How Does Wharton Present Situational Irony In Roman Fever

Roman Fever, a short story written by Edith Wharton, exposes the dysfunctional relationship of two old friends, Mrs. Alida Slade and Mrs. Grace Ansley. Out to lunch, the two ladies talk superficially of their daughters and the recent events, however their conversation takes a turn for the worst when Mrs. Slade proudly confesses of the time she wrote Mrs. Ansley a letter in her husband’s name asking her to meet him. However unbeknownst to Mrs. Slade, this plan actually backfired as she did not actually intend for them to meet, and they did indeed meet. 9 months later Mrs. Ansley was given her daughter Barbara. Throughout the short story, Wharton strategically uses irony to expose the ludicrousness of the situations the women put themselves in

Perrine defines situational irony as the “discrepancy between...expectation and fulfillment” (360 Arp); Mrs. Slade expected that the letter would keep the Mr. Slade and Mrs. Ansley apart, however this was not fulfilled and it in reality brought the two together. Had it not been for the letter and Mrs. Slade’s malicious intentions, Mrs. Ansley and Mr. Slade may never have met up. Furthermore, Mrs. Slade had a daughter of her own with her husband Mr. Slade, however she described her as being too perfect, “perplexing” and “boring”, she was envious of Mrs. Ansley because Barbara had an “edge”. Thus, Mrs. Slade did not care for her own daughter that she had with Mr. Slade, however she was fond of the daughter her husband had with someone else. However, Mrs. Slade did not envy Mrs. Ansley in all respects, in fact another inclusion of situational irony was Mrs. Slade’s pity for Mrs. Ansley because she viewed Mrs. Ansley’s life as being so uninteresting, when in reality Mrs. Ansley’s life was it epitome of interesting. Unbeknownst to Mrs. Slade, Mrs. Ansley had stolen away with her husband, gotten pregnant and had harbored the secret since, interesting in an