The Oval Portrait
Edgar Allan Poe
v
January
19, 1809 – October 7, 1849), Boston, Massachusetts, USA
v
Was an
American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic.
v
best
known for his poetry and short stories (mystery and macabre-causing a fear of
death)
v
a central
figure of Romanticism an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual
movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century in the
United States and of American literature
v
the
inventor of the detective fiction genre (contributed to Science
Fiction)
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Orphaned
in 1811, poor and ill health,
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Joined
the US Army, 1827, court martialled, 1830, reason-neglect of duty
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Failed
to earn a living by writing, became alcoholic, lost wife in 1847 (commemorated
in his poem Annabel Lee)
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Famous
for dark and mysterious poems and stories
v
His
famous works of Arts:
o The Raven (1845)-the best known poems by him
o The Black Cat, The Fall of the House of Usher
o The Murder in the Rue Morgue (1841), the first
detective story
About the Story
The Oval Portrait is a short story by the American horror
writer Edgar Allan Poe. It first appeared in print, under the title "Life
in Death', in Graham's Magazine of Philadelphia in 1842.
It was published again, as "The Oval Portrait", in the April 26, 1845
issue of the New York City newspaper The Broadway Journal. Two
paragraphs were removed from the story before its publication in The
Broadway Journal. "The Oval Portrait" is the shortest of all
of Poe's published stories. The story concerns a man who spends the night in an
abandoned chateau which he has not visited before. For reasons which he cannot
fully explain, he becomes fascinated by a portrait of a young woman that he
sees there. This is a short horror story about the relationship between art and
life, through the narrator's encounter with the oval portrait of a young woman
in a chateau (castle) in the Apennines ( a mountain range in Italy)
Type of Work:
“The Oval Portrait" is a short story with
Gothic overtones. It is a revision of an earlier Poe story, "Life in
Death," published in Grahams Magazine in April 1842. Poe improved the
story and published the new version, "The Oval Portrait," for the
first time in the April 26, 1845, issue of The Broadway Journal.
Setting:
The time is the first half of the nineteenth
century. The place is a chateau in the Apennines, a mountain range in central
Italy.
Characters:
Narrator -
Wounded man who takes refuge with his valet in an abandoned chateau in Italy.
As he settles into an apartment, he believes he is beginning to develop
symptoms of delirium as a result of his injury.
Pedro- Narrator's
valet
Woman in the Portrait- Young wife who dies when
her husband neglects her
Painter -
Famous artist and husband of the woman in the portrait. He is so obsessed with
his work that he ignores his wife. When painting her portrait, he sees her as
an object to be captured on canvas, not as a woman who yearns for his love.
Point of View:
The narrator tells the story in first- person
point of view. However, when presenting the history of the oval portrait, he
quotes directly from a book that he finds in the apartment of the chateau. The
quotation begins with these words: "She was a maiden of rarest beauty. . .
." The rest of the story consists entirely of a continuation of the
quotation.
The Narrators
Wound:
The "Oval Portrait" provides no details
about the narrators wound. However, in
the first version of the story, entitled “Life in Death,” Poe wrote in the
opening paragraph that the narrator had suffered the wound in a confrontation
with bandits. In addition, he wrote that the narrator swallowed opium to
alleviate the fever caused by the wound. In the revised final version of the
story, he deleted the opening paragraph, apparently believing that the narrator's
use of opium would destroy his credibility, rendering his tale as the product
of opium-induced intoxication.
Climax:
The climax occurs when the account in the book
reveals that the lifelike portrait of the young lady is absorbing her vitality.
Themes:
Obsession.......The artist becomes so engrossed
in his work that he completely ignores his wife. Pining for his love, she dies.
Fatal Love.......Like a moth attracted to a
flame, the young lady is attracted to an artist who burns with passion. But his
passion is for his work, not for her. Nevertheless, she remains at his side—in
the glow of his fire, as it were—and dies.
Submissiveness.......The book the narrator reads
says the young lady “was humble and obedient, and sat meekly [for the painting]
for many weeks in the dark, high turret-chamber.” Even though her husband
regards her as a mere object—like a bowl of fruit or a flower—“she smiled on
and still on, uncomplainingly.”
Figures of Speech:
Following are
examples of figures of speech in the story:
The chateau . . . was one of those
piles of commingled gloomed grandeur, manifold and multiform armorial trophies:
Alliteration.
Tongues of a tall
candelabrum: Metaphor comparing candle wicks to tongues.
She a maiden of
rarest beauty . . . and frolicsome as the young fawn: Simile comparing the young lady to a fawn.
