What is the tone of Edith Wharton's "Roman Fever"?

Wharton's story contains several tone shifts.

1.  At the beginning of "Roman Fever," Wharton is reminiscent.  She might even imagine herself as Mrs. Slade or Mrs. Ansley.  The two women enjoy their vacation remembering back to when they were their daughter's age, attracting suitors and commanding attention.

2.  Throughout the whole story, Wharton is critical of Old New York society.  As she describes the two middle-aged women, she provides their thoughts about one another and, in doing so, illustrates their condescending, self-righteous attitudes toward one another even though they proclaim themselves "friends." Wharton's description of the widows' plights following their husbands' deaths adds to her social critique.  The author stresses that the women feel lost in society without their husbands and struggle to find a purpose in life.

3. Finally, at the story's end, Wharton's tone is revealing.  In having Mrs. Slade expose her plot against Mrs. Ansley all those years ago, the author depicts the lengths that women will go to in order "to keep their man." However, the story's end is full of revelations, the most shocking of which is that Mrs. Ansley did meet Mrs. Slade's future husband all those years ago and had a child with him--Barbara.

All of Wharton's various tones contribute to her purpose in exposing the underbelly of "aristocratic" Old New York.  The author adeptly demonstrates in this story and The Age of Innocence that the seething emotions under the starched and corseted members of her society eventually surface and reveal their true character.

What is the theme of "Roman Fever" by Edith Wharton?

I think that one of the most critical themes of Wharton's work is how friendship can move into the realm of vengeful rivalry with such ease.  The process in which the friendship between the two women disintegrates is startlingly quick.  An association that spanned decades is reduced to emotional rubble in an afternoon.  While there might have been latent hostility between both women, it was subverted for the good of a friendship or association that lasted over a sustained period of time.  Wharton's point in showing how quickly this relationship ends is reflective of how rivalry can destroy connective threads in less time than it takes to establish them.  This theme of friendship and the weak foundation upon which it exists if it not properly nurtured is evident.

I think that another important theme  Wharton illuminates is the presence of intimate cruelty.  When we think of the works that display what cruelty means on a personal level, existing between two people in the realm of the intimate, one has to consider the afternoon between Alida and Grace as representative of this.  The theme of cruelty is evident in how both end up wanting to hurt one another.  Alida's anger gives way to her confession and Grace's response to it are both examples of how personal cruelty can be evident in many settings of emotional intimacy.  Wharton is skilled at being able to evoke the theme of cruelty in the personal realm, showing how we are sometimes at our worst as a human being with people who deserve only our best.

What are your thoughts on "Roman Fever" by Edith Wharton?

Well, I guess a lot of it depends on what kind of comment you want to make about this excellent short story by Edith Wharton. Do you wish to focus on characters, themes or setting for example? Either of these elements will provide you with ample material to make a "comment," as you put it. For example, if you consider the relationship between the two women and the conflict that emerges as the story progresses, you should be able to make a comment on the theme of friendship and how it is presented in the novel.

Note how the two women are presented as childhood friends. Yet it is clear that they don't actually know each other very well, and actually, simmering beneath this longstanding "friendship," lies years of pent up resentment, anger and jealousy. Note what the narrator tells us about Mrs. Slade as she imagines the success of her friend's daughter's marriage and the easy and secure future of her friend:

Mrs. Slade broke off this prophetic flight with a recoil of self-disgust. There was no one of whom she had less right to think unkindly than of Grace Ansley. Would she never cure herself of envying her? Perhaps she had begun too long ago.

Note how this "friendship" then is actually built on solid blocks of hidden resentment, envy and jealousy, which of course all comes out as they survey the "great accumulated wreckage of passion and splendour" at their feet. This would be one possible comment you could make, but you also might want to think about setting and how that ties in with the characters and themes of this great short story.

What are the serious aspects in Roman Fever by Edith Wharton?

I think that one of the more serious aspects of Wharton's work is its study of human cruelty.  While one might make light of the pettiness displayed between Grace and Alida, there is a undercurrent of cruelty in how they wish to exact revenge on one another.  Their friendship or association features this streak of cruelty underneath.  There is little in way of mercy or temperance in their relationship.  It is predicated on one seeking to outdo the other.  Like two aged gladiators fighting in the twilight of their careers, both seek to land the crippling blow one after another.  Of course, Grace's disclosure at the end of the story is the most crippling of blows to Alida.  Yet, the entire emotional swordplay between both reveals how rivalry and cruelty enter even the most conventional of friendships.  The study of human cruelty is one of the more serious aspects in Wharton's work.

I think that another serious aspect of the work is how flawed the belief in one's own superiority can be.  Alida is of the mindset that she is superior to Grace.  She opens the proverbial can of worms by seeking to exact her own superiority.  Thinking that she has understands everything and cannot be surprised by anything, she forgoes caution and even human decency in wanting to display superiority to Grace.  The flawed element of her logic is evident in Grace's disclosure, something that would fundamentally shatter Alida's sense of superiority.  I think that Wharton's exploration of this condition of human beings is a serious effort.  The idea of proceeding with life without humility can end up being a disastrous endeavor.