In many cases, the villain of a story is the malevolent character who actively makes the protagonist's life difficult. But in some cases, the villain ruins the protagonist's life in the background by sucking the protagonist dry of hope. Zenobia Pierce Frome from Edith Wharton's novel Ethan Frome is the passive villain. She ruins Ethan's life and shows her evil side by neglecting Ethan, making his life complicated and taking away everything he holds dear. Zeena's first weapon against Ethan is negligence. Ethan requires human interaction to function properly. But Zeena, being the villain that she is, deliberately deprives Ethan of it. Wharton symbolizes Zeena's carelessness with the pickle dish that was never used. When the cat breaks that plate of pickles, Mattie cries: "[Zeena] never meant it shouldn't show, even when there was company; and [Mattie] had to get on the stepladder to reach it from the top shelf..." (63). Zeena placed the dish of red pickles, which represents love, passion and marriage, where it is not easily accessible. Symbolically, Zeena puts her love and her marriage in the drawer, thus freezing her marriage. Also, the cat, which represents Zeena, breaks the pickle dish. This implies that Zeena destroys all possible love and affection when it emerges from oppression. Mattie also states that the pickle dish is never meant to be used, meaning that Zeena's intention is to neglect Ethan's thirst for love for as long as she desires. Zeena also decides to overlook Ethan's desire for friends. Zeena knows Ethan can hold himself together because he has Mattie by his side. Zeena, being the villain that she is, decides to overlook Ethan's desire for a friend and kick Mattie out. During his heated discussion with E...... middle of paper ......arkfield. Ethan is able to endure because Mattie is by his side to support him. By taking Mattie away, Zeena tries to cut the thread that connects Ethan to sanity and sanity. When Zeena tries to take Mattie away from him, Ethan collapses. He decides to kill himself rather than see Mattie leave. Zenobia Pierce Frome from Edith Wharton's novel Ethan Frome is a villain who sucks his victim dry. She destroys Ethan's hopes and dreams while taking away his material possessions. She reduces Ethan from a man with a bright future to the ruin of a man who endures a life worse than death. Zeena reiterates that she is a villain by neglecting her husband, making his life difficult and taking everything away from him. Wharton, through Zeena, teaches that the villain does not always play the active role. She also teaches readers to choose their spouse carefully..