Summary -1
The narrator is wounded for unknown reasons. He takes shelter along with his servant in a deserted mansion in the Apennines. They establish themselves in one of the rooms. The narrator shows deep interest in the bizarre paintings decorating the walls of the room. At around midnight, he adjusts a candlestick in the room and sees a portrait he didn’t noticed before. The picture is in an oval-shaped frame. It reveals the head and shoulders of a young woman. The narrator is charmed by the portrait, which seems so lively. But he soon gets appalled by it. He turns to the book and reads the information about the portrait. He discovers that the woman depicted in it is the young bride of the artist. She is a perfect wife in every respect. But she is jealous of her husband’s art that diverts him from her. The artist paints a picture of his wife, and becomes more obsessed with capturing her likeness. The wife remains in a humble and obedient pose for many weeks. Her health becomes increasingly poor as the work continues. He stops paying attention to her and becomes more preoccupied with the painting. When the portrait is about to finish, the artist is delighted with the quality of his own work. He then looks at his wife to regard her, but finds that she is dead.
source: https://www.suryaxetri.com/2021/01/neb-grade-xi-compulsory-english-note-the-oval-portrait-edgar-allan-poe.html
Summary & Analysis-2
Answer:
They made forcible entrance into the chateau.
Answer:
He noticed the picture of a young girl.
Answer:
The portrait was in an oval-shaped frame. It revealed the head and shoulders of the young woman. The arms, the bosom, and even the ends of the radiant hair dissolved untraceably into the unclear yet deep shadow which formed the background of the whole.
Answer:
They are husband and wife.
Reference to the context
a. What is the central theme.....
The story “The Oval Portrait” deals with the theme of relationship between art and life. Art and obsession to it are showed as killers and responsible for the young bride’s death. In this context, art is equivalent to death. The association between art and life is considered as rivalry. In the story it is suggested that art can reveal the artist's guilt or evil and may even destroy the life.
The woman depicted in the oval portrait is the wife of the painter and the victim of the painter’s passion for the portrait.
b.
The story "The Oval Portrait" is a short horror story with its dark setting and mood of the narration. It is set in a gloomy abandoned mansion. Although the mansion is deserted, it contains objects of a dark and mysterious past - such as the oval portrait itself. The image of the remote abandoned chateau is given a hint of mystery and gloom. The antiquity of the interior where its walls are decorated with tapestry and manifold and multiform armorial trophies, and a great number of spirited modern paintings. The dark setting and shadowy circumstances of the prior events provide the impression that the story has a bizarre twist. The reader’s anticipation of mystery is sustained by the appearance of a lifelike portrait of a woman in one of the darker nooks of the mysterious room.
c.
The references of the painting state that the young lady in the portrait is very beautiful. She loses her life because her husband compels her to sit for many weeks in an attempt to make the most beautiful portrait of her. Though the lady sits next to her husband, he is so immersed in his painting to create a beautiful portrait of his wife. But he doesn’t realize his wife's life withdrawing from her body slowly. It reveals the sad reality of the husband's failure to witness the beauty of his wife. As he was an artist, he wants to treasure it in the form of a portrait. In this way, her beauty condemns her to own death.
d.
The Oval Portrait is a frame narrative, or a story that contains another story. In the first part of the story, we encounter the unnamed narrator, who is injured and stranded at night for unknown reasons. He along with his companion and servant, Pedro, take shelter in an abandoned mansion. The narrator stays awake while his servant sleeps. He is captivated by the paintings on the bedroom wall and studies a book containing their history. Noticing a lifelike painting of a young woman, he reads about it in the book.
In the second section, the narrator tells how a beautiful woman marries a painter who is completely absorbed in his work. Although she doesn’t love this, she agrees to sit for a portrait, a process that takes many weeks. As the portrait neares completion, the lady grows increasingly weak. In placing the final touches of his masterpiece on the canvas, he suddenly realizes that she is dead.
e.
The mansion is abandoned and worn-out. The turret room is in a remote section of the mansion. The room is rich in decorations, but they are tattered and antique. The walls are full of tapestries, trophies, and spirited modern paintings. This vivid description of the mansion provides the gothic image. Likewise, the descriptions of the portrait describe how real and beautiful it is. Although she is dead, she is painted so life-like in the portrait.
