The characters of “Roman Fever” have a superficial friendship full of underlying tension and deception that is exacerbated by their lifelong battle for the same man (Gawthrop). The competition between women peaks when a decades-old secret is revealed. Gawthrop says, “This battle of the two women for the integrity of their own status . . . [e]nds with the complete victory of the woman who has appeared to be the weak, passive creature.” Alida thinking herself above Grace had ultimately married the man they both loved, but was undermined by the hidden truth that Barbara was, in fact, Delphins daughter from an affair set up by Alida herself.
