Critical Essay Response

The essay that I chose was the one in which the author debates the appropriateness of categorizing Ethan Frome as a work of modern tragedy. He presents several interesting arguments to support his point of view, and through reading it I have certainly developed my own position on the issue.
The author contends that Ethan Frome is indeed a modern tragedy, especially when one considers the definitive aspects of tragedy and what Wharton has put in her novel. A tragedy is generally a work in which characters suffer as a direct consequence of the main character's tragic flaw or hamartia. Typically, when thinking about works of tragedy, several works of William Shakespeare are brought up, generally including Macbeth. The author asserts that Macbeth is obviously a tragedy because Macbeth is a potential, but as he is overtaken by his hamartia of lusting for power, he kills Duncan and several others before he meets his end at the hands of MacDuff. The author then asserts that Ethan Frome is similar in a couple of ways. He is a potentially benevolent infallible example of heroism, a characterization provided by Wharton's early description's of Frome, including: "Ethan Frome drove in silence, the reins loosely held in his left hand, his brown seamed profile, under the helmet-like peak of the cap, relieved against the banks of snow like the bronze image of a hero." However, he has a tragic flaw, albeit one that isn't quite so obviously terrible as Macbeth's. In providing an example of Ethan Frome's hamartia the author cites the scene in the novella where Ethan is sitting with Mattie outdoors. "He looked at her hair and longed to touch it again, and to tell her that it smelt of the woods; but he had never learned to say such things." This line, according to the author, articulates Frome's inability in the articulation of himself, a manifestation of his tragic flaw. The consequences of this are evident because, as in any other work that is considered a tragedy, other characters are harmed, namely Frome himself, arguably Zeena, and ultimately Mattie.
After reading the critical essay, I feel that the author was very effective in conveying his position, and his argument was well presented. I say this because the author's goal was to prove that Ethan Frome was a modern tragedy and, taking the simplest route, he provided components and examples of classic tragedy and displayed how Ethan Frome possesses many of the same critical characteristics. As a result I feel the argument that provided the basis for the essay shouldn't even exist. Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome is as much a tragedy as Macbeth or the stereotypical scenario of Romeo and Juliet. Ethan Frome is a character with a capacity for heroism, but contrarily overwhelmed by his hamartia; one that results in the suffering of multiple characters besides himself. In my mind, a more debatable question would be whether Ethan Frome is the protagonist or antagonist because it has been said that, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing." What did Ethan Frome really do to combat his situation, and in the end; despite intentionality, isn't he as much to blame for the final circumstance as anyone else? These would be my "other thoughts."