The Facade of Friendship in Edith Wharton’s Short Story, "Roman Fever"

The largest piece of irony comes in the form of Mrs. Slade’s attempt to get Mrs. Ansley killed. Alisa sends Grace to the

A pleasant day in Rome comes to a close. Two friends discuss life on a balcony; their conversation reveals the parallelism of the women, their daughters, and their lives. However, as their discussion unfolds, it exposes the antipathy brewing between these women who describe themselves as friends. Using various objects and actions as symbols throughout her short story “Roman Fever,” author Edith Wharton manages to achieve compression and clearly display the waning goodwill between the women.

Alida came forward to Grace and said she had written the letter that was assumed to be from Mr. Slade. Although Alida thought Grace would go out alone, she was wrong, Grace confirmed the unofficial date to the colosseum and sneakily went to meet her friend's fiancé. She hid a relationship with Mr. Slade and did so in a manner that wasn't acceptable. Grace only thought about herself and acted foolishly to risk a friendship.

The book shows us how the Romans felt about being Roman. The pride that they had in their country. They were Romans first and foremost, and then individuals second. Hamilton tries to convey the fact that even as different as these authors were in their writings, they all shared a common thread. She states that their differences are superficial compared to their resemblances.

Change in Roman Fever by Edith Wharton Chance (or coincidence) has an ambiguous role in the outcome of different situations; it can work in or against one’s favour. As in real life, chance in literature has considerable influence on the circumstances of the characters and where those circumstances lead. In two particular literary works, Roman Fever and A Small, Good Thing, chance happenings have grave results on the lives of the characters concerned. In Roman Fever, old friends meet by chance and reveal disturbing secrets about the past; while in A Small, Good Thing a boy is injured on his birthday placing his parents in a desperate situation. Although chance generally seems to go unnoticed—a spontaneous purchase of candles,

Within The Miller’s Tale, Alisoun could almost be considered passive with her agreement to be with Nicholas, but again, she manages to be

The Timeless Shakespeare Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the tragic story of famous archetype lovers, has become an important part of culture today. Though more often than not overlooked is the influence of its themes and intelligence held in the writing style, and the imprint it has left. In modern day connotation, Romeo and Juliet is merely a theme used to describe “petty” love at first sight. Shakespeare’s play includes poetry, advanced vocabulary, and so much more, resulting in it being a required reading for freshman English classes. It is arguable that with times changing so should the required curriculum, in a forever advancing society, why read a 400 year old story?

These three short stories encompass Ancient England’s idea of courtly love through the practices of chivalry between knights and noblemen. The Franklin’s Tale discusses the love triangle of a courageous knight named Arveragus, a beautiful young lady named Dorigen, and the most handsome nobleman named Aurelius. Arveragus and Dorigen wed, but Arveragus must leave for two years for work. During this time Dorigen becomes lonely, and Aurelius decides to attempt to win her over.

"However, he never turned his back on her, in fact the only time he talked to her with even a bit of disgust is the "what exactly do you want from me" when she started commenting on his relationship with Gia (and damn that was wrong from someone who hurt Elijah and she still had the guts to even mention it)."

As Alce arrives at Calixta’s house he is overcome by his past feelings for her. The way he depicts her blue eyes and their “melting quality” allows the reader to understand his passion for Calixta. Although he is filled with infatuation and desire for her, he originally hides his feelings. Knowing that she is married and knowing that he will not be able to control himself around her, Alce “[expresses] an intention to remain outside” on the porch. After realizing that the storm will be too violent to remain outside, Alce considerately assists Calixta in the retrieval of her laundry and ushers her inside to safety. While inside, he tries to keep his distance, but when Calixta begins to cry because of her overwhelming sense of worry for the safety of her child and husband Alce, innocently and instinctively, steps in to put her worried mind at rest. He offers her comforting words that are full of care and concern. As she relaxes into his soothing words, it is brought to their attention that a spark of fiery passion has been ignited. As they partake in their fervent affair Alce is overtaken by his feelings from the past in which he would have to refrain himself with all his might because of the respect that he had for Calixta. He envisioned her as “an immaculate dove” and because of his compassionate manner he did not want to tarnish her, but protect her purity and

Roman Fever was a very interesting read. It was short but it was very easy to understand, and to follow. I believe the theme to this story is to be thankful for what you have, and stay humble. Some people take the things have for granted, and some people are not as humble as they should be. For example, there are many people who are upper class, and are not humble for what they have at all. Being wealthy is definitely something you can be proud about; however I believe there should be a point where you should realize you have to stay humble. Knowing how important and successful you are is great, but I don’t believe it should be rubbed into people’s faces. There are also people that take what they have for granted, Allen Iverson is one

“Roman Fever”, written by Edith Wharton, is a short story with an unpredictable ending. Two “middle aged” widows, Grace Ansley and Alida Slade, have come across each other unexpectedly in a Roman restaurant. The outcome of envy and jealousy on each other began with wanting to conquer one man, Delphin Slade. A conversation has begun once the daughters “leave the young things to their knitting”, later leaving the reader astonished (Wharton 1). In “Roman Fever”, the strained friendship results from the envy and jealousy of one another.

Readers sometimes wonder why certain characters have the relationships they do with other characters. The relationships can lead to good outcomes or can take a different turn. Often, the interaction between two certain characters can cause problems to advance with poor outcomes, a theme to be created, and leading one to a tragic downfall. In the play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus and Cassius’ relationship is one that takes a different turn.

Friendship is an idea which spans all cultures, but is expressed differently across cultural boundaries. In William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, the idea of friendship is critical, not only to the plot, but also for character development. A friend is, “A person with whom one has developed a close and informal relationship of mutual trust and intimacy; (more generally) a close acquaintance. Often with adjective indicating the closeness of the relationship, asbest, good, close, etc.”(Oxford ) Friendship is the display of trust and intimacy as well as caring for one another. Antonio and Bassanio are the best of friends. Although both Antonio and Bassanio’s characters possess different motivations for their actions, it is their strong

Eve was the softer of the two friends, but whenever Shirley got under her skin, she got fired up. She couldn’t let wrong-mindedness and messed-up thinking pass, wouldn’t compromise principle. Eve wouldn’t stop herself from saying what she needed to say when she needed to say it, lest a twisted notion keep itself hidden and locked away in Shirley’s mind, and then spring up like a jack-in-the-box nightmare, playing out a terrifying relational scenario because she didn’t say no when she needed