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Roman Fever: Jealousy and Deceit |
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written
by minhan / 10.24.2005 |
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Assignment |
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From Edith Wharton’s description, the women have a view of Palatine, the Colosseum, and the Palace of the Caesars. The description clearly puts them as sitting outside on a terrace in a restaurant and with a set of stairs, which their daughters had descended. She was describing the location not so we could find the exact location but more so we could picture in our minds what the women saw while they were having their conversation. She points out how our memories can rise to the front of our mind because of the connection to a specific tangible source. For these women, this source was the view from that seat that brought them back to their past. The Forum for others might provoke the memory of past historical facts of emperors but for these women the view was more personal.
Edith Wharton’s story of the relationship between two women is filled with deceit and secrecy throughout their lifetimes, which eventually becomes uncovered by each. The view of the Forum sparked the revealing of the truth. As Mrs. Slade, sitting above the rubbles of the Forum, saw her daughter and Mrs. Ansley’s daughter together, a surge of jealousy may have come through her. She saw in them another start of a cycle of secrecy. Spurred by the image of the destroyed Forum, she wanted to reveal her secret and watch the fall it would create.
However, the relationship between the two women becomes more depressing as the expected relief and triumph after the confrontation does not come. Each woman has a hidden memory of the same event. Each has lived with this secret, believing to have the advantage over the other. Throughout their lives, they have watched each other, jealous of the other but their memory of the past provides enough to fill their insecurity. When they meet again at the Forum, the same place where the infamous event happened, the memory is strong in each mind, each wanting to burst and reveal their superiority. The setting of the Forum accentuates this interpretation of the relationship between the women. The Forum, at its prime, was full of much drama, tragedy, secrecy, and treachery that inevitably led to its fall. Although remnants of its grandeur are left, the rubbles also tell their story of the final ending of the Forum. Comparatively, as the women reveal their secrets each get an unexpected surprise and is left only to contemplate the worth of their lives.
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