Mrs. Slade, Mrs. Ansley, and the Pursuit of Superiority

I think that the short story "Roman Fever" is built on the concept of binary opposition. Both Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley are essentially fighting over who is the subject and who is the object in the situation. Mrs. Slade makes herself believe that she was the crazy, more vivid of the two. She sees this as a way of establishing herself as the superior individual of the two. Mrs. Ansley, however, admits that Mrs. Slade is "...awfully brilliant; but not as brilliant as she thinks"on page 45, showing that though she believes her friend is a great individual, but also hints at the fact that Mrs. Slade has a bloated ego. Mrs. Ansley also adds that she believes that Mrs. Slade has had a sad life "full of failures and mistakes" on page 46, which demonstrates that Mrs. Ansley still believes she is superior to Mrs. Slade. Through this battle to be the subject, not the object of the relationship causes the affair fiasco to be released in order to help Mrs. Slade feel better about herself. Instead of doing this, however, the whole situation actually shows that Mrs. Ansley was equal to Mrs. Slade as she slept with Delphin, Mrs. Slade's husband. Through all their quarreling they fail to recognize they can both be subjects, as they are very much equals.