Skip to main content

The Oval Portrait (Summary and Analysis)

Image

THE OVAL PORTRAIT

Edgar Allan Poe

Background of Writer 


Name: Edgar Allen Poe

Nationality: American

Date of Birth: January 19, 1809

Death: October 7, 1849 (At the age of 40)

He was a writer, poet, editor and Literary Critic best known for his poetry and short stories.

About this Story

Original Title: Life in Death

Genre(s): Gothic Horror

Publisher: Graham’s Magazine

Publication Date: April 1842

 

This story presents

Relationship between Art and Life

Power of Art

Power of Love

Aesthetic Beauty

 

Symbol and Setting

Setting: A desolate chateau in the Apennines which is the mountain range in central Italy

Symbol: Painting is a symbol of mortality of love and immortality of art

 

Vocabularies

Gothic – go’-thik (belonging to Middle Ages; old-fashioned; nonmodern)

Chateau – sha-tow (an impressive country house or castle in France)

Apennines – a-pu, nInz (a mountain range extending the length of the Italian penisula)

Valet – va,ley (a male servant who acts as a personal attendant to his employer )


Summary 

Characters:

  1. Narrator 
  2. Valet (Pedro)

This Gothic Horror short story The Oval Portrait has been written by an American writer Edgar Allen Poe. The main themes of this story are the relationship between art and life and the destructive power of love.

When the story begins, we find two people at an abandoned Chateau (Sha-tow) in the Apennines (a-pu-nInz) which is a mountain range in central Italy. Among these two people, the main narrator is a wounded person whereas the next one is his valet (male servant) named Pedro.

This story hasn’t provided us with background information related to the narrator’s incidents. The main narrator is unnamed here in this story.

 

Main Plot

When they arrived at a desolate (abandon) Chateau, the narrator wasn’t in a good state. He was desperately wounded. The valet didn’t want his master to stay in open air due to his wounded state. He took the narrator inside Chateau forcibly without anyone’s permission. They chose one of the smallest apartments of Chateau to spend their night.

The apartment had rich but decaying decoration. There were tapestries, trophies and paintings. The narrator kept on watching the paintings. While watching, the interest of the narrator increased so high towards paintings. He asked his valet Pedro to close the heavy shutters of the room. Pedro closed the shutters, lit a candelabrum (branched candlestick; has several lights) and opened the bed curtains for the narrator to study the artwork easily. 

The narrator found a book on his pillow of which there was a description of each painting with history and background. 

The narrator was thoroughly engrossed (engulf; devote fully) to read the book. His valet Pedro slept. He kept on reading the book till midnight. The position of candelabrum disturbed the narrator. He shifted the candelabrum himself without disturbing his valet.

When the light fell upon the painting in a corner that had previously been in shadow, the narrator saw an oval shaped portrait of a young girl who was just ripening into womanhood (recently married). The narrator felt a sudden impulse (urge; a sudden desire) to close his eyes. He did so in order to calm down and view the painting more clearly. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that his senses had momentarily deceived him and startled (surprised) him into wakefulness. 

The painting of the head and shoulders of a young woman in an oval frame startled the narrator because it seemed so life-like.

The narrator looked at the painting more intently (with eager attention) because he was so attracted towards the artistry and beauty of the young woman.

The narrator opened his book again and looked the oval portrait on it. He started reading about the particular painting’s history.

According the history of painting, the beautiful woman on the oval portrait was the wife of a passionate painter. The painter loved his art more than anything. One day, the painter desired to paint his wife’s portrait. She agreed to her husband’s proposal sand sat on a chair obediently in the dim light of torrent. She kept on giving a smiling pose for her husband.

The painter took a long time to paint her portrait. He seemed quite engrossed (captive; absorbed) in his task of painting which went on not only for hours but for weeks. His wife became frailer and more ill sitting on the chair. But she didn’t complain to see her husband’s pleasure in executing the portrait.

During the time of completion, the painter locked himself and his wife into the tower away from visitors so that he could focus on his task of painting. He didn’t realize that his wife grew paler as the portrait grew more lifelike.

