Critical Response to “Roman Fever”

The following is a sample critical response...

Moonlight as Metaphor

In “Roman Fever,” Edith Wharton employs “moonlight” as a metaphor for romance, danger, and ultimately, to symbolize one of the story’s main characters. That moonlight should represent romance is not surprising. After all, light from the moon can only be seen during the night, a time typically associated with lovers. Wharton uses the moonlight metaphor in relationship with lovers three times in this story. First, the young daughters are reported to be on dates with Italian aviators; Mrs. Ansley speculates, “I suppose they’ll want to wait and fly back by moonlight” (111). Next, Mrs. Slade recalls a story Mrs. Ansley used to tell her involving a great-aunt who dies from malaria. According to the story, this aunt is sent out in the drafty moonlight by her sister “…because they were in love with the same man” (115). Finally, Mrs. Ansley reveals her own moonlight experience, a lover’s tryst with Mrs. Slade’s husband (118).

Moonlight is also associated with danger. Mrs. Slade explains the various types of dangers in saying, “’what different things Rome stands for to each generation of travelers. To our grandmothers, Roman fever; to our mothers, sentimental dangers’” (114). Here, Wharton uses moonlight to represent both the physical risk associated with nighttime excursions (e.g. catching malaria) as well as the possible societal risks (i.e. illicit affairs, tainting one’s reputation).

Ultimately, however, moonlight can be seen as a symbol describing one of the main characters in “Roman Fever,” Mrs. Ansley. Described as “Good-looking, irreproachable, exemplary,” Mrs. Ansley is not a striking individual (112). In fact, compared with her friend, who is “brilliant” and “vivid,” Mrs. Slade is called “the smaller and paler one” of the pair (110). Like moonlight, Mrs. Slade seems dull and understated compared to her brighter, sun-like friend, Mrs. Slade. Though Mrs. Slade is certainly the more outspoken and energetic character throughout the story, she does not hold the most power. In the story’s conclusion, Wharton subverts the two main characters roles by allowing the “paler” character to outwit and outshine her friend. That Mrs. Ansley answers the theoretical love letter and has living proof of the illicit relationship’s consummation proves moonlight serves as a powerful metaphor for romance, danger, and those who take part in both.