And in sooth some who beheld the portrait spoke
of its resemblance in low words, as of a mighty marvel, and a proof not less of
the power of the painter than of his deep love for her whom he depicted so
surpassingly well: Irony, in that observers believe the painting testifies to
the artists love for his wife.
The spirit of the lady again flickered up as the
flame within the socket of the lamp: Simile comparing the lady’s spirit to a
flame.
Vocabulary and
Allusions:
Arabesque: Symmetrical
pattern of intertwining lines in the style of architecture in Arab countries.
The pattern may resemble flowers, leaves, animals, or other familiar objects.
Filigreed: Adorned with wire
of gold, silver, or another metal that is twisted to form a pattern resembling
lace.
Gilded: Overlaid with a
thin layer of gold.
Moresque: In the style of
the Moors, nomadic Muslims of North Africa.
When they occupied Spain, they constructed buildings with complex
tracery.
Sully: Thomas Sully
(1783-1872), a London-born American painter of elegant portraits. Among his
subjects was England's Queen Victoria (1819-1901), who reigned from 1937 to
1901.
Turret: Small tower built into a wall of a castle
or another edifice, such as a mansion. Its roof is cone-shaped.
Vignette: Painted portrait
or photograph without a border. The outer parts of the image gradually fade
into the background. The painting of the young lady in "The Oval
Portrait" is a vignette. The narrator says of the portrait, "The
arms, the bosom, and even the ends of the radiant hair melted imperceptibly
into the vague yet deep shadow which formed the back-ground of the whole."
Summary of the
story
The story's unnamed narrator has been
wounded. So as not to leave his injured master outside, the narrator's valet
Pedro breaks into a chateau. The chateau appears to have been recently
abandoned. The narrator and Pedro settle down for the night in a small
apartment in a remote turret of the chateau. The room is decorated with antique
tapestries and shields as well as with more modern paintings. It is those
paintings which chiefly fascinate the narrator. On his bed, the narrator finds
a small book which describes all of the paintings in the room. Pedro falls asleep. The narrator moves the
candle next to his bed so that he can see his book better. The candle then
casts light on a portrait in a corner of the room which the narrator had not
noticed before. The picture is in an oval frame. It depicts the head and
shoulders of a young woman. The narrator acknowledges that the painting is very
well executed and that its subject is beautiful. He feels, however, that there
is something else about the portrait that fascinates him. He looks at it for an
hour. He is startled at first by how lifelike the painting is. He eventually
finds that fact appalling. He moves his candle again so that he cannot see the
picture. He reads about the portrait in his book.
The narrator reads that the subject of the
portrait was the artist's wife. Art was her only rival for her husband's
affections and he appeared to care more for art than for her. For that reason,
she came to resent art. She agreed, however, to pose for the portrait. The
portrait was painted in a room in a high turret that was lit only from above.
It took many weeks to complete the portrait and the artist often spent many
hours at a time working on it. While he was painting, the artist spent more
time looking at the canvas than at his wife. He did not notice that she was
growing weaker, as if the life were going out of her and into the painting.
When the portrait was completed, the artist was amazed by the quality of his
own work and exclaimed, "This is indeed Life itself!" He then looked
at his wife and saw that she was dead.
Exercises
Understanding the
Text:
Answer these questions.
a. Where did the narrator and his servant make
forcible entrance?
Ans:- The narrator and his
servant (valet) made a forcible entrance to a lately abandoned Chateau in Apennines.
b. Which special picture did the narrator notice in the room?
Ans:- The narrator noticed an
oval shaped portrait of a young girl painted in a vignette manner.
c. Describe the portrait that the narrator saw in
the room.
Ans:- The portrait the narrator
saw in the room was of a woman painted in vignette manner. The arms, the bosom, and end of the
radiant hair melted in the deep shadowed background. The frame was an oval
shaped painted in gold color and ornamented in Moresque.
d. What is the relationship between the portrait
painter and its subject?
Ans:- The painter who painted
the portrait was of his newly married wife of him. The painter was passionate,
studious, austere and very much obsessed in portrait painting. His was so much
beautiful and was full of glee. She loved everything except the art and
considered it as her rival but at last she was defeated. The painter lost in
day dreaming forgetting the reality. He was trying to bring a life in his life,
and finally when he was able portrait a life like art, his wife died.
Reference beyond
the Text
a. What is the central theme of the story? Who is
the woman depicted in the oval portrait?
