Фильо Ксения, а3н

The text under analysis is entitled " The Oval Portrait". Edgar Allan Poe (1809 – 1849), who was a famous American writer of the Gothic short stories, published " The Oval Portrait" as a longer version titled " Life in Death" in Graham's Magazine in 1842. " Life in Death" included a few introductory paragraphs explaining how the narrator had been wounded, and that he had eaten opium to relieve the pain. The shorter version, renamed " The Oval Portrait" was published in the April 26, 1845 edition of the Broadway Journal.

The title of the story consists of two main symbols. The first one is hidden in the lexis “oval”. Oval is known to be a geometrical form. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, (2017, p. 45) “oval” means “having a rounded and slightly elongated outline or shape like that of an egg. ” In addition, we have to mention that this word comes from the Latin “ovum” which also means “egg”. Many cultures believe eggs to be the source of a new life from inanimate matter, and even that the world emerged from an egg. The second part of the title – “portrait” – is associated with something lifeless. A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. So it is just a replica of a person. According to that, we can say that the title of the story is a clear representation of such stylistic device as oxymoron because “oval” stands for “life” and “portrait” is connected with “death” that referrers straight to the previous title which is mentioned above.

The central idea of the story resides in the confusing relationship between art and life. The text has a negative semantic field connected with a borderline state of the main character and we can underline two semes which are “art” and “time”. The author uses historicisms and barbarisms, such as: “chateau”, “valley”, “antique”, “vignette”, “candelabrum”, “hitherto” to reflect the seme of “time”. The words “portrait”, “painting”, “a thing of art”, “canvas”, “frame”, “picture”, “painter” creates the seme of “art”. During the story we can observe a constant conflict between the light and dark as well. “Light” as “life” in this case is introduced by the words and phrases in which the letter “l” is present: “vivid light”, “a living person”, “lamp”, “life-likeleness”, “lovely”, “frolicksome” etc. The indicators of the seme “darkness” as “death” are represented by the following words: “midnight”, “shade”, “shadow”, “to depict”, “dark”, “dead” etc. The composition of the text is the story within the story.

Let’s take a look at the first paragraph. The first word “chateau” in the very first sentence borrowed from French and means “a feudal castle or fortress in France” according to the Oxford Dictionary, (2014, p. 47). Edgar Poe attracts the reader's attention from the first word. In addition, the word can be attributed to the seme of “time”, as the chateau is associated with something ancient and even medieval. The next thing we can note is “desperately wounded condition” of the narrator. The alliteration by means of repetition of the consonant “d” intensifies the atmosphere of mystery and dismay. Besides, the main character is wounded, but there is no explanation given on what caused his wounds. He is in the chateau with his only valet Pedro and he describes it as a unity of “gloom and grandeur” that is also contains the alliteration of the consonant “g”, which underlines his poor condition. Also this effect intensifies with the help of an indirect onomatopoeia, which can be seen in the sentence “... my incipient delirium, perhaps, had caused me already night... ”.

The story continues with him reading a book and with the discovery of the portrait that is hidden in the shadows of the room. The painting is in vignette in a gilded oval frame. The narrator describes the spell of the picture in an absolute “life-likeness of expression”. Life-likeness is the author's neologism with alliteration. We can also note the significance of the adjective “deep” in this paragraph. Deep is a meaningful word. The compatibility of this word with other words, such as “interest”, “shadow”, “awe”, “agitation” reflects the reaction and perception of the narrator. The protagonist is so moved by the lady in the oval portrait that he eagerly turns to the book to find the story behind it.

In the whole last paragraph, which contains the main idea of the text, we see such stylistic device as polysyndeton with repetition of the conjunction “and”. This leads the reader to the climax. Poe describes the lady in the portrait as “a maiden of rarest beauty and not more lovely than full of glee”. The historicism “maiden” is chosen not without a reason – it emphasizes the rare beauty of the young lady and the alliterated “l” in the following words creates an image of her chaste and pure beauty. The author also compares her with “the young fawn”, which is simile. The fawn, which is related in many traditions with kindness, softness and gentleness, is, in one way or another, an animal that is connected to the gods and the sacred. In the Christian imagination, the fawn is a symbol of piety and devotion. Hence, she is full of light, while her husband is the main darkness in her life. This opposition can be attributed to the continuation of the “light versus darkness” seme.

Moreover, in this paragraph we can see the personification of the word “Art”. This shows that the only passion of the Painter is his art and nothing else matters to him more than the image in the portrait. He is harsh and cold towards his young bride and she considers his art as a “rival”, which conveys a hidden aggression. Feeling satisfied with the outcome, the Painter cries out: “This is indeed Life itself”, but as the Painter turns to the object of his opus, the beloved young bride, he finds her dead. Here the reader understands that the life of the lady ends with the birth of the portrait. From being a young bride she is transformed into an inanimate object, and then her humanity is eerily forgotten as it fades into the darkness of the turret-chamber where the session is held.

The Oval Portrait by Edgar Allan Poe has made a good impression on me. It reflects many themes and can be interpreted in many ways from many sides. I personally see that the author tries to show us how cruel can be our passions to something.