The Oval Portrait
Commentaire de texte : The Oval Portrait, Edgar Allan Poe
From Selected Tales, Penguin, Popular Classics
The Oval Portrait, a short story from Edgar Allan Poe, lies in the fact that art and life are deadly linked. The passion for art and painting is described as causing death since the painter’s determination to make a portrait of his wife will cause her death. As in most of Poe’s short stories, the setting takes an important place in the story. We could say that it has even an influence on the characters since the narrator is losing his mind while the action is taking place. Our study will consist in showing how The Oval Portrait could embody most of Poe’s tales. We will first try to discover how the setting can affect the narrator’s mind and then, the processes that Poe uses to create this effect.
Then, our last part will be devoted to the concepts of love and hate (concepts that are classic in Poe’s short stories), in a context where death is omnipresent.
The beginning of the short story is characterized by a Gothic atmosphere since it describes a man (the narrator) with his valet, entering into a deserted Chateau to spend the night in. We can notice that a dark and abandoned house is a typical background for a Gothic story. As in most of Poe’s short stories, we have first a complete and also realistic description of the setting. Concerning the chateau it is said: “Its decorations were rich, yet tattered and antique. Its walls were hung with tapestry and bedecked with manifold and multiform armorial trophies, together with an unusually great number of very spirited modern paintings in frames of rich golden arabesque” (L.8-13). These decorations which are described as being “rich” and full of tapestry belong to a Gothic setting, which give a dark and gloomy atmosphere. The dark and gloomy atmosphere of the Gothic also lies in the strange architecture of the chateau: “(…) but in very many nooks which the bizarre architecture of the château rendered
From Selected Tales, Penguin, Popular Classics
The Oval Portrait, a short story from Edgar Allan Poe, lies in the fact that art and life are deadly linked. The passion for art and painting is described as causing death since the painter’s determination to make a portrait of his wife will cause her death. As in most of Poe’s short stories, the setting takes an important place in the story. We could say that it has even an influence on the characters since the narrator is losing his mind while the action is taking place. Our study will consist in showing how The Oval Portrait could embody most of Poe’s tales. We will first try to discover how the setting can affect the narrator’s mind and then, the processes that Poe uses to create this effect.
Then, our last part will be devoted to the concepts of love and hate (concepts that are classic in Poe’s short stories), in a context where death is omnipresent.
The beginning of the short story is characterized by a Gothic atmosphere since it describes a man (the narrator) with his valet, entering into a deserted Chateau to spend the night in. We can notice that a dark and abandoned house is a typical background for a Gothic story. As in most of Poe’s short stories, we have first a complete and also realistic description of the setting. Concerning the chateau it is said: “Its decorations were rich, yet tattered and antique. Its walls were hung with tapestry and bedecked with manifold and multiform armorial trophies, together with an unusually great number of very spirited modern paintings in frames of rich golden arabesque” (L.8-13). These decorations which are described as being “rich” and full of tapestry belong to a Gothic setting, which give a dark and gloomy atmosphere. The dark and gloomy atmosphere of the Gothic also lies in the strange architecture of the chateau: “(…) but in very many nooks which the bizarre architecture of the château rendered