The dark gloominess of the abandoned house is a classic background for a gothic story. The painter is the symbol of the fanaticism. The woman in the oval portrait, is the victim of painter's passion for art. The oval portrait symbolizes the immortality of art. The frame is the symbol of the general objectification she faced as a physically attractive woman.
f.
The expression ‘She was dead!’ means the painter’s realization of the death of his beloved because of his devotion to the portrait. His wife remains in an obedient pose for many weeks. As the work continues her health becomes increasingly poor. However, the painter does not notice the worsening condition of his wife, continuing to paint desperately, without taking his eyes off the canvas. Given the last brush stroke, the painter is delighted with the liveliness of his creation, but turning to his wife, he realizes that she is dead.
Source: https://www.suryaxetri.com/2021/01/neb-grade-xi-compulsory-english-note-the-oval-portrait-edgar-allan-poe.html
The Oval Portrait Summary
1
The narrator is wounded for unknown reasons. He takes
shelter along with his servant in a deserted mansion in the Apennines. They
establish themselves in one of the rooms. The narrator shows deep interest in
the bizarre paintings decorating the walls of the room. At around midnight, he
adjusts a candlestick in the room and sees a portrait he didn’t notice before.
The picture is in an oval-shaped frame. It reveals the head and shoulders of a
young woman. The narrator is charmed by the portrait, which seems so lively.
But he soon gets appalled by it. He turns to the book and reads the information
about the portrait. He discovers that the woman depicted in it is the young
bride of the artist. She is a perfect wife in every respect. But she is jealous
of her husband’s art that diverts him from her. The artist paints a picture of
his wife, and becomes more obsessed with capturing her likeness. The wife
remains in a humble and obedient pose for many weeks. Her health becomes
increasingly poor as the work continues. He stops paying attention to her and
becomes more preoccupied with the painting. When the portrait is about to
finish, the artist is delighted with the quality of his own work. He then looks
at his wife, but finds that she is dead.
Summary 2
‘The
Oval Portrait’ (1842) is one of the shortest tales Edgar Allan Poe ever wrote.
In just a few pages, he offers a powerful story about the relationship between
art and life, through the narrator’s encounter with the oval portrait of a young
woman in a chateau in the Appenines. The story repays close analysis because of
the way Poe offers his story as a subtle commentary on link between life and
art.
“The
Oval Portrait” opens with the unnamed narrator and his
servant, Pedro, making “forcible
entrance” into an abandoned chateau in the Apennine Mountains. For reasons
never made clear, the narrator is severely injured, slightly delirious, and
therefore incapable of spending the night in the open air. The two men hole up
in a remote bed chamber whose decorations are “rich, yet tattered and antique.”
It is an oddly-shaped room that is full of nooks due to the chateau’s “bizarre
architecture.” The chamber boasts a number of tapestries, “armorial trophies,”
and “an unusually great number of very spirited modern paintings in frames of rich golden
arabesque.” The paintings arouse the narrator’s interest. Wishing to
contemplate them, he commands Pedro to light a tall candelabrum that stands at
the foot of the bed. He also finds on his pillow a small book that provides an
overview of the room’s pictures.
While Pedro sleeps, the narrator scrutinizes the
paintings and reads this guide book, completely engrossed, until at length the
hour of midnight comes. Dissatisfied with the position of the candelabrum, he
moves it so as to shed more light on the book—and suddenly notices a painting
that has so far escaped his attention. It’s a portrait of a girl who is “just
ripening into womanhood.” The painting exerts an immediately overwhelming yet
ambiguous effect on the narrator, forcing him momentarily to close his eyes and
to wonder precisely what it is about the image that he finds so startling.
The narrator gives a brief
description of the portrait. It is a “vignette” painted “much in the
style of the favorite heads of Sully.” It depicts the girl’s head and shoulders,
with the rest of her body unseen. The narrator admires the painting’s execution
and the beauty of its subject, but is truly astounded by a third factor—its
absolute lifelikeness, which “confounds,” “subdues,” and “appalls” him. He
gazes at the portrait for an hour, eyes riveted upon it, before returning the
candelabrum to its previous position and turning to the relevant description in
the guide book.
