My Secret World

Rome is an inexplicably seductive and enticing city. The lure of Rome is unexplainable and yet there is an innate desire to understand the Eternal City, to let Rome slowly and sweetly divulge all of her secrets until you intimately know Rome. Authors use Rome because of this very fact, because Rome is not explainable and yet everyone feels that they somehow know Rome. To me, Roman Fever is a perfect example of how an author can use Rome to give more meaning to their story. In Roman Fever, Edith Wharton uses the Roman Forum to help set the stage of the intricate play between past and present.

Roman Fever is a short story that contrasts the mistakes of the past with the lies and deceit of the present. The girlish impropriety of Mrs. Ansley has forever haunted Mrs. Slade and her own error in writing the forsaken letter has torn at her over the years. Both women are aware of the errors of their past, but are unaware of their consequences in the present. As the two women sit staring over the Forum- Mrs. Slade contemplates the letter she wrote, while Mrs. Ansley is reminded of her midnight romp with Mr. Slade. Both women hold the secrets of the past yet sit together in the present with the unspoken truth permeating the air. Mrs. Slade only intending to injure the pride of her “dear” friend and possibly right the wrongs of her past mistake finds that her whole life has been a lie-beginning and ending with Mrs. Ansley. The Forum is the beginning and the end of their relationship.