Plot Summary
Plot Summary
By Michael J. Cummings...© 2009
.......Wounded, the narrator takes refuge at nightfall with his valet, Pedro, in an apartment in the turret of a grand but gloomy chateau in Italy's Apennines Mountains. Pedro had broken into the building, which appears to have been temporarily abandoned, so that his injured employer would have a place to rest.
.......The furnishings are elegant but old and run-down. On the walls are tapestries, armorial trophies, and modern paintings in frames with intricate golden designs. In his excited state of mind (the delirium that appears to be setting in as a result of his injury), the narrator becomes fascinated with the paintings. So that he may contemplate them while lying down, he directs Pedro to light a candelabrum next to the bed and draw back the bed curtains. A small book he had found on the bed describes the paintings.
.......Hours pass as he reads the book intently. About midnight, he draws the candelabrum closer for more light. When he does so, he casts light on a painting in a niche, a painting he had not noticed until now. It portrays a young girl "just ripening into womanhood," the narrator says. After looking upon it for a moment, he closes his eyes while he considers whether his vision had deceived him. In a few moments, he looks again. It is a head-and-shoulders vignette in a gilded oval frame. Though the painting is a worthy work of art, it was not the painter's style or the extraordinary beauty of the young lady that had startled the narrator moments before; it was the absolutely lifelike expression on her face. It now appalls him. The narrator returns the candelabra to its former place, casting the painting back into the shadows. He then looks up the oval portrait in the book.
.......It says the lady was the wife of a painter who loved his art more than he loved her. One day, he expressed a desire to paint her portrait. Meekly and obediently, she agreed to sit for it in the dim light of
By Michael J. Cummings...© 2009
.......Wounded, the narrator takes refuge at nightfall with his valet, Pedro, in an apartment in the turret of a grand but gloomy chateau in Italy's Apennines Mountains. Pedro had broken into the building, which appears to have been temporarily abandoned, so that his injured employer would have a place to rest.
.......The furnishings are elegant but old and run-down. On the walls are tapestries, armorial trophies, and modern paintings in frames with intricate golden designs. In his excited state of mind (the delirium that appears to be setting in as a result of his injury), the narrator becomes fascinated with the paintings. So that he may contemplate them while lying down, he directs Pedro to light a candelabrum next to the bed and draw back the bed curtains. A small book he had found on the bed describes the paintings.
.......Hours pass as he reads the book intently. About midnight, he draws the candelabrum closer for more light. When he does so, he casts light on a painting in a niche, a painting he had not noticed until now. It portrays a young girl "just ripening into womanhood," the narrator says. After looking upon it for a moment, he closes his eyes while he considers whether his vision had deceived him. In a few moments, he looks again. It is a head-and-shoulders vignette in a gilded oval frame. Though the painting is a worthy work of art, it was not the painter's style or the extraordinary beauty of the young lady that had startled the narrator moments before; it was the absolutely lifelike expression on her face. It now appalls him. The narrator returns the candelabra to its former place, casting the painting back into the shadows. He then looks up the oval portrait in the book.
.......It says the lady was the wife of a painter who loved his art more than he loved her. One day, he expressed a desire to paint her portrait. Meekly and obediently, she agreed to sit for it in the dim light of