The guide book contains
an account of the portrait’s painter and its subject, who turn out to be
husband and wife. The former, a renowned portrait painter, is a brooding,
passionate man who’s wholly devoted to his work, to the point that it seems
like he already has “a bride in his Art.” The latter is “a maiden of rarest
beauty, and not more lovely than full of glee.” The artist’s wife hates nothing
but the vocation of her husband, since she regards his art as a rival for his
affections. Vivacious though she is, the girl is also meek and submissive, and
bends to the will of her husband, who’s eager to paint her portrait, because
she knows how greatly he values his work.
The painter begins work on
the portrait—and the physical and psychological state of his wife immediately
begins to decline, her health and spirits “withered” by the process. The
painter, however, fails to see this—he’s too engrossed in his art, and pays
almost no attention to his wife. She, for her part, does not complain. As the
painting nears its completion and becomes ever more lifelike, the girl declines
further, almost as if her vital energies are being drawn out of her and into
the canvas. Just as her image reaches a height of perfection, the painter
finally deigns to look up at his wife—only to discover that she has died.
source: https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-oval-portrait/summary-and-analysis
Summary: 3
The Oval Portrait’ (1842) is one of
the shortest tales Edgar Allan Poe ever wrote. In just a few pages, he offers a
powerful story about the relationship between art and life, through the
narrator’s encounter with the oval portrait of a young woman in a chateau in
the Appenines. The story repays close analysis because of the way Poe offers
his story as a subtle commentary on link between life and art.
First, a brief summary of this
briefest of stories. The narrator, wounded and delirious, has sought shelter in
an old mansion with his valet or manservant, Pedro. He holes up in one of the
rooms, and contemplates the strange paintings adorning the walls of the room,
and reads a small book he had found on the pillow of the bed, which contains
information about the paintings. At around midnight, he adjusts the candelabrum
in the room and his eye catches a portrait he hadn’t previously noticed, in an
oval-shaped frame, depicting a young girl on the threshold of
womanhood. The narrator is captivated by this portrait, which seems so
life-like; but he soon becomes appalled by it. He turns to the book and reads
the entry detailing the history behind the oval portrait. The woman depicted in
it was the young bride of the painter, and was a perfect wife in every respect
– except that she was jealous of her husband’s art that distracted him from
her. The artist paints a portrait of his wife, and becomes more and more obsessed
with capturing her likeness, until he ends up spending all of his time gazing
at the portrait of his wife, and hardly any time looking at her. She becomes
weaker and weaker, dispirited from losing her husband’s love as he stops paying
her attention and becomes more and more preoccupied with the painting.
When he has just about finished the portrait and turns to regard his wife, it
is to find that she has died.
What makes Edgar Allan Poe’s best stories more
than just gripping Gothic horror tales or unsettling stories is the way he
clearly depicts a central idea, which the story explores and analyses. ‘The
Oval Portrait’ offers a fine example of this: it can clearly be analysed as a
story about the uneasy relationship between life and art, embodied by the young
bride and the oval portrait her artist-husband paints of her. But
precisely what the story is suggesting about the link
between life and art remains less easy to pin down.
Yet, given the conclusion of the story – when the
bride dies, ironically just after her husband has perfected her portrait with
the cry, ‘This is indeed Life itself!’ – it seems possible to
posit an analysis of ‘The Oval Portrait’ which sees the story as a warning
about the danger of neglecting reality in the rush to pursue great art. As soon
as the artist stops looking to reality – embodied in the
story by his devoted, but increasingly weaker, wife – and becomes wrapped up in
art itself, he makes a grave error.
