American version of romantism

2. Comparative analysis of "Moles" by N. Hawthorne and "Oval Portrait" by E. Poe
In our work, we will compare two works of late romantics at the following levels:

4. 
   chronotope
   
5. 
   main character system
   
6. 
   plot-compositional level
   
7. 
   level of motives and semantic oppositions
   

Chronotop
Chronotope is a concept introduced into the humanities by M.M. Bakhtin and the meaning of artistic space and artistic time, taken in their interaction with each other. In fact, these are the main coordinates that form the artistic world of the text of art.
In "Mole" the action takes place: " in the last part of the last century " [ p . 175], that is, for the author it means in the second half of the 18th century. Hawthorne points out what exactly this period in history was famous for, its global significance: electricity was discovered. Author describes society Togo time , his values : "it was not unusual for the love of science to rival the love of woman in its depth and absorbing energy" [p. 175]. People toy pores believed in : "this degree of faith in man's ultimate control over nature" [p. 175]. You can see how the antithesis "Man - Nature" is set from the very beginning of the work. It was important for Nathaniel G. to give a description of artistic time in order to explain the subsequent actions of the characters, their motives. Thus, we have determined the general historical time, but now we will follow the internal time of this short story.
Georgiana , Aylmer 's wife , has had an unusual mole on her left cheek since childhood, and to describe the "fantastic" possibility of her appearance, the author takes us back to the birth that admirers of this beautiful woman talk about. The life of the girl before marriage can also be attributed to this past, because Aylmer at that time was not burdened by the existence of this very mole. Their marriage is a kind of threshold, after crossing which the husband begins to see in his wife the only flaw that haunts him. Another important moment in the artistic time of this short story is the mention of the Middle Ages, which, as a period in history, immediately refers us to something mysterious, gothic, magical ( Georgiana looked through books on alchemy). Just as this period was somewhat shrouded in mystery, so what happened to Aylmer was a mystery to Georgiana . She could not understand what his behavior meant, what he was doing outside the laboratory.
Also great is the role of time at the moment when the action of the elixir takes place. Aylmer sees that ill-fated mole disappear before his eyes as Georgiana slowly dies. At the same time, with equal proportion, the scientist achieves success, the perfection of his wife, who, in turn, gradually fades away. And the final words of the short story are key from the point of view of artistic time:
“The momentary circumstance was too strong for him; he failed to look beyond the shadowy scope of time, and, living once for all in eternity, to find the perfect future in the present" [p. 192]. The hero was so carried away by the pursuit of perfection that he lost the connection between the ideal future and the real present. He was never able to understand that perfection and eternity are revealed within reality and time, and not outside of them.
Artistic space is closely intertwined with artistic time in this work. The action takes place locally, but there are no exact indications of the area, however, this space can be called closed, because. the heroes are in their home. Quite an important place, in our opinion, is the Aylmer laboratory , since it was here that Georgiana was left for such an experiment. Her husband created a kind of vacuum for her, where sunlight did not penetrate, where there were only lamps (artificial lighting) and from which he did not allow her to go out. But Georgiana violated the ban, crossed the threshold of the laboratory - the boundary between spaces - and immediately got into the room where the stove stood, where it was impossible hot and stuffy. This free movement brought her closer to her husband, who was so afraid to admit his concerns about making the elixir. "The first thing that, hot fever was a worker, with fire, which they have the quantities of that and the quantities of their qualities for it" [p. 187] Such environment is unique symbolic space : sulfur associated with impure force , flame - with hell , "burning for ages" intensifies This assimilation . Hawthorne , with the help of artistic space, wanted to convey the idea that whatever Aylmer and his servant Aminadab do , it will all refer to a hellish, evil beginning, since they create an elixir, in fact, in fiery hell. Aylmer wanted to be something like God, Creator Nature, and his pride is in this hell. Hawthorne 's infernal images go back not only to the Bible, but also to a literary source - Goethe's Faust. The Faustian motif can be found not only in this short story, but also in Edgar Allan Poe's short story: the human mind is always looking for perfection at any cost.
