Zeena's character is revealed through Ethan's memory and the action of the main story, and through hints from characters in the frame story. Wharton describes Zeena's physical appearance as gaunt, wrinkled, and sallow-faced. She has false teeth and her hair is kept in place with crimping pins. She is asthmatic and "sickly." She speaks in a plaintive, whiny drawl.
Zeena is seven years older than Ethan. She married Ethan, at the age of 28 (seven years earlier), after the death of his mother. Ethan wanted to move away from Starkfield, but Zeena did not want to live in a city where she would have no identity. Her hypochondria and her few legitimate illnesses serve as excuses for her to indulge in patent remedies and expensive visits to doctors at a time when Ethan is struggling to pay off the heavy mortgage on the farm and still maintain financial solvency. Because so much money was being spent by Zeena, there was no way Ethan could get ahead and realistically consider moving. Over the years Zeena becomes adept at using her illnesses to control everyone and everything in her environment. Her illness is the reason why Mattie must go and a hired housekeeper must come to take her place.
