A Reading Of Ethan In Ethan Frome From The Perspective Of Freudian Theory Of Personality Structure

Edith Wharton(January 24,1862-August 11,1937)is one of the most prominent women writers in American literary history,especially in the late19~thh century and early 20~thh century.Ethan Frome,considered as her best tragedy,is the first novel written by Wharton to portray the life and complex emotions of the lower class,which is different from her usual story setting of the upper society.This thesis attempts to make a detailed analysis of the hero,Ethan from the perspective of Freud's theory of personality structure,and explores his complex mental processes from awakening to crash and his behavior features under the interactions among the id,the ego and the superego.It reveals that it is the imbalanced personality structure of Ethan that causes his tragedy and uncovers the enlightenment of this tragedy.Under the dominating stimulus of pretty and youthful Mattie,Ethan's long suppressed id has awakened and been released.The id drives him to fall in love with Mattie and has a transient extramarital love affair with her.He even wants to abandon his family and elope with his beloved.However,under the selfish confinement of the superego,Ethan is always aware of his sin and duty.Ethan's internalized puritanical and patriarchal moral and ethical standards of marriage and family are the biggest barriers to his pursuit of love,freedom and individuality.His id and superego are trapped in constant conflicts which causes his dilemma.Ethan's ego tries hard to mediate the conflicts between the id,and the superego and reality and reconcile the demands of its“three masters”.However,under the double impact of the strong id and the severe superego,the ego becomes weaker and in the final quits from conflicts,which accounts for Ethan's tragic behavior of committing suicides with his beloved.This thesis suggests that the psychological cause of Ethan's behavior and tragedy can been analyzed and understood by the application of Freudian theory of personality structure.It is his imbalanced personality structure that leads to his tragic end.In addition,the constant conflict between Ethan's id and superego reflects exactly the conflict between humanity and morality,thus arousing our deep thoughts about this eternal theme.