortunate events that happened earlier in his life.…show more content… Isolation. This stage takes place from eighteen to fourety years old. During this stage, humans begin to explore intimate relationships and look for a long-term partner to spend the rest of their lives with. During this stage in Ethan’s life, he meets Zeena and quickly rushes into a marriage with her after the death of his mother. Erikson would say that Ethan dove into this relationship so quickly in order to fill the void of his late-mother. Unluckily, because Ethan and Zeena jumped into their marriage, they failed to create an intimate and committed relationship. Failing in this stage of life leads Ethan to a life of isolation, loneliness, and sometimes depression which affects his life in the years to come. None of the less, these pitiful events are initiated after the death of Ethan’s mother and the rest of his life down-spirals from that point
