Portrayed Woman In The Oval Portrait

The 19th century American poet, Edgar Allan Poe, had been plagued by grief from an early age. He was an amazing poet and author who just happened to have a darker story. Many who have studied this prestigious man feel that his works, though magnificent, were extremely dark. Some believe it was nothing more then a fancy for him to spin such gruesome tales. Others feel his work was manipulated by the misfortune of his past. These people have actually found evidence that agrees with this statement. The works of Edgar Allan Poe were inspired by the history and life style of the author. The evidence is evident, when people look back and examine the author, his life, and his writings closely.

Usually, fairy tales are in connection to big and illustrious happy endings. But in Edgar Allan Poe’s case, it is evident that they do not exist, for his stories more often than not bear a grotesque demeanor. His life was surrounded by death. All of the women in his life died young, including his mother, sister, and wife. By the age of three, he had experienced what most would not experience until nearly the middle or end of their lives. Living in such an atmosphere allowed Poe to reach deep into his emotions when writing. Edgar Allan Poe was known for his macabre metaphors. These metaphors challenged the reader to endeavor themselves into his simple words; coming to find the gothic elements portrayed. He most commonly portrayed love and death in his poems. Poe is even credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. Edgar Allan Poe utilizes symbolism and portrays an envious love tale, ending in tragedy to expose the speaker’s emotional state in the poem “Annabel Lee.”

In the story, the painter loves his art more than he loves his wife, and while the wife feels that art is a rival that she will never be able to beat, she agrees to let her beloved portray her but the painter is unaware that with each brushstroke he makes, he gives life to the painting and takes away life from his wife and upon placing the painting on the canvas, his wife dies. The irony of the story is that the painter loves his art so much that he doesn’t realize that his wife slowly slips away into oblivion while he makes his masterpiece. This story is "saturated with elements which refer to the sensorial world . . . . [and] nonverbal signs . . ."(Anspach, Silvia Simone. "Poe's Pictoric Writing." Estudos Anglo-Americanos 9-11 1985-1987: 17-28.)

He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses; the most insipid food was alone endurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture; the odours of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were tortured by even a faint light; and there were but peculiar sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did not inspire him with horror. (Poe 26)

“But evil things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch’s high estate;” Poe’s palace has suddenly been invaded by the “evil things,” that can easily stand for macabre thoughts and unpure desires. He then pauses to “mourn” over the “desolate” landscape that’s never to return to its once “stately” place in the first stanza. The “glory” soon disappears from the palace, that is now nothing more than an old past memory that is “entombed.” The mind has now become troubled and amoral to the narrator a place that can never regain its past life.

His brutal behaviour could be caused also by envy and jealousy. One can say that he was envious because of her wife being able to become a sophisticated poetess, while he would be always the same simple farmer, jealous because of his wife talking to someone on a much higher level than he would never be able to reach. The burning of the picture could then be understood as a moment where the husband is trying to regain his authority, showing the wife that no matter what, he will be always superior.

The fires in each of the suite rooms serve as a representation of death. Poe depicts

The traditional Gothic taste for “portraits” is frequent in many novels and short stories that follow the conventions of literary mode making it present in these both texts; House of the Seven Gables by Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe’s The Oval Portrait. Often the characters in such Gothic romances are haunted by the tyranny of the past, which make it inescapable. It often leads to the destruction of their loved ones. Others motive of escape is often pulled back by a curse that the character creates upon himself. According to The Art of Terror by Maria Antonia Lima she says, “These portraits are usually a source of terror, with the past presented as something alive, like a ghost that haunts the present with its terrible mystery. Many authors consider this kind of literature itself as an example of modern art because it can become an anti-realist protest and a rebellion of the imagination against the reduction of fiction to the analysis of contemporary habits” (Lima 80). The painter introduces the “portrait” in the Oval Portrait by Edgar Allen Poe as overwhelming to him. The painter changes his behavior by no longer seeing his wife as his wife rather as an image through the lens of his painting. This idea of a “portrait” can be signified as a curse. A curse that plays with the Pyncheon’s and the painter’s emotions. In The House of the Seven Gables the “portrait” of Colonel Pyncheon is presented as an everlasting reminder of its dark past and the

