Eventually, Alida reveals a secret about a letter written to Grace on a visit to Rome twenty-five years ago.
In fact, Alida forged the letter in an attempt to send Grace on a fruitless outing and expose her "delicate throat" to the "deathly cold."
Mrs. Ansley is upset at this revelation, but explains that she was not left alone at the Colosseum; she responded to the letter, and Delphin arrived to meet her.
The story takes place in the afternoon through sunset, in the city of Rome, at a restaurant overlooking the Forum.
The setting illustrates the power and class from which the women hail, but the Old Rome context, such as the Colosseum, insinuates Roman Empire-style intrigue.
Rather than focusing on the answers provided by Grace's and Alida's revelations in the story's concluding pages, Wheeler foregrounds the way in which "Wharton forces upon the reader numerous unanswerable questions.
In the opening paragraphs of the story, we hear her "mocking voice in the stairway" as she and Jenny Slade depart.
Headwaiter: Supervising waiter at the terrace restaurant overlooking the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, and other ancient ruins.
Power struggle for those in the upper classes: Engaged to Delphin Slade, Alida suspects that Grace might try to steal him from her.
Alida tries to remove Grace from the picture by forging Delphin's signature on a letter inviting the latter to a nighttime rendezvous at the Colosseum.
Betrayal and deception: As a young woman, Mrs. Slade used subterfuge and machination in order to improve her marriage prospects.
One of Wharton's most anthologized stories, "Roman Fever" is the subject of numerous critical studies as outlined in the partial bibliography provided below.
“‘I had Barbara’: Women’s Ties and Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever.’” Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 17.3 (Fall 2006): 37-51.
A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts.
23-37. http://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/ir/bitstream/1840.16/191/1/etd.pdf Ellison, Kristie L., "Make War, Not Love: Exploring Female Equality in Edith Wharton's 'Roman Fever.'
Gill, Linda L. “Structuralism and Edith Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever’.” Short Stories in the Classroom.
Hemm, Ashley, "Countering Traditional Mating Strategies: Female Serial Monogamy in Edith Wharton's 'The Other Two' and 'Roman Fever.'"
“Edith Wharton, Henry James, and ‘Roman Fever.’” Journal of the Short Story in English (Autumn 1995): 21-31.
Das Korsett im Kopf: Ehe und Ökonomie in den Kurzgeschichten Edith Whartons.
“Visualizing Material Culture in Ethan Frome and ‘Roman Fever.’” Presentation at the Edith Wharton and History Conference.
“Roman Fever.” A Handbook of Analyses, Questions, and a Discussion of Technique for Use with Modern Short Stories: The Uses of Imagination.
“A Twist of Crimson Silk: Edith Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever’.” Studies in Short Fiction 24.2 (1987): 163-166.
Salzman, Jack, Pamela Wilkinson, et al. “Slade, Alida.” Major Characters in American Fiction.
Gema Castillo García, Rosa Cabellos Castilla, Juan Antonio Sánchez Jiménez, Vincent Carlisle Espinola.
Tyler, Lisa L. “Wandering Women and the Dangers of Contagion in Edith Wharton’s The Old Maid and ‘Roman Fever.” MLA Conference.
“The Attack on Realism: Edith Wharton’s In Morocco and ‘Roman Fever.’” “Modernist” Women Writers and Narrative Art.
[9] Robert Ward's opera adaptation (with libretto by Roger Brunyate) premiered in 1993 at Duke University.
[10] Hungarian composer Gyula Fekete's opera Roman Fever ("with additional lyrics by Lisa Radetski") premiered in 1996 at Budapest's Merlin Theatre.
Philip Hagemann's 1989 one act opera based on Wharton's story has been performed as recently as 2003 in New York at the Lincoln Center's Clark Studio and in 2024 at the Susie Sainsbury Theatre, Royal Academy of Music, London.
[12][13] An extensive accounting of the story's adaptation history can be found by consulting the scholarship of Scott Marshall (1998),[14] Hermione Lee (2008),[15] and Daniel Hefko (2016).