The Oval Portrait

The Dungeon of Madness In this story, Edgar Allan Poe (such as in many of his works) uses the setting to create a dark image inside our minds. He makes this specially through darkness, therefore the character makes a connection with death. “The physical setting oppresses him in the visions of his graveyard” (1).

Each event in one's life whether important, meaningless, joyful or sickening has an impact on that person's character. Harrowing & tragic events occur often as it was for Edgar Allen Poe which left a vast impact on his character. This author's stories focus on his wretched life and obstacles placed in the forms of stories. His unfortunate events turned into eerie, emblematic tales such as “The Raven”, “The Black Cat”, “The cask of amontillado” & more which all have twisted plot lines such as horror, sadness, revenge etc.

Introduction The main themes of Edgar Allan Poe’s works are death, perversity, revenge and destruction. The settings he employed in the given short stories, especially in The Fall of the House of Usher and The Black Cat are Gothic. Therefore, naturally the mood of these stories would be dark and sepulchral. However, this is not a trivial employment undertaken to put the reader in a certain kind of zone.

Edgar Allan Poe essay     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.

Thirdly, Edgar Allan Poe’s, gothic fiction story “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the setting causes individuals to feel unnerved. Having a setting of a ,“dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year,” can cause individuals to be anxious. As the narrator arrives at his old friend house

When you first glance at the painting, you see Paul Revere looking straight at you and he is putting is right hand on his chin in a thinking posture. This posture makes Paul Revere look sophisticated and manly at the same time.

Gothic Elements in the “The Tell Tale Heart” The classic short story of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, written by one of the all time masters of horror, Edgar Allen Poe, has always been used as an excellent example of Gothic fiction. Edgar Allen Poe specialized in the art of gothic writing and wrote many stories that portrayed disturbing events and delved deeply into the minds of its characters. In "The Tell-Tale Heart," Poe revolves the plot around a raving individual who, insisting that he is sane, murders an old man because of his` “vulture eye”. The three main gothic elements that are evident in this story are the unique setting, the theme of death and decay, and the presence of madness.

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Raven" Edgar Allan Poe was one of the greatest writers of the nineteenth century. Perhaps he is best know for is ominous short stories. Two of these stories were "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Raven." In these short stories Poe uses imagery in many different forms to enhance the mood and setting of the story. In my essay I will approach three aspects of Poe's use of imagery. These three are when Poe uses it to develop the setting, to develop the mood, and to develop suspense. Through out all of Poe's stories he uses imagery to develop the setting. If the setting is established well, you can understand the story better. Some examples of when Poe used imagery to develop the

Evil within the Portraits 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..

     Poe's use of the point of view device is very evident in ?The Tell-Tale Heart?.

Anthony Hicks S. Frye ENG 102 4 October 2017 Genre, Character, and Symbolism Analysis on “The Black Cat” Edgar Allen Poe was one of the most influential and important writers of the nineteenth century. He was the first writer to try to make a living only writing. One of Poe’s most popular short stories, “The Black Cat”, is considered horror fiction or gothic fiction which Poe is known for in his books and short stories because it was a popular genre during his days. In Poe’s short story, “The Black Cat”, Poe uses a horror fiction genre, a mentally deranged and evil narrator/character, and symbolism of death to make a thrilling story with tons of suspense, drama, and gruesome detail.

Among Poe’s work, I will typically illustrate these three works “The Black Cat”, “A Tell Tales Heart” , “The Fall of the House of Usher” , and “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” to dedicate the use of symbolism. Other works will be briefly mentioned.

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.)

poems, which makes this work one of its own. Poe 's method of thinking and feeling through his writing shows a profound and mournful significance on how his character is depicted. The love of the character 's