Finally, when the painter finished brushing tints over eyes and mouth, he stepped back and stared at his painting and cried in a loud voiced, “This is indeed life itself.” When he turned his painting towards his wife, he found his wife dead on that chair in posing state.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CONTENTS OF THE DEAD MAN’S POCKET

Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket is a short story by  Jack Finney , originally published by both   Good Housekeeping   and   Collier’s   in 1956 . The story is a suspenseful tale of a man who travels onto a hazardous window ledge (ridge) to retrieve the papers he believes will make his career. Finney was a prolific (creative) writer, recognized for his science fiction novels   The Body Snatchers   and   Time and Again , as well as thrillers, such as   5 Against the House . The story begins with protagonist  Tom Benecke at a desk in the living room of his eleventh-floor apartment in New York City. He is preparing to type up a handwritten memo to be distributed to his office. He finds small ways to distract himself from starting. First, he tries to open a window, but it isn’t easily opened. He has to use quite a bit of force on the frame. Once the window is open, he continues to ignore the typewriter, crossing the room to talk t...
Post a Comment
Read more

BBS First Year English Question Paper with Possible Answers (TU 2021)

Post a Comment
Read more

FORMULAS OF ALL THE 12 TENSES

S + V + O || Subject + Verb + Object Simple Past Tense S + Past Form of the Verb + O  E.g. He wrote a letter. Past Continuous Tense S + was/were + V + ING + O  E.g. I was writing a letter.   Past Perfect Tense S + had + Past Participle (PP.) of the Verb + O  E.g. She had written a letter.   Past Perfect Continuous Tense S + had been + V + ING + O + since/for  E.g. We had been writing a letter since morning. Simple Present Tense S + V + O  E.g. You write a letter. Present Continuous Tense S + is/am/are + V + ING + O  E.g. She is writing a letter. Present Perfect Tense S + has/have + Past Participle (PP.) of the Verb + O  E.g. They have written a letter. Present Perfect Continuous Tense S + has been/have been + V + ING + O + since/for  E.g. You have been writing a letter for three hours. Simple Future Tense S + will/shall + V + O  E.g. We shall write a letter. Future Continuous Tense S +...
21 comments
Read more

Summary and Analysis of Only Daughter by Sandra Cisneros

ONLY DAUGHTER -Sandra Cisneros Born into a working-class family in 1954, Sandra Cisneros was the daughter of a Mexican-American mother and a Mexican father.  Only Daughter originally appeared in Glamour magazine in 1990. Cisneros through this essay describes the difficulties of growing up as the only daughter in a Mexican-American family of six sons.   Historically, sons have been valued over daughters in most cultures, as reflected in the following proverbs: “A house full of daughters is like a cellar full of sour beer” (Dutch); “Daughters pay nae [no] debts” (Scottish); “A stupid son is better than a crafty daughter” (Chinese); and “A virtuous son is the sun of his family” (Sanskrit).  Contemporary research suggests that while the preference for male children has diminished considerably in industrialised nations, a distinct preference for sons continues among many cultures in Asia and the Middle East, raising concerns among medical ethicists worldwide. And, even within ...
1 comment
Read more

Summary and Analysis of My Mother Never Worked

MY MOTHER NEVER WORKED Bonnie Smith - Yackel SYNOPSIS   In the essay “ My Mother Never Worked ,” Bonnie Smith-Yackel recollects the time when she called Social Security to claim her mother’s death benefits. Social Security places Smith-Yackel on hold so they can check their records on her mother, Martha Jerabek Smith . While waiting, she remembers the many things her mother did, and the compassion her mother felt towards her husband and children. When Social Security returns to the phone, they tell Smith-Yackel that she could not receive her mother’s death benefits because her mother never had a wage-earning job. A tremendous amount of irony is used in this essay. The title, in itself, is full of irony; it makes readers curious about the essay’s point and how the author feels about the situation. Smith-Yackel uses the essay to convey her opinion of work. Her thesis is not directly stated; however, she uses detail upon detail to prove her mother did work, just not in the eyes of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

