Is true love about who you are married to or who you have true feelings for? In the novel, the main character, Ethan Frome, was married to one woman, but had true feelings for another woman. Edith Wharton, the author, discusses many different forms of love by using figurative language, symbolism, and imagery. Edith Wharton uses literary devices in Ethan Frome to depict the love of Frome. He is torn between right and wrong: his marriage with his wife, Zeena, and his emotional affair with her cousin, Mattie. The first form of loved used was by figurative language. The figurative language used by Wharton includes similes, hyperboles, metaphors and much more. For example, at the beginning of the novel, Ethan's perception of Mattie's face is "like a window that has caught the sunset," and later, he thinks her face seems "like a wheat field under a summer breeze." That implies that Ethan had very strong feelings towards Mattie. Also After Ethan saw Zeena’s bad features, he thinks “she is already an old woman”. Wharton uses this hyperbole to portray an ugly image of Zeena. Her stale and wrinkled face…show more content… A very important form of symbolism was Ethan’s struggle between fulfilling his duties as a husband and his desire. In the novel, at times, when Zeena is talking to Ethan, he stops looking at Mattie and with effort “he turns his eyes to his wife.” That is important because Ethan is unconsciously staring at Mattie, his true desire, rather than paying attention to his wife Zeena. That is a symbol of the struggle of love. Also the pickle dish symbolizes the marriage and love of Ethan and Zeena. Zeena wants to keep the pickle dish safe which means only she loves, but Ethan does not care about the pickle dish or Zeena. When Mattie takes it down, it symbolizes that she is an intruder and that she loves Ethan. When the pickle dish is broken, it symbolizes that Ethan and Zeena’s marriage is completely