Ans:-
The Oval Portrait is the shortest story of an American writer Edgar Allan Poe,
published in 26 April, 1842 in the
Broadway Journal. The central theme of this horror story is about the relationship
between art and life. Art is a highly diverse range of human activities engaged
in creating visual, auditory, or performed artifacts— artworks—that
expresses the author’s imaginative or technical skill, and is intended to be
appreciated for their beauty or emotional power. But in this story, art has
depicted having a destructive power, because in the process of making a real
life like portrait of the painter's wife, it takes her life. Though the art has
tremendous power to make anyone restless and has become able to draw a deep
attention, which is the power of the artist, the addiction and very much
obsession of the painter have left the painter unnoticed of his dying
wife. Art brings happiness to both the
creator and the observer but if it is done wrongly it takes someone's life. The
portrait painter in this story has made his wife's portrait so skillfully as he
was totally obsessed in his execution of the art. But the very obsession has
caused his wife to die. Everything has positive and negative effects. In this
art also there are positive and negative effects. The positive effects of the
art are it is very much near to reality. It can deceive any one. But the
negative thing is, it has a destructive power. In the oval portrait, the woman
depicted is the newly married beautiful wife of the painter. She loved him so
much and was very much submissive to him but the painter regarded here merely
as an object for his painting.
b. "The Oval Portrait" is a short
horror story by Edgar Allan Poe involving the disturbing circumstances
surrounding a portrait in a chateau. Elaborate.
Ans:- The Oval Portrait is a
short horror story By Edgar Allan Poe. The opening paragraph of the story which
describes the setting of the story, suggests the disturbing circumstances surrounding
the portrait in a chateau. The portrait, the wounded narrator found in a turret
of the chateau in the Apennines, was of the young woman of the painter. Though
the chateau was very much artistic in outer and inner decorations, it was abandoned
and was not cared. There was no one and was like a ghost house. Much of the
things inside the chateau were valuable and antique but they were fading out
and were in a poor condition. There were many arts and architectures but
regarded as valueless things. The painting was hung in a wall of a remote
turret of the chateau. It was not easily visible to the visitor as it was
ignored. The lifelike and very much powerful portrait was put in valueless
environment reducing its value.
c. "The Oval Portrait" suggests that
the woman's beauty condemns her to death. Discuss.
Ans:- The Oval Portrait by
Edgar Allan Poe is a short story about the relationship between art and life but the story has many suggestions one
of which is the woman's beauty condemns her to death. When read the complete story, we come to know
that the death of the young woman was because of her beauty. She was so much
beautiful as it is said, "She was a maiden of rarest beauty..." in the
story and her husband wanted to make a portrait of her. He was very much
passionate in portrait painting and was engrossed make a resemblance between
the portrait on his canvas and his wife.
His wife was also obsessed with him and loved so much so she accepted to
an object of his painting. It took weeks
to complete the portrait as he was dedicated to bring a life in his art. During
the execution, he thought his wife only as an object. He forgot that she was a
human and could be ill or dead for sitting in a dark room for a long time. When
he finishes his work and cries, "This is indeed life itself!"
meanwhile she dies. The sole cause of her death is beauty. If she was not so much
beautiful, her husband would not desire to make her portrait and she would not
have died.
d. Discuss the story as a frame narrative (a
story within a story).
Ans:- 'The Oval Portrait' is a
short gothic story written by an American writer Edgar Allan Poe. As far as the
writing style of the story is concerned, it is written in Frame Narrative
style. It is one of the oldest literary styles. The main narrative works as a
picture frame of another story and has a connection. The main story is told
from the point of view of the narrator, a wounded person, who enters into an
abandoned chateau in the Apennines. The narrator is with his valet, and he describes
the outer and inner environment of the chateau, wonders to see the art and
architecture there, and finds a mysterious portrait of a young woman. The
narrator observes the painting and finds a volume in he finds the history of
the painting. The story of the painting is included within the main story by
the writer using framing technique. There is a story of the portrait within the
story of the wounded narrator. The portrait is of a beautiful wife of the
portrait painter. The painter is very much addicted to his work so while making
the portrait of his wife; he forgets to draw his attention to his dying wife.
He is very much obsessed to bring a real like portrait of his wife. He desires to
reflect the incredible beauty of his wife. As soon as he finishes his work, his
wife dies of poor heath condition for sitting several weeks in dark room.
e. Which images and symbols do you find in the
story?
Ans:- Here in this story, we
find various images and symbols. The writer has used images to present his
horror elements beautifully here in this story where there is immense use of
darkness and light. The image of desolate Chateau in the Apennines has created
beginning thriller for the audience.
