The Oval Portrait
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| Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) |
About the Author
· American writer, poet, literary critic and editor
· Best known for his poetry and short stories
· Considered the inventor of the detective fiction
· Credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction
· Famous for his dark and mysterious poems and stories
What is the story about?
The oval portrait is a story of an artist who wants to make a painting of his young wife, but becomes so obsessed with it that he doesn’t realize his wife is dying meanwhile. 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 in the Apennines.
Characters
The narrator
The narrator who is unnamed and wounded is the main character of this story. When he arrives at the castle, it is already night. As he is wounded, he is in an obvious disturbed mental state. As the story progresses, he becomes more distressed until his mind puts focus on how the young woman dies.
The young girl
The young girl is the painter’s wife just ripening into womanhood. She becomes the subject of her husband’s painting. The narrator becomes enchanted with the skilled painting of her. She becomes the object of narrator’s affection despite her miserable death. She is charmingly pretty and humble and obedient as she sat uncomplaining for weeks for the portrait.
The painter
The painter is passionate, studious and wild to some extent. He speaks of his desire to portray even his young bride ignoring her feelings and desire. He convinces her to pose for him to paint her portrait. While painting he becomes so obsessed with his work that he doesn’t notice his wife dying. When he stops for admiring his artwork, he is bereft over his loss.
Plot
· The narrator and his valet named Pedro arrive at an abandoned chateau. As the narrator is wounded, they entered the chateau (castle/mansion) without permission
· They reach the smallest and least impressively furnished apartment but decorated with paintings, trophies, tapestry
· The narrator spends night looking at paintings and reading about them
· The narrator’s eyes scan a portrait of a young girl just ripening into womanhood
· He knows well that the young lady saw, loved and wedded the painter – this brings bad luck on her life.
· The painter speaks of his desire of portraying his bride and starts doing that instantly
· The painter paints so obsessively that he doesn’t realise her pain, discomfort and passage of time
· He keeps on painting the portrait of young woman who died unknowingly
· The painter is bereft over his loss
Understanding the text
Answer these questions
a. Where did the narrator and his servant make forcible entrance?
The narrator and his servant made forcible entrance into the chateau located in the Apennines in Italy. They entered the temporarily and lately abandoned chateau for he was wounded and couldn’t pass the night in the open air.
b. Which special picture did the narrator notice in the room?
The narrator noticed a picture all unnoticed before in the vivid light. It was the portrait of a young girl just ripening into womanhood. The frame of the portrait was oval. According to the speaker the painting was really admirable.
c. Describe the portrait that the narrator saw in the room.
The portrait was of a young girl just ripening into womanhood. Its frame was oval, richly golden in colour and delicately decorated in Moorish design. The portrait was mere head and shoulders, done in what is called technically termed a vignette manner. The arms, the bosom and even the ends of the radiant hair formed the background of the whole body of the girl.
d. What is the relationship between the portrait painter and its subject?
The relationship between the portrait painter and its subject is that of husband and wife. The passionate painter speaks of his desire to portray her even she was his young bride. As she was humble and obedient, she sat gently for many weeks to death.
Reference to the context
a. What is the central theme of the story? Who is the woman depicted in the portrait?
The one of the most dominant themes of the story is ‘Art before Life’. The Oval Portrait depicts the narrator’s horror a painter who is excessively obsessed with his painting to realize his wife is dying. The author plays the irony up that the painting is very lifelike, yet his wife is dying. He noticed the fact too late and stepped back from his work and said ‘This is indeed Life itself!’. For him art seems to be prior to his young wife’s pleasures, desire and even her life.
The woman depicted in the portrait is the painter’s newly wedded bride who is a maiden of rarest beauty and also humble and obedient. Despite her hatred to art, she weds the painter. She is the one who dies giving her pose for her husband to be able to paint her portrait.
b. “The Oval Portrait” is a short horror story by Edgar Allan Poe involving the disturbing circumstances surrounding a portrait in a chateau. Elaborate.
“The Oval Portrait” is short story by Edgar Allan Poe involving the disturbing circumstances surrounding a portrait in a chateau. One of the obvious elements of horror story is a large building with its extraordinary structure. A large castle itself is horrendous and its abandonment and dwelling temporarily in it, still increases horror on the part of the readers.
The castle is in a lonely place as there is no mention of other houses. It is located in the Apennines, which is a mountain range in Italy. The chateau/castle is temporarily abandoned. The room where the portrait found also lies in a remote turret of the building. The description of the room, the location of the castle and the absence of its master are the main disturbing circumstances surrounding a portrait in the chateau.
c. “The Oval Portrait” suggests that the woman’s beauty condemns her to death. Discuss.
“The Oval Portrait” suggests that the woman’s beauty condemns her to death as it happened in the life of young bride. The young bride was really beautiful, so she fell in love with a painter. Though she hates painting she loves the painter. Her husband was so impressed by her beauty that he asked her to pose for him to paint her portrait. He became too preoccupied in his painting to notice his wife is dying. The painter attempts to sketch her beauty on the canvas. If she had not been so beautiful, her husband might not have asked her to pose for him to death. He might not be interested at painting her portrait.
d. Discuss the story as frame narrative (a story within a story).
Frame narrative is a narrative in which one can find another narrative. In the story ‘The Oval Portrait’, the real story of a painter and his subject is mentioned in a volume. The same story is retold by the narrator. In other words, the narrator is framing the tragic story of a painter and his newly married bride who died while her husband was painting his portrait.
According to M H Abraham, a frame story is a preliminary narrative within which one or more of the characters proceeds to tell a series of short narratives.
e. The story is told in a descriptive style, with plenty of imagery and symbolism. Which images and symbols do you find in the story?
Descriptive writing refers to the writing which captures every detail of the place, person or scene. The goal of such style is to immerse the reader in the experience, making them feel like they are there. Descriptive style makes use of imageries that appeal all or one of five senses: sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. It also involves use of symbolism, even simile and metaphor to evoke the mood that is too hard to capture.
The story “The Oval Portrait” is told in descriptive style as it describes the portrait, the room, the chateau and things used to decorate the room. The author makes use of sight imageries to make his description vivid and lifelike. While reading, a reader can see the chateau, trophies, bed, candelabrum, the portrait and the young girl with his mental’s eyes.
The Oval Portrait makes use of conventional or universal symbols. One of the dominant symbols is the oval portrait itself. The portrait symbolizes the whole women who are victimized by the extremists like the painter. The castle is meant to symbolize the place in which we can’t truly be safe. The painter symbolizes an exploiter who is inconsiderate even to dearest one.
f. What does the expression “She was dead!” mean?
The expression “She was dead!” depicts the painter’s realization of his wife’s death in course of posing for her husband to be portrayed herself. After weeks of his painting, the painter takes a moment to admire his work, i. e. the portrait and discovers that his wife is dead. This expression reveals the painter’s anguish, horror and melancholy.
