Dramatic irony is a literary situation in which the author provides the reader with more information than some of the characters, which often evokes fear, suspense, and pity for the characters as we watch them fall helplessly into situations without being able to advise or forewarn them. One notable instance of dramatic irony in Wharton’s novella arises in chapter four after Zeena’s cat knocks her owner’s prized pickle dish off of the dinner table. Mattie used the pickle dish, which was a wedding present for Zeena and Ethan, against Zeena’s knowledge or permission. The reader knows that the pickle dish is broken beyond repair, yet Zeena does not (at least until she comes home from her overnight stay at the doctor’s), which creates dramatic irony. The readers wait in suspense along with Ethan and Mattie to see if Zeena will discover the broken pickle dish, and with it, the secret of Ethan and Mattie’s secret love for each other.
I would identify the ironic elements in Ethan Frome as follows:
First, it may not be too much of a case of "present-ism," that is, judging the past by our present-day standards, to say it's ironic that Ethan and Mattie, in discovering their mutual love, decide that the solution is to commit suicide together—if we can, indeed, be sure that this is their intention. In the social and physical conditions of their time they believe, perhaps correctly, that it's impossible for them to be united. Yet even in a story that takes place over a hundred years ago, one wonders if the desperation of their behavior is justified.
The second, and perhaps more central, irony is that in their attempt to escape from an unhappy situation, they end up crippling themselves, and therefore make their lives more unhappy and hopeless than any alternative would have been. It is as if, especially in Mattie's case, they have condemned themselves to a kind of living death.
An additional point I would mention is that it's ironic Zeena ends up becoming essentially the caretaker for both of them, while throughout most of the story she has been the one who appears to be ill and is in constant need of medical treatment of one kind or another.
The setting of the story is one of an unrelievedly bleak and eternal landscape of sadness in the New England of the time. Frome himself, in his youth, seems a man of boundless ability and courage, and the older Ethan, as well, in dealing with his crippled condition, shows an almost supernatural kind of persistence and power. That such a man ends up defeated is perhaps the greatest irony in Edith Wharton's novella.
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton uses a good deal of irony to its advantage. In literature, we generally talk about 3 different types of irony— verbal, situational, and dramatic. We define dramatic irony as an instance when a viewer/reader of a story knows or understands something that the characters don't.
The most obvious point of dramatic irony in this story takes place when Ethan and Mattie are contemplating/attempting killing themselves because they cannot be together. They are so caught up in their complicated relationship that they cannot see that suicide is not their only option for happiness, but anyone reading the story can see otherwise—thus creating a situation where the reader knows better than a character. Dramatic irony here is a very effective tool for conveying just how much Ethan and Mattie are willing to give up for each other.
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