Discuss how dramatic irony plays out in "Roman Fever." What is the full story that neither Mrs. Slade nor Mrs. Ansley knows? What prompts the two...

In Edith Wharton's "Roman Fever," the two women have secrets they've kept from each other for years. The dramatic irony is that the reader has access to each woman's inner thoughts, so we know that they are keeping secrets before the characters reveal it to each other. This dramatic irony amplifies the story's tension and makes the ending much more powerful.

The full story the women don't know is that Delphin did not write the...

In Edith Wharton's "Roman Fever," the two women have secrets they've kept from each other for years. The dramatic irony is that the reader has access to each woman's inner thoughts, so we know that they are keeping secrets before the characters reveal it to each other. This dramatic irony amplifies the story's tension and makes the ending much more powerful.

The full story the women don't know is that Delphin did not write the letter Mrs. Ansley has held so dear all of those years; also, Mrs. Slade didn't know that her husband (then fiancé) actually met Mrs. Ansley at the Colosseum and she became pregnant with his child.

The women reveal this information to each other because they have kept it secret for so long and can't keep it in anymore. They are dying to say what they know and put the other in her place. So, the urge to tell comes from a place of pettiness and revenge.