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Irredeemable Insecurity |
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written
by peeter / 09.06.2005 |
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Assignment |
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Blind, self-centered insecurity draws us mercilessly into an unending cycle of isolation, suspicion, second-guessing, and deception. Edith Wharton spells this out through her portrayal of two old friends reminiscing the past and reveals that sometimes not even a genuine acknowledgement of reality will suffice to liberate a person from bitterness.
The Forum serves as a place for truth to be drawn out of obscurity, and this is exactly the painful process that occurs in “Roman Fever.” Intoxicated by Rome’s history filled with conquerors and domination, two insecure girls fall into an exchange of manipulation and betrayal. Years later the issue from their ruinous past is presented before the “wreckage and passion” at the Forum, which knows their story all too well. The women engage in a battle modeled after the cases argued at the court in ancient times. The situation is of course far more tangled up than it appears, as each party possesses a highly secret weapon. While Slade is desperately fighting the urge to pull the trigger, Ansley, although unaware of her counterpart’s perilous device, calmly endures the precursory offenses, fully confident of her own weapon’s insurmountable power.
Heaps of incriminating evidence and years of internalization have led Slade to finally reveal her allusive position of power and omnipotence. After dropping the bomb thinking that such domination is the only hope for genuine forgiveness of her enemy, Slade is surprised when the anticipated deflation of Ansley’s soul never takes place. Sitting on the terrace of the Hotel Forum, the battered Ansley slowly regains her strength and quietly detonates the mother of all bombs. This Phyrric battle ends with the disgusting revelation that each contender is almost entirely beyond redemption.
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