The Bridges Of Madison County Essay Research

The Bridges Of Madison County Essay, Research Paper

THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY

AND ETHAN FROME COMPARISON

The novel s The Bridges of Madison County and Ethan Frome were very exceptional stories. Each novel focused on a hidden love that could not be known to others because of the terrible fate it would case. I thought that the stories mimic Robert Frost s poem the Road Not Taken , except that both Francesca and Ethan Frome take the road that everyone else took. They did not take the road less traveled because they felt that letting the world know they were together would ruin everyone s lives. These two people cared more about others and what they thought of them, and then they did themselves. If they would have taken the road less traveled and run away together then the stories would have not been so interesting. Francesca and Ethan do the good human thing by not being with the one they love and remain with whom they married first. The novels are that of anticipation and consequences of passion. Which path should they follow? Should they follow their hearts or not?

The settings in the Bridges of Madison County were beautiful and calm the whole time. There was no change in the surroundings that would make you feel like something bad would happen. The story has an emotional tension at some points and then a relaxing in love feeling at other times. In Ethan Frome the setting is cold and lifeless. The atmosphere is so dark and gloomy. Whenever Ethan finds his true love it seems as though the atmosphere gets a little brighter in Ethan s eyes, because he is happy now.

Understanding the thoughts and feelings of both Francesca and Ethan are very interesting. As you watch Francesca, before she commits to the affair, you understand her tension, her indecision. Ethan Frome was the same way; he watched his every move around Mattie and tried to hide his feelings until he could no more. Each time you can see the characters react to each other they see to be testing each other, moving closer and backing away, until finally they come together. In the case of Francesca and Robert you can feel this by the words they speak to each other, in the movie Francesca says And in that moment, everything I knew to be true about myself up until then was gone. I was acting like another woman, yet I was more myself than ever before. She knew she wanted him because being with him made her feel wonderful. Robert s feelings are not like a man would feel, well not a normal man. Most men are not so vibrant and emotional with their feelings as Robert is. The feelings he has are those that a woman would want her man to feel. The things he says makes him irresistible to Francesca because she has never had a man tell her things like he does or makes her feel like the only woman in the world. He tells her This kind of certainty comes but once in a lifetime. That line would make any woman drool for that kind of love. In Ethan Frome, Ethan wants Mattie for himself because she brings out the youth in him. He finds that he has a lot more emotions than he thought he had. I think that Robert Kincaid was more emotional and exciting that Ethan Frome. Robert expressed himself with such wonderful lines and Ethan wasn t so winning with the lines he spoke. We knew that Ethan was in love with Mattie, but he acted like the real man because he hid most of what he felt, and that is how men really do act. Men do not express completely what they feel for the fear of rejection and humiliation.

The victims in the store I would have to say would have to have been Francesca and Ethan. Francesca married her husband to come to America. She loved him very much, but not the way two people are supposed to love each other. To me Francesca was the maid to her husband. There was really no emotional bond between the two and there was always awkwardness around them. She was put into a situation that she could not get out of because she was married and even though she was not happy she remained married to her husband because of her children. In Ethan s case I feel he was the victim because he married Ethan marries the woman who nurses his mother before her death, Zeena, his wife, keeps him from realizing his full potential and where and what he is to be in life. He is with Zeena for the fear of being alone and Zeena is with Ethan for the same reason. Francesca and Ethan are both victims because they found true love, but could not follow their hearts because they cared about what others thought about them, then what they really wanted in order to be happy.

At the ending of the story in The Bridges of Madison County, Robert Kincaid and Francesca part and write a few times, but then stop because of the fear of her family finding out about her love. The two of them remain in love forever and at the end when Francesca s husband dies she tries to contact Robert, but can t seem to find him. She then thinks that he might have dies, so she stop contact. Two years later she receives a letter and a will from Robert. Comes to find out that he was not dead when she tried to find him. If only she could have found him and they could have had one more night together. I can t imagine how it felt for them to not ever see each other again; it must have been so heartbreaking. The ending of Ethan Frome was a tragedy. Ethan and Mattie go sledding together and try to commit suicide by running into a tree, because they