美國女作家伊荻絲．渥頓的短篇小說＜羅馬熱＞，是一段在兩位閨中密友間埋藏 多年之秘密揭露的過程。短短數頁篇幅中，展現了無比的張力，乍看是一次閑靜的午後話家 常，卻牽連出好友相互欺騙背叛、丈夫不忠、甚至遺留下一私生女的事實。而張力的顯現， 居功至偉的莫過於是作者精心舖設的眾多象徵了。看似不經意的安排，卻隱含了無限深義。 此項用心，小至作者運用文字的種種修飾法、各角色名稱，大至小說標題，均可見一斑。由 此角度剖析這篇小說，也使得分析跳脫原本字面上的桎梏，進而獲致更深層的意義。

　　　　　"Roman Fever," one of Edith Wharton's best-known short stories to depict the exposure of a secret concealed many years about a tryst between a wife's husband and her confidant and more, an illegitimate daughter, has been discussed and examined from different approaches such as a feminist method. Through analyzing the figures of speech, the names of characters, the setting and the title, the report below is intended to offer still another way of analysis, that is, to regard those elements mentioned as various symbols so as to explore the undermeaning conveyed behind them and thus obtain the higher allegorical level of this story.