In the short story "The Oval Portrait" by Edgar Allan Poe, we will also try to find the features of artistic space and time and analyze them. The very first word of this work is “castle”, which determines all subsequent developments. This building, which was most popular in the Middle Ages (Edgar Allan Poe refers to this era, like Hawthorne ), in addition, the author makes an allusion to the gothic novels of Anna Radcliffe : " in the fancy of Mrs. _ Radcliffe " [ p . 209], which together sets the reader up for an atmosphere of gothic, mystery, luxury. The artistic time of this novel is from the beginning of twilight until late at night. This timing is not accidental. Edgar Allan Poe immerses the reader in a mystical atmosphere, pumps it up with the presence of only artificial light: “ to light the tongues of a tall candelabrum " [ p . 209], closes all the shutters, leaves the hero in the dimness of a dilapidated room. The artistic space is shrinking at times. The key moment in the continuation of the development of the plot is midnight. It was at this time that the hero changes the position of the candle, thereby from a different lighting it becomes possible to see a picture that was previously in the shade. "I thus saw in vivid light a picture all unnoticed before" [p. 210]. Another turning point is when the hero reads the description of this painting, which contains the story of its creation, which makes the artistic time turn into the past. Tem most Edgar By introduces plug-in short story in narration . “The cause of my deep agitation being thus shut from view, I sought eagerly the volume which discussed the paintings and their histories. Turning to the number which designated the oval portrait, I there read the vague and quaint words which follow…” [ p . 212].
If Hawthorne Georgiana was in the laboratory, Poe had the beautiful woman sitting in a high tower, where there was also no daylight, i.e. space is localized. As for artistic time, in this short story, like in Hawthorne , it slows down at the end of the story. The beautiful girl slowly dies while her husband lays down: " one brush upon the mouth and one tint upon the eye " [ p . 213] to her portrait. With the help of time, Poe wanted to show how life slowly flows into death, and vice versa. At first glance, life and death seem to be mutually exclusive concepts, but, as we see, they become interconnected, complementary.
In Hawthorne 's Mole, the characters are a pair of lovers: Aylmer ( Aylmer ) and Georgiana ( Georgiana ). Georgiana is the feminine form of the name George . “ Orge ” means a person who works, does something, and “ geo ” means land (from Greek), that is, her name means a farmer, a person tied to the earth, working on it. Therefore, Georgiana symbolizes the earthly beginning, earthly beauty, real. The root ail stands out in the name Aylmer , which means (for example, in the word ailment ) disaster, illness, trouble. The name tells us that its bearer causes pain or experiences it himself. Giving meaningful names to the heroes, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows that Georgiana is alive, she is from nature, from the earth, and Aylmer aspires to heights, to an unreal beauty that does not exist, but only earthly. Therefore, he destroys the earthly in her - a mole: " the visible mark of earthly imperfection " [ p . 176], and she dies.
the syntagmatic organization of plot elements.
Consider Hawthorne 's The Mole . It begins with the description: "a man of science » [ p . 175], what place he occupies in his environment. Hawthorne periodically includes author's digressions and characterizations in the narrative. Such an example is the following: “ Such a union <…> was attended with truly remarkable consequences and a deep impressive » _ [ p . 175]. In this passage, N. Hawthorne gives his assessment of what is happening. Then we meet for the first time with dialogue that helps us get to the heart of the matter, learn about the relationship between Aylmer and Georgiana . In the content of the very first dialogue, a conflict is declared: Aylmer is worried about his wife's mole, he offers to bring her together, to which Georgiana reacts sharply. Further Hawthorne again uses copyright retreat for explanations this situations : "To explain this conversation it must be mentioned that in the center of Georgiana's left cheek there was a singular mark" [p. 176]. To prove his words, the writer introduces the reader to the portrait of the main character. There is a "close-up" feeling when we get closer to her face and look at the mole on her left cheek. This technique was also used by Edgar Allan Poe in The Oval Portrait, which we will talk about a little later. An essential element of the composition in "The Mole" is the technique of retrospection: " Georgiana's lovers were wont to say that <…> at her birth hour …” [ p . 176]. It is important in order to show, on the one hand, how beautiful and at the same time imperfect Georgiana was , on the other hand, to determine the origin of this mole. It enough mystical : "some fairy <...> had laid her tiny hand upon the infant's cheek, and left this impress there in token of the magic endowments" [p. 176]. That is, a mole is perceived as a gift, as a symbol of life. And here comes the motive of a miracle.
