Text analysis № 2

The story I’m going to analyze is titled “The Oval Portrait”, written by a famous writer, a pioneer of a detective genre, Edgar Allan Poe. His vivid and remarkable manner had a great impact on his readers. Only man who had experienced a lot could realize a human nature so deeply.

The central idea of the story resides in the confusing relationship between art and life. In "The Oval Portrait", art and the addiction to it are ultimately depicted as killers, responsible for the young bride's death. In this context, one can synonymously equate art with death, whereas the relationship between art and life is consequently considered as a rivalry. It takes Poe's theory that poetry as art is the rhythmical creation of beauty, and that the most poetical topic in the world is the death of a beautiful woman.

The events are represented through the eyes and mind of the author-observer. The opening sentence introduces us with the main character, the narrator, who had just arrived at an old abandoned castle in his “desperately wounded condition”. The author tried to convey his suffering with the help of epithet. The events are set in the château, which is “one of those piles of commingled gloom and grandeur which have so long frowned among the Appennines, nor less in fact than in the fancy of Mrs. Radcliffe”. The author mentioned this woman to draw a parallel between what she was writing and the setting of the story. She was a writer best known for her stories about ghosts who lived in old remote castles, which she described very gloomily and ominously. It is a stylistic device called antonomasia. Also with the help of simile – “piles which have frowned”, it was shown the abandonment of the castle.

From the very beginning of the story the author plunged us into the gloomy and mysterious atmosphere in order to convey the tone of loneliness and remoteness of the narration. With the help of epithets and metaphors the author depicted the sumptuousness of interior of the château: “sumptuously furnished apartments”, “rich golden arabesque”, “rich decorations yet tattered and antique”, “tongues of a tall candelabrum”. It helps us to make a vivid image of the setting of the story. “I bade Pedro to close the heavy shutters of the room – since it was already night – to light the tongues of a tall candelabrum which stood by the head of my bed, and to throw open far and wide the fringed curtains of black velvet which enveloped the bed itself». The author also used the archaic words as “turret”, “wrought” and words of bookish style as “hitherto”, “vehemently”, and “purport”. It produced the effect of being there, in that epoch.

With the help of parallel construction – “Long, long I read – and devoutly, devoutly I gazed”, and inversion – “Rapidly and gloriously the hours flew by…”, the author tried to express the interior emotions of the main character and state of environment as their reflection. “The position of candelabrum displeased me, and outreaching my hand with difficulty, rather than disturb my slumbering valet, I placed it so as to throw its rays more fully upon the book”.

The tone of the story varied from a sombre and gloomy in the first part to the lyrical in the second part, when the central character noticed the portrait he hadn’t seen before. “The rays of the numerous candles (for there were many) now fell within a niche of the room which had hitherto been thrown into deep shade by one of the bedposts. I thus saw in vivid light a picture all unnoticed before. It was a portrait of a young girl just ripening into womanhood”. It impressed the hero from the first glance so deep that he couldn’t believe his eyes. “That I now saw aright I could not and would not doubt; for the first flashing of the candles upon that canvas had seemed to dissipate the dreamy stupor which was stealing over my senses, and to startle me at once into waking life”.

The author described the portrait with almost visible admiration and used such epithets as “the ends of radiant hair”, “richly gilded”, “immortal beauty”, “in a vignette manner”, “filigreed in Moresque ”. These words were bolded because the author wanted to pay our attention on the technical merit of the portrait and add to credibility. “It was mere head and shoulders, done…much in the style of the favourite heads of Sully”. The allusion refers us to the famous portraitist of the first half of the XIX century Thomas Sully, which painted more than two thousand portraits.

“I had found the spell of the picture in an absolute life-likeliness of expression…” The author used the compound epithet to convey the main feature that struck the central character.

The tone and atmosphere of the story develop and become more pathetic and dramatic by the third part, when the main hero found the description and origin of the portrait. This is shown with the help of gradation – “finally confounded, subdued, and appalled me”. “With deep and reverent awe I replaced the candelabrum in its former position. The cause of my deep agitation being thus shut from view, I sought eagerly the volume which discussed the paintings and their histories. Turning to the number which designated the oval portrait, I there read the vague and quaint words…” Here the author used the construction rather like one in “Hamlet” of Shakespeare – “the story within the story”.

“She was a maiden of rarest beauty, and not more lovely than full of glee.” With the help of epithets the author emphasized the youth and tenderness of the girl. “And evil was the hour when she saw, and loved, and wedded the painter.” Here stylistic devices are used in convergence. It comprises inversion, polysyndeton, and gradation.

“He, passionate, studious, austere, and having already bride in his Art: she a maiden of rarest beauty, and not more lovely than full of glee; all light and smiles, and frolicsome as the young fawn; loving and cherishing all things; hating only the Art which was her rival; dreading only the pallet and brushes and other untoward instruments which deprived her of the countenance of her lover. Here we also can observe the convergence. It is used to create an effect of a very colorful lady’s character. All her feelings, both good and bad, are very deep. The convergence comprises ellipsis, anti-climax, repetition, metaphor, simile, personification.

The passionate nature of the painter, his unwillingness to tear himself away from his work is reflected in the ascetic furniture of his studio – “dark high turret-chamber where the light dripped upon the pale canvas only from overhead”. With the help of gradation the author conveyed the interior state of the painter – “a passionate, and wild, and moody man, who became lost in reveries”.

Here is the interior conflict in the mind of the girl – the conflict between her love to her husband and hatred to his work. But she was “ humble and obedient” and couldn’t contradict her husband. The painter worked “ from hour to hour, from day to day” to portray her, “so he would not see that the light which fell so ghastly in that lone turret withered the health and the spirits of his bride…” The author used the italic type to make us notice that the painter was so excited and so deep in his thoughts that he didn’t see anything but his work.

“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.” “The labour drew nearer to its conclusion…” By the end of the story the plot develops very fast, the author used a lot of conjunctions and. This repetition cemented the text and added fabulousness. “And he would not see”, “and when many weeks had passed”, “and but little remained to do”, “and one tint upon the eye”, “and then the brush was given”, “and then the tint was placed”, “and the painter stood entranced”.

The climax and denouement are combined together. The painter have finally finished his work and turned to his bride but the life had already left her. It is a very tense and tragic moment. The readers can almost hear a scream of despair and infinite grief that the husband experienced.

“This is indeed Life itself! – he turned suddenly to regard his beloved: She was dead! ”

Manukyants Vera,

Foreign Languages Department student