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“Long—long I read—and devoutly, devotedly I gazed. Rapidly and gloriously the hours flew by and the deep midnight came.”

This quote occurs during the story’s rising action, when the narrator has established himself in a bedroom of the chateau and has begun to study the paintings. The repetition at the beginning of the quote emphasizes the powerful hold art has over the narrator. This is a man who is badly in need of a good night’s sleep, but the art on the walls possesses the power to hold his attention for hours. That the narrator is not only able to stay awake but is also compelled to do so demonstrates art’s destructive power.

“… and, for one moment, the painter stood entranced before the work which he had wrought; but in the next, while he yet gazed, he grew tremulous and very pallid, and aghast, and crying with a loud voice, ‘This is indeed Life itself!’ turned suddenly to regard his beloved:— She was dead!”

This quote comprises the climax and deadly resolution of the story. The painter expresses shock and awe at his own power to imbue his painting with life. Shock and awe become horror as he realizes that the subject, his wife, has died in the process. This moment suggests art has the power to give life as well as take life away.

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