Two Women Characters in "Roman Fever"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how Edith Wharton's short story, "Roman Fever", offers a dark glimpse into the characters of two upper-class women, Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade, who have known each other for years in New York City, and who serendipitously meet in Rome where they are vacationing with their daughters. It analyzes how Wharton's exploration of the characters of these two women illustrates much about the nature of female friendships, jealousy, and forgiveness. It also shows how the character study illuminates Ansley and, especially, Slade as exemplifying few of the cardinal virtues of wisdom, temperance, courage, and justice.

From the Paper:

"As they sit knitting together on the terrace, Slade muses about their pasts, insulting Mrs. Ansley thoroughly in her mind. This silent, passive character assault indicates that Slade lacks true courage. Although her past action of luring Ansley with a fake letter by her fiance demonstrates a degree of compunction, brashness, and guts, Slade nevertheless acts passive-aggressively. She allowed an irrational, as yet unfounded jealousy cause her to entrap her friend. Then she lets the wound fester for decades. Her envy of Ansley and her upper-crust lifestyle also cause her to compare their daughters and Slade feels that her Jenny is inferior to the livelier, spunkier Babs Ansley."

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