The Parallel Lives of Ethan Frome and Edward Rochester
The Parallel Lives of Ethan Frome and Edward Rochester The tale of forbidden love binds itself within many famous works of literature in order to provoke the human mind into situations similar to those of Adam and Eve of the Bible. The “forbidden fruit” plays an important role in the books of Ethan Frome and Jane Eyre in the form of unattainable but beloved women, where two men, Ethan Frome and Mr. Edward Rochester, share common distinguishable attributes. Their serene sensitive nature soon explodes into a passionate cause, later revealing a bare, desperate soul that longs for their beloved “forbidden fruit.” Within Frome and Mr. Rochester lies an image of a sensitive individual, one that expresses his love to a special maiden, but in both cases, the men remain stuck with a distorted wife. They both pass the limits beyond the vows of married gentlemen, however; a need for true love forces them to surpass the restricted boundaries. As Frome finally acquires a night to spend time alone inside the house with Mattie, his sensitive feelings toward the girl overwhelms his thoughts as she wraps her knitted work around her hands. Frome “saw a scarcely perceptible tremor cross her face, and without knowing what he did he stooped his head and kissed the bit of stuff in his hold”(96), wishing that his kiss could touch Mattie’s lips instead and that Zena would not be the obstacle between them. Similarly, Mr. Rochester ends his once arrogant attitude towards Jane Eyre once he realizes that his heart belongs to her, leaving him a sensitive romantic. An atmosphere of deep compassion derives from Rochester as he says that Jane is “a beauty in my [his] eyes, and a beauty just the desire of my [his] heart- delicate and aerial”(246) when he finally reveals his love to his “little elf”(245). Unfortunately, the love Ethan Frome has for Mattie Silver, and Edward Rochester for Jane Eyre collides with a wife that causes the men to act in a passionate way in order to keep their