Alternatively, though, we might posit an analysis of
the story that views it as less of a ‘moralising’ tale and more of a simple
exploration of the way things are. In this reading, we might see the story not
as a cautionary tale about the dangers of privileging art over life, but merely
as a statement about the nature of creativity – namely, that no great art was
ever created without cost. After all, the oval portrait is an
artistic success – it is its lifelike quality, and the artist’s triumph in
having managed to capture the living essence of his subject, that first draws
the narrator’s attention to it among all the other paintings. What’s more,
there is no moral framework for the story’s conclusion, no follow-up paragraph
telling us that the story is warning of the dangers of art – the oval portrait
may have an oval-shaped frame, but ‘The Oval Portrait’ does not come with a
handy framing that directs us to the ‘meaning’ of the story, for all that it is
a ‘framed’ or embedded narrative in the sense of having a text placed within
another text (i.e. the book’s account of the portrait, which is contained
within the wounded narrator’s narrative). But the story breaks off at the end
without returning to hear the narrator’s thoughts on what he has just learned.
‘The Oval Portrait’ has the feeling of an archetype,
as if Poe had plucked the images and scenes direct from his unconscious (or, to
continue the Jungian psychoanalytic flavour, our collective unconscious). In
its portrayal of an artist who came to place his art above lived reality, Poe
pre-empts the later Aestheticism, or ‘art for art’s sake’, of writers like
Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde. Indeed, the story’s legacy includes having a hand
in inspiring Oscar Wilde’s one novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891),
with its exploration of the way life and art intersect, feed off each other,
and end up, in some ways, being incompatible.
Understanding the text
Answer
these questions.
a.
Where did the narrator and his servant make a forcible entrance?
➜ The narrator and his servant
Pedro made a forcible entrance in a desolate Chateau which was located in the
Appennines of central Italy. The narrator was seriously wounded. His valet
didn't want the narrator to stay in an open-air. He the narrator inside Chatuu
forcibly without anyone's permission.
b.
Which special picture did the narrator notice in the room?
➜ The narrator noticed an
oval-shaped picture of a young girl in the room when the rays of candelabrum
fell on it. The narrator didn't notice it before. The young girl seemed just
ripening into womanhood in that picture. The picture of that woman was so
beautiful which attracted the narrator's attention.
The
oval picture of a young girl made him awake and too much curious. He kept on
reading the history behind the portrait in his serious state. He was totally
engrossed in finding its background through the book which he had found in bed.
c.
Describe the portrait that the narrator saw in the room.
➜The portrait that the narrator
saw in the room was quite artistic and life-like. The narrator saw it when the
rays of candelabrum fell on it. The portrait was oval-shaped with a beautiful
picture of a young girl on it. Its frame was richly decorative. The young girl
seemed just ripening into womanhood. The narrator seemed completely startled to
find the lady's shoulder and head with radiant hair so real. The brushwork of
tints in portrait seemed so real in the portrait.
The
narrator felt a sudden impulse to notice that portrait. He closed his eyes once
and opened. He couldn't believe his eyes to see such wonderful artistic
creativity.
d.
What is the relationship between the portrait painter and its subject?
➜The relationship between the
portrait painter and its subject is husband and wife. The husband of the
subject (lady) is a passionate painter who has painted his wife's portrait. He
has Painted his wife's portrait taking many weeks.
Reference to the context
a.
What is the central theme of the story? Who is the woman depicted in the oval portrait?
➜The central theme of the short
story 'The Oval Portrait' is the relationship between life and art. This Story
has shown the destructive power of art and love. Art and love can lead anyone
towards perfection whereas they can bring destructive results in our life too.
The painter of this story has become successful through his artistic works but
his wife has become the victim of his artistic tasks. She loves her husband
extremely that's why she doesn't reveal her pains. The story has shown bad
results of excessive passion for something. The woman depicted in the oval
portrait is the wife of a passionate painter who has painted this oval
portrait.
b.
"The Oval Portrait" is a short horror story by Edgar Allan Poe
involving the disturbing circumstances surrounding a portrait in a
chateau. Elaborate.
➜ This short story has presented
a terrible and gloomy setting of a desolate Chateau in one of the mountains
range (Appennines) of central Italy. The Chateau which we find here in this
story is completely deserted and very old fashioned. The setting inside and
outside seem very terrible. The apartments inside Chateau are so unmanaged and
dirty. The apartment where the narrator and his valet stay have many things for
decoration but all of them are in decaying state. The life-like portrait has
been placed in one of the dark corners. The surrounding of the life-like
portrait is so disturbing due to the unmanaged condition everywhere. The
arrival of the visitors also has added distance in the environment. The
portrait seems quite valueless in that desolate environment of the Chateau.
c.
