Edith Wharton's short but tragic tale, Ethan Frome, features a crippled, lonely man - Ethan Frome - trapped in a loveless marriage with a hypochondriac wife, Zenobia “Zeena " Frome. Set during a harsh and "slow" winter in Starkfield, Massachusetts, Ethan and his ailing wife live on a dilapidated and "unusually abandoned and stunted" New England farm (Wharton 18). Due to numerous complications of Zeena, they hire her cousin to help around the house, a lively young girl, Mattie Silver. With Mattie's presence, Starkfield seems to emerge from its desolation, and Ethan's vacant world seems to be awakened by his discontented life and his empty marriage. And so begins Ethan's love adventure: a desperate desire to have Mattie as his own; however, his morals along with his duty to Zeena and his natural streak of honesty hinder him in his ability to realize his dreams. In this suspenseful and disastrous tale, Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton effectively employs situational irony allowing readers to experience a sudden shock and unexpected turn of events that ultimately lead to a final tragedy in a living nightmare. As in most surprise endings, irony plays an important role. vital role: serving as the source of these convoluted plots. Day after day, Ethan's life never ends the way he wants. From the beginning, Ethan isn't even supposed to work on the farm as a farmer. In fact, Ethan was once a successful engineer studying at a technological college in Worcester, where he "dabbled in the lab with a friendly physics professor" (Wharton 24). At Worcestor, he had "secretly gloried in being patted on the back and hailed as 'Old Ethe' or 'Old Stiff'" while now whistling and singing became an irregularity (Wharton 6...... middle of paper .. . ...Frome once lived an unhealthy and decrepit life, Ethan hoped to overcome this barren life; instead, duty triumphs over desire and Ethan must find a way out: Death Together, in a catastrophic sleigh ride, the two young lovers will forever have to lead a paralyzed life in the gray and lifeless prison of Zeena. However, Edith Wharton presents a distorted and ironic romantic story, turning it on its head the question of meaning by Edith Wharton, 1961, pp. Anita Shreve and Susanna Moore. Ethan Frome. New York: Signet Classic, 2009. Print.