PROFESSIONS FOR WOMEN - Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

Summary : Virginia Adeline Woolf (1882-1941) was an English novelist and essayist, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. She was one of the leaders in the literary movement of modernism.  The speech of  Professions for Women  was given in 1931 to the Women’s Service League by Virginia Woolf. It was also included in  Death of a Moth  and  Other Essays  in 1942. Throughout the speech, Virginia Woolf brings forward a problem that is still relevant today:  gender inequality .   Woolf’s main point in this essay was to bring awareness to the phantoms (illusions) and obstacles women face in their jobs. Woolf argues that women must overcome special obstacles to become successful in their careers. She describes two hazards she thinks all women who aspire to professional life must overcome: their tendency to sacrifice their own interests to those of others and their reluctance (hesitancy) to challenge c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summary and Analysis of THE HIDDEN LIFE OF GARBAGE by Heather Rogers

  THE HIDDEN LIFE OF GARBAGE Heather Rogers Journalist Heather Rogers has written articles on the environmental effects of mass production and consumption for the  New York Times Magazine,  the  Utne Reader, Architecture,  and a variety of other publications.    Her 2002 documentary film  Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage  has been screened at festivals around the world and served as the basis for a book of the same title. Named an Editor’s Choice by the  New York Times  and the  Guardian,  the book, published in 2005, traces the history and politics of household garbage in the United States, drawing connections between modern industrial production, consumer culture, and our contemporary throwaway lifestyle. Americans produce the most waste of any people on Earth, says Rogers, but few of us ever think about where all that trash goes. Rogers endeavours to show the inner workings of the waste stream, from the garbage...
1 comment
Read more

THIRD THOUGHTS - E.V. Lucas, England (1868-1938)

E.V. Lucas, England (1868-1938) The story ‘ Third Thoughts ’ by E.V. Lucas (1868-1938) is a great satire of the common human mentality. This story was told to Lucas by his friend who had a business especially buying at dearer (higher) prices and selling at cheap. However, he always used to bear the loss. He used to think that one day luck would favour him. As he thought, once he earned abnormal profit by selling Turner’s panting at 50 pounds which he had bought at only 10 shillings from a curio (Something unusual -- perhaps worthy of collecting) shop at Cathedral city . He was really happy and excited for the first time in his business so he wanted to share half of his profit with the dealer. But since he had no stamps to send the parcel, he went to the bed.   When he woke up at 3.30 am, again he began to think that sharing half of the profit is not a good idea because no one had done this to him yet. Then he thought of giving ten pounds. Due to unexpectedly earning an abnormal ...
27 comments
Read more

THE LADY WITH THE DOG (1899)

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) Ø Tells the story of an affair o    Wealthy Banker ( Dmitry Gurov ) o    Young Wife ( Anna ) Ø Builds off of what is expected o    Affair was thought to be a quick experience o    These characters were surprised to find that not the case o    Specially the Banker  Ø After short affair they meet again o    Rekindle their relationship o    Develop a new chapter in their lives o    Discover themselves Ø The writer presents the Theme and Ideas o    Progression of Character: §    Moving from stereotype to developed §    Dmitri: Rich playboy with no depth becomes entwined with Anna. §    Anna: Moves from  The Lady with the Dog to someone with a name. ·        Relates to getting to know people as well as individual development. o    Open Ending and the Ability t...
Post a Comment
Read more

A PAINFUL CASE

James Joyce Dubliners  is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. The stories depict a naturalistic Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20 th  century.   CHARACTERS: James Duffy Mrs Emily Sinico Captain Sinico (Ship Captain) Mary In  A Painful Case  by  James Joyce we have the theme of loneliness, isolation, guilt, order and paralysis. Taken from his Dubliners collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and very early on in the story the reader realises that Joyce, through the use of colour, is highlighting to the reader how lonely the main character,  James Duffy ’s life is a middle-aged bachelor without family or friends, is a cashier in a private bank and lives a Spartan (simple) existence in a Dublin suburb. He dislikes physical and mental disorder, ignores beggars’ pleas for alms (charities), and does not attend church. Hi...
Post a Comment
Read more