In the next dialogue with her husband, Georgiana was the first to speak of her gift. Here Hawthorne again resorts to the technique of flashback when Georgiana talks about the dream of the previous night. In the short story, the motif of sleep - a borderline state - repeatedly appears. It was typical for romantics to introduce their heroes into such a state, for example, and in Edgar Allan Poe we can observe the main character who is struggling with sleep. In our opinion, it is this remark, said in a dream by Aylmer : “ It is in her heart now ; we must have it out !" [ p . 178] and will be the plot, because at this moment the hero clearly sets a task for himself, and in reality he already comprehends it and completely agrees with his inner impulse. Hawthorne also leads copyright reasoning on about dreams : "The mind is in a sad state when Sleep, the all-involving, cannot confine her specters within the dim region of her sway, but suffers them to break forth, affrighting this actual life with secrets that perchance belong to a deeper one » [p. 178].
After how _ _ spouses decided get rid of from ill-fated moles , author again sends reader in past , in then the time when Aylmer was engaged research , "had investigate the secrets of the highest cloud-region and of the profoundest mines" [p. 180], "during his toilsome youth" [p. 180]. We believe that this technique is used to achieve two goals. Firstly, to form the image of the main character, to show how much he was passionate about science, his correlation with it. Secondly, to show that his labors did not lead to anything and that: " our great creative Mother shows us nothing but results » [ p . 180], that is, Aylmer , an ordinary person, does not compete with Nature. Thus, this contradiction "Man - Nature" is supported, which manifests itself only in the image of Aylmer .
The climax, in our opinion, is the moment when after sleep (again the motive of sleep) the action of the elixir takes place. “Its presence had been awful; its departure was more awful still" [p. 191]. Here time slows down, tension increases, this painful and long “removal” of a mole takes place, which leads to a denouement: “ the parting breath of the now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere » [ p . 191]. Such a denouement is accompanied by the author's explanation, his attitude to what is happening through the description of Aminadaba 's reaction : “a hoarse , chuckling laugh was heard again » [ p . 192]. Hawthorne says : "Thus ever does the gross fatality of earth exult in its invariable triumph over the immortal essence" [p. 192].
The composition of "The Mole" by Hawthorne is in many ways similar to the composition of "The Oval Portrait" by Poe. The last short story begins with a description of the castle, setting the mood of the story. The plot of the action, in our opinion, can be considered the place in the short story when the hero: “ placed it < candelabrum > so as to throw its rays more fully upon the book » [ p . 210]. Thanks to such a play of light, a previously unseen picture appeared before the hero. Edgar Allan Poe seems to use the “close-up” technique, shading everything else, he focuses our attention on this subject. This is followed by a portrait description, which evokes very mixed feelings in the protagonist: on the one hand, the perfection of a work of art, on the other, the “ deadness ” of a woman. Poe achieves the effect of lifelikeness , that is, this picture seems to have been born before the eyes of the main character. Not only Hawthorne , but Poe also uses the technique of retrospection, which in this case is also an insert novel. Turning moment (turning point/ the beginning or rising action): "It was thus a terrible thing for this lady to hear the painter speak of his desire to portray even his young bride" [p. 212].
Poe's compositional complexity lies in the fact that he introduces into the narrative such a plot element as a story within a story. Thus, the content is related to the form: the portrait has an oval shape, contains the image, and the story includes another story.
We believe that the culmination of this short story can be considered the moment when only one stroke and halftone remained to be applied, “ the spirit of the lady again flickered up as the flame within the socket of the lamp » [ p . 213], the painter finished the picture, exclaiming: “ This is indeed Life itself !" (climax) [ p . 213], and " She was dead !" (denouement) [ p . 213]. Motives of life and death permeate this work to the very end. Perhaps that is why Poe speaks of such mixed feelings of the hero: at first he took the woman for an inanimate, then for a living one. That is, Poe's life and death are mixed, these are not two clearly delineated concepts, they flow from one to another.
After analyzing the plot-compositional level of the short stories, we identified both the similarity and difference between these two texts. Hawthorne and Poe use a portrait, a description, a flashback technique to build a literary text. Hawthorne is characterized by author 's digressions and characterizations, dialogues, as well as the introduction of new characters, for Poe - "a story within a story", monologues.