STRUCTURALIST READING OF THE OVAL PORTRAIT

Structuralism unlike Liberal Humanism gives more importance to the structure

of a work rather than its content. Everyday life and structures underlying ideas
are analyzed in detail while conducting structuralist reading of a text. Thus the
elements inside are broken into smaller units. Each analysis gives different layer
of meaning thus creating a structure of ideas and interpretations, completely
different from the original text.
While conducting a structuralist analysis of a given text more focus is give to
genre, parallels or equals, contrasts or opposites, echoes, reflections, patterns
etc. Each when analyzed in detail would provide comparison of the text to real
life.
Edgar Allan Poe’s short story ‘The Oval Portrait’ is similar to his other stories
depicting darkness, melancholy and death. The genre itself is gothic or horror
fiction dealing with the ideas of life and death, imagination and reality. The story
portrays the artist and the painter as equal when they both give utmost
importance to art than life. The artist gets rejuvenated and explains more about
the portrait as suggested by the title in his story, similar to the painter who
concentrated on art and considered it to be life. The painting when compared to
the woman also attains parallels as the painter had succeeded in creating a “life
like” portrait of the young lady and the woman’s life is trapped in the artwork.
The story contains numerous contrasts as well. The characters in the first part
that is the artist, his valet Pedro and those in the second that is the painter and
his wife are extremely opposite. The valet and artist share mutual love and
respect. The valet takes care of the wounded artist and the latter does not want
to wake Pedro up when trying to change the position of the candelabrum. The
painter wants to depict life in art and does not value the reality of life and the
imagination in art. Thus, he ends up killing his wife. This also shows the contrast
between art and life in the story. The last stroke of colour the painter applies on
the painting fades the life from his wife. The painter’s impulsive desire, more like
madness to focus on imagination and trying to alter it into reality and the wife’s
yearning to enjoy life are hence depicted. The role of the chateau as a place of
healing for the artist and a trap or death for the wife contradicts each other. The
framing narrative in the first part and story within a story in the second part are
also contrary.
The binary structure of the frame story also echoes opposites. The first part
depicts life, rejuvenation, health and influence of art in healing the artist while the
second depicts chaos, melancholy, despair, death and influence over life that the
painter possessed.
The story reflects mortality and immortality in reality and imagination
respectively. The moral where the painter takes life for the sake of art can also
contradict with the idea that he has created a valuable work which will remain
immortal.
The story pattern move from death to life and again back to death, thus
discussing grandeur of the undying elements in the castle to the unfortunate fate
of the mortal wife.
After applying Ferdinand de Saussure’s method of Structural analysis one can
also create an analysis as presented by Roland Barthes. The five codes that
Barthes discusses can be applied in the story. There are many actions (proairetic
codes) in the story as in the beginning itself “valet had ventured to make a
forcible entrance”. Hermeneutic code is created when the artist explains the
portrait for the first time. “I thus saw in vivid light a picture all unnoticed before”.
Raises questions as to whose painting it is and its role in the chateau. The
painter’s “bride in art”, he created explains cultural code of his rejection of reality
and acceptance of imagination. The symbolic code includes the parallels and
contrasts discussed before. The colour in the palette is symbolic of the bride’s life
as the last stroke of colour on the painting drags out life from her. The semic code
in the chateau that of healing the artist and murdering the young wife serves two
different purpose thus creating dissimilar connotations.