"The Oval Portrait" suggests that the woman's beauty condemns her to
death. Discuss.
➜ "The Oval Portrait"
suggests that the woman's beauty condemns her to death. Here, the wife of the
painter is so beautiful who has just stepped into womanhood. The painter wants
to paint her portrait. He is a quite passionate painter who loves his artwork
more than anything. He places his wife on the chair to pose for him. He is
totally obsessed with his artistic work. The Painter takes weeks to paint her
portrait. During his task, he doesn't notice his wife health condition who
becomes quite weak. By the time he finishes the portrait, he finds his wife
lying dead on the chair.
d.
Discuss the story as a frame narrative (a story within a story).
➜ The frame narrative is a literary
technique that reveals about a story within a story. It starts with a different
plot and setting of story but later immerses out with the next story within it.
Here, this technique reveals us how a single story involves the next story
within it. The story starts with different information about the narrator and
his valet with a different setting. The readers here move along with the
Story's flow at first but later on the next story starts within it with an
amazing description of oval portrait, its detail and background information.
The readers reach up to the next level of the story. The technique of frame
narrative works showing a single story and the next story within it.
e.
The story is told in a descriptive style, with plenty of imagery and
symbolism. Which images and symbols do you find in the story?
➜ Here in this story, we find
various images and symbols. The writer has used images to present his horror
elements beautifully here in this story where there is immense use of darkness
and light. The image of desolate Chateau in the Appennines has created
beginning thriller for the audience. Similarly, the image of two visitors in
the dark desolate setting has increased the reader's curiosity. Inside the
Chateau, the writer has used many images to present the setting of apartments,
torrent etc. Here, we find various images as dark rooms, wall tapestries,
trophies, the oval painting among other paintings, candelabrum, book, rays of
light etc. The historical background of the oval portrait also has presented
the image of the painter and his wife in a high torrent of the Chateau. The
perfect use of images has this story with gothic elements beautifully. Like
images, the symbols also have played a vital role to understand this story in
its deeper level. The oval portrait symbolizes mortality of love and
immortality of art. This portrait has snatched the life of its main subject
(painter's wife). Her love for her husband leads her to death whereas her
husband passion for artwork has snatched her life and made him immortal in his
artwork. Next symbol which we find here is the time during artwork. This time
during artwork symbolizes the painter's obsession where he has forgotten
everything around him and led his wife to the death.
f.
What does the expression “She was dead!” mean?
➜ The expression was dead"
means the shocking moment of the death of the painter's wife on the chair. The
painter was quite obsessed with his painting. He was totally engrossed in his
task of painting. He forgot to inspect his wife's condition. He kept on
painting his wife's portrait for weeks. When he turned his painting towards his
wife being happy, he found his wife dead posing on the chair. Here, the artwork
took the life of its main subject.
Reference beyond the text
a.
Do you think there is life in art?
➜ I don't think there is life in
art. Art is just a creation to display which has meanings related to different
things. But, in a literal sense, artists create life in art. They try to find
out life within the art.
b.
As a thing of art nothing could be more admirable than the painting
itself. Explain.
➜ This statement is absolutely
right about painting. Painting is really a very admirable form of art. The
painters really work hard to create quality paintings with meanings. The
painting itself speaks in its literal manner. Painting provides us with facts related
to life. Here in this story, the oval portrait is one of the finest examples
which has startled the narrator. He feels completely puzzled to see that
painting. He wants to know about its and painter.
c.
A more intense look at the painting reveals the illusion. Have you noticed
any such painting?
➜ Yes, I have noticed such
painting. The painting becomes more meaningful when it is watched by the viewer
who is passionate about paintings. But, for those viewers who don't have an
idea about paintings find illusion all the time. In my case, I watched a
typical painting for a long time but I didn't get meanings about it. I tried a
lot to grasp its meaning but vain. Later on, I got its meaning from my friend.
Source: https://www.hari570.com.np/2020/12/the-oval-portrait-exercise-question-answers-class-11.html
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.
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