Lust and Desire Ethan Frome Thesis

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In this book, then, desire and lust -- and their inability to be fulfilled in any meaningful way -- lead directly and explicitly to destruction, and even a desire for destruction which is itself thwarted and seemingly unattainable in this book. The ride on the sled does not kill Ethan and Mattie, but rather renders them incapable of desire (or acting on it0, and even changes the dynamic of their relationship so significantly that desire can longer be a part of it.

Conclusion

The idea that desire leads to destruction is not new. But it is refreshed in The Great Gatsby and Ethan Frome, where Fitzgerald and Wharton show desire not only leading to destruction, but having no intrinsic value of its own along the way. In these novels, desire is not actually the double-edged sword of pleasure and destruction that it is often seen to be.
The allure of desire fools many characters into a false sense of happiness, but this is seen as ultimately doomed and hollow from the very outset, and is proved as such by the end.

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https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/lust-desire-ethan-frome-16186