Young, beautiful, and doomed; In several, if not all, works of Edgar Allan Poe, there is a not so subtle theme that is found. One of the death and beauty. How is the death of a young woman romanticized within selected works of Edgar Allan Poe? In such works as “Lenore”, “Ulalume”, popular “Annabel Lee”, “The Raven”, and short story “The Oval Painter” ,the “death of a beautiful woman” theme is prevalent and strongly noted within context, word choice, and imagery. In the eyes of Edgar Allan poe, death, especially that of a woman, to be lamented and mourned by a “bereaved lover”, is the most valued tool to have and utilize when writing. In his own life, Poe was able to relate to the subject matter, as many of his heroins are believed to be based upon his wife Virginia, who had died at a young age. Unraveling the methods to how Poe romanticized death of young women in his literature might give insight to not only Poe’s life, but humanity in general..

This man suffers, as many have, from the pangs of a pierced heart. He has been left alone after the death of his only true infatuation and has undoubtedly found that, contrary to the old adage, it is not better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. The “rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore” (95)- in fact a type and shadow of Poe’s own young bride, who at the time of this poem’s publication was suffering from fatal attack of tuberculosis- was no longer at his side, and our story-teller wonders if, however impossibly, he would ever clasp her to himself again.

    Edgar Allan Poe once said, “With me, poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.” When stressed, writing was his coping mechanism, and through observation, many grasp how much death encompassed Poe. Although not appreciated during his era, he revolutionized mystery with mesmerizing story plots that yield suspense, but also makes readers question his stability. Most importantly, unlike those famous during his lifetime who are now forgotten, Poe’s legacy will live on forever. Moreover, throughout life, Poe experienced catastrophe, and because of this, writing became his creative outlet.

Sadness, guilt, and fear are some of the most negative emotions that humanity can experience, however they are also the strongest. Edgar Allan Poe, a nineteenth century author and poet, is known primarily for his use of these emotions, as well as the results that may come from these emotions, such as substance abuse, depression, and death. However, the ability to write such elegant, sophisticated works that delve into the very dark recesses of the human mind reflects greatly upon the author himself. Repetitive themes found both in Poe’s stories and in his life deliver insight on the inspiration for this author’s stories. Poe uses themes of death, illness, and depression in order to reflect his own experiences within his writing.

Concerning color, there is a stark contrast between the figure on the painting and the background. More specifically, the figure of the woman is predominantly delineated in white color, especially pale, ashen white, as far her apparel and facial complexion are concerned, while there are also various hues of grey, with respect to her hair and accessory feather. These white and grey shades are vividly contrasted with the prevailing red and crimson hues of the background (viz. the drape, armchair, and table). Moreover, one can detect colors of dark green (jewelry), some beige on the left (pillar), and darker or lighter shades of blue on the right side of the canvas (sky), which all in concert and in addition to the subtle purple hue forming the sun or moon exude a certain dramatic sentiment. Also, there is brown, which often easily segues into gold (viz. books and attire details respectively). The main contrast of colors between white and red would be interpreted as serving the purpose of rendering the figure of the woman, and especially her face, the focal point of the work, despite, paradoxically enough, the lush red shades at the background. Bearing that in mind, the significance of the woman’s face will be enlarged upon later, when discussing aspects of her identity.

It is apparent from reading lines such as “the winds came out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee” that Poe feels that he is somehow cursed and that the heavens stole his joy because the angels’ own discontent caused them to delight in destroying the happiness of others. This is further confirmed, and perhaps most overtly so, by the line, “The Angels, half so happy in Heaven, Went envying her and me”.

To begin, the proportion of the woman’s gaze accentuates perfection. The eyes introduces a sense of nobility to the piece acquiring a softness at the gaze. Painted with a spherical shape, it allows the appearance to emerge mysteriously throughout the portrait and I quote “Through their roundness, therefore, the mind, knowing itself, is sometimes forced to reveal the secrets thoughts of their