How Does Edgar Allan Poe Reflect The Beauty Of A Woman

Edgar Allan Poe led a rather heartbreaking and dispiriting life. When Poe was a child, his father abandoned him, and his mother died of tuberculosis a year later . Even though his adopted father, John Allan, allowed Poe and his siblings to live with him, a sense of hostility grew between them because of frequent and fierce arguments. These confrontations caused Poe to become estranged from his adopted father. Similarly, Poe did not achieve much success in his relationships as his wife, Virginia, died after a lengthy battle with tuberculosis. Everything he seemed to love and care about ended up wasting away and dying. Because of all of the experiences in his life, Poe wrote many stories in which he explained and reflected his pain and suffering. The short story, “The Oval Portrait”, and

When the narrator finds the painting of her, he immensely admires the beauty and the elegance by seeing “The arms, the bosom, and even the ends of the radiant hair” that were vividly drawn. The elegance of the woman is further explained when the narrator reads the volume in which the paintings are discussed and explained. The first line of the volume explains the woman’s finest quality by saying that “she was a maiden of the rarest beauty” (“The Oval Portrait”). However, it is in this instance where there is an important shift in the story. The story shifts from explaining and admiring the beauty of the woman to elucidating her imminent death and decay. Subsequently, the narrator learns about how her life turned bitter when “she saw, and loved, and wedded the painter” (“The Oval Portrait”). Even though she loves the painter, she abhors and even despises his work because it “deprived her of the countenance of her lover” (“The Oval Portrait”). This idea of loneliness and neglect is further explained when the painter paints a painting of his wife. Even though he loved his wife and wanted make a masterpiece by working with