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Fever in the Forum |
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written
by leahs2 / 08.30.2005 |
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Assignment |
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Edith Wharton chose the Roman Forum as the setting for her story, "Roman Fever" because the central themes of the story and the setting match. The thematic center of "Roman Fever" is age: the difference between the vitality of youth and growing elderly. In youth both Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade were daring and adventurous: “when you and I were young, with such beauty calling us, and the spice of disobedience thrown in” nothing could stop them from running through the Roman Forum at night. In youth, Mrs. Slade, especially, “had been an extremely dashing girl.” Now the elderly women live an upper-class life resting and watching the setting sun; the ladies looked “down on the outspread glories of the Palatine and the Forum,” likely from the rooftop restaurant of the nearby Hotel Forum. Meanwhile, their daughters have run off with desirable Italian men and will soon be flying over Tarquinia.
Similarly, the Roman Forum has gone through the stages of youth, middle age, and some may say death. In early construction the forum was full of powerful, bold, striking, and architecturally innovative buildings. After the height of the Roman Empire, numerous earthquakes, and plundering, it has been reduced to rubble. While in the past visitors could explore the Forum at all times, today, in the time of the two women’s daughters, “it is the most monumental bathos in Europe: a bald, dead, and bare circle of stones. . . The monument is open to the public from nine-thirty AM to six PM, when the gates are locked.” (Woodward, 66, Smiles of Rome) The forum has turned into a site controlled for tourists rather than a site open for exploration. The stories behind both the women and the forum tell the transition from a youth of beauty, vivid energy, and power, to an old age of empty disconnect.
However, the layering of stories and revealing of mysteries proves that the paradox is not this simple. Through the final revelation of "Roman Fever" and a probe into the history of the forum, beauty is illuminated at all ages and stages. The story begins amiably enough with an air of “diffused serenity.” Eventually it becomes full of envy and vengefulness; Mrs. Slade thinks, “would she never cure herself of envying her [Mrs. Ansley]!” Eventually they engage in a war of words to determine who was most deceived by whom: in the end it appears that both won and both lost. Mrs. Slade married Delphin, the man both women desired, while Mrs. Ansley had Barbara, the more striking and youthful of the two daughters.
Similarly the Roman Forum, which first appears to be a harmless mix of stone and rumble, on inquiry reveals stories of intrigue, betrayal, and murder among friends and family. On the surface, “the ruins have been weathered and washed to all but innocence. . . .” (Bowen, 12, Smiles of Rome), but as one delves into the complacent rubble, terrible histories emerge. The secrets that remain uncovered despite the confessions of the two women of "Roman Fever," will never be fully revealed to each other or to the reader. This complexity is mirrored in the layers of history that shroud the buildings and stories of the Roman Forum, a history that can always be studied and picked at to reveal more. For both the ladies of "Roman Fever" and today’s travelers of the Roman Forum, the act of inquiry reveals stories and engages the inquirer into the location. The inquirer is no longer a tourist.
At times the distinction between youth and aged is shed; the two hold the same promise, and are held by the setting sun and continuity of place. Whether adventures are being pursued by the young or mysteries are being shed through inquiry by the middle-aged, the potential for excitement and magic of the Forum remains. As Mrs. Slade says, "Well, I don't see why we shouldn't just stay here [this evening] . . . After all, it's still the most beautiful view in the world."
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