Similarly, the image of two visitors in the dark desolate setting has
increased the reader's curiosity. Inside
the Chateau, the writer has used many images to present the setting of
apartments, torrent etc. Here, we find various images as dark rooms, wall
tapestries, trophies, the oval painting among other paintings, candelabrum,
book, rays of light etc. The historical background of the oval portrait also
has presented the image of the painter and his wife in a high torrent of the
Chateau. The perfect use of images has this story with gothic elements
beautifully. Like images, the symbols also have played a vital role to
understand this story in its deeper level. The oval portrait symbolizes
mortality of love and immortality of art. This portrait has snatched the life
of its main subject (painter's wife). Her love for her husband leads her to
death whereas her husband passion for artwork has snatched her life and made
him immortal in his artwork. Next symbol which we find here is the time during
artwork. This time during artwork symbolizes the painter's obsession where he
has forgotten everything around him and led his wife to the death.
Frames, both
physical and abstract, play a major role in “The Oval Portrait,” symbolizing
the danger of trying to capture and exercise ownership over physical beauty.
The framed portrait of the artist’s wife represents a kind of
metaphorical imprisonment—the physical frame is symbolically similar to the
walls of a prison cell wherein only the young woman’s outer beauty, rather than
her inner self, is essentially held captive for the viewer’s appreciation. In
this sense, the frame also represents the general objectification she faced as
a physically attractive woman, since the story implies that men (including her
own husband) viewed her as nothing but a beautiful sight to look at, as opposed
to a complex individual. At the end of the story, it is revealed that the
artist’s wife died while he was preoccupied with painting her portrait and
deeming it as “Life itself.” In light of this, the frame around her
picture encapsulates the danger of conflating life with art, as the young
woman’s essence is now limited solely to the confines of this frame, and thus
her husband’s idealized interpretation of her. Yet her actual, real-life beauty
and the nuances of her personality were consequently lost forever in the
process.
f. What does the expression "She was
dead!" mean?
Ans:- The short
horror story "The Oval Portrait" ends with two main expressions,
"This is indeed life itself!"
and "She was dead!" The first expression is made by the painter in
excitement when he finds his painting to be perfect and life like art. He has
been successful to paint such a perfect art which deceives people to be a real
face of his wife. He finds a life there. But the last expression is just
reverse in which the death of the painter's wife is disclosed. This was the
shocking moment of losing a real life in the process of bringing a life in art.
He was very much addicted to his work of art for bringing the perfection with
the help of his pallet and brushes. His was sat meekly and submissively on a
chair for weeks being an object for her husband's paining. Because of continuous
sitting in a dark room, her health condition became worst dying inside with the
glow of her husband's passion for his art. He was very much satisfied with his
art ignoring the condition of his wife. He considered his wife merely an object
for his painting. But in a miserable condition burning inside she died. In the
process of installing a life in his art, his obsession has taken a life of his
wife.
Reference beyond the Text
a. Do you think there is life in art?
Ans:- Art means the expression or application of
human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as
painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their
beauty or emotional power. In contrast life means continuation of showing
living process in any organisms and plants. Literally we don't see any sign of
life in art. It is just a production of human imagination and creative skills
having beauty and emotional attachments.
Life is just opposite of death or living thing. But art is nonliving
thing. So I think there is no life in art. But the aesthetic beauty in any art
gives happiness in our life. In a philosophic level, having a life in art
means, immortalizing it with perfection. When any work of art reaches close to
its object, draws emotional attachment and deceives the observers, then it is
considered having a life in it.
b. As a thing of art nothing could be more
admirable that the painting itself. Explain.
Ans:- Creating of various
things employing creative skills and imagination is called art. Photography,
sculpting, painting etc. are art called art works. Painting is one of the
famous and admirable form of art existed since the beginning of human
civilizations. The artist works hard forgetting the real world to deceive the
observers attracting them emotionally. It gives us history, lifestyle, and
other facts related to the time when it was made. 'The Oval Portrait' is also
about art. It gives us glimpse of the
time, the art and architecture of the 13th and 14th century Europe. The
narrator describes inner arts and architectures of the chateau. All of them are
admirable. But the most admirable thing the narrator finds is the oval portrait
of a young woman hung on the wall of a turret. In comparison to the portrait,
nothing is more admirable than it is. The portrait is amazing made in vignette
style. The framing of the portrait is outstanding so the narrator is vehemently
moved by it. The beauty and life likeliness of the portrait made the narrator
restless. The secret of the painting triggered the narrator to find out it's
history- the object of the painting and the painter.
c. A more intense look at the painting reveals
the illusion. Have you noticed any such painting?
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