What is the meaning behind the short story by Poe, "The Oval Portrait"? What does this story show about the relationship between an artist and his subject? Please analyze this story.

-- Anonymous, November 24, 2002

Answers

behind this story, that i have to study in my school, i see that Poe wants to show the relationships between art, love, life & death, all these themes being narrowly linked, the relationship between an artist and his subject is that the artist tries to recreate or to represent life throught his paintings :he cannot really love this woman , only through her perfect representation. actually, the painting both makes the woman alive forever and makes her die. So is it the metaphor of eternal love or eternal life? And is the painter really able to love this woman in reality or does he have to kill her to love her? I think the themes of eternity and mortality are really present in this novel, what is life & what is death, what is alive and what is dead: it seems that here the paradoxe is that the woman die while the painting is born , is it the metaphor of creation, the portrait would be the painter's "baby" while he is "making love" to his bride (which would be here painting her), we can suggest that his behaviour at the end of the novel is the behaviour of sme who has an orgasm... Maybe i'm going to far but this novel shows that LIFE IS DEATH and ART makes LOVE ETERNAL.

Well it's only an interpretation , if you think it's right or it's not correct, just let me know, See ya! HAppy new year 2003 clara

-- Anonymous, December 27, 2002