| The influence of colours. |
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Every day we see a lot of colours and yet they do not have such a terrifying effect like the colours Poe uses in his stories. How do Poes colours differ from those we see every day and meet in other stories? I think you will all agree that the difference is immense, so let us examine step by step in what ways Poes colours differ from the ones we see every day. First of all, Poe is like a skilful artist who can see many hues and shades of one colour. Colour black is the one we meet quite often in the story MS found in a bottle, but it is never simple black colour we see. Poe notices even the slightest differences in this colour. That is why we meet deep dingy black and ebony black. Red is either ducky-red or dull, sullen glare of red light. This numerous hues create the atmosphere of mystery and vagueness, therefore they make us feel nervous and we can feel that something terrible is about to happen. As we have already noticed, normal colours are almost non-existent to Poe. Red colour is too simple and inexpressive. That is why we se a stream not of simply red, but the dull, sullen glare of red light. Glare a bright light that hurt your eyes1. Sullen dark, unpleasant1. Dull not bright or shiny1. How can something be bright and dark at the same time? It seems impossible, but we quite often come across such examples of colour-oxymorons in Poes stories, especially in MS found in a bottle. Lets analyse another example: dim silver-like rim. Dim fairly gloomy, not giving much light, not bright1. Silver shiny whitish metal1. Shiny and gloomy at the same time - here we see an oxymoron again. This controversy of colours emphasizes the instability and controversy of the whole story and the main hero. Once the balance is lost it is hard to restore it. We feel that this loss of balance will lead to something awful. Poe s choice of colours itself adds to the tensed atmosphere of the story. Black, white, red, grey, and yellow are the colours we meet in the story. The psychiatrists proved that our mind is greatly influenced by colours. The general rule is the following: all warm colours excite and irritate us, all cold colours act as sedatives, they calm us down. In the story we meet only two coloured colours: red and yellow. Both of them are warm. For this reason both of them make us more exited and add to the sinister atmosphere of the story. However, apart from the general influence each colour has its own specific effect on us. For example, yellow stimulates the work of mind, red makes us more melancholic and irritable, colour black makes us concentrated. The overall effect of these colours (which seems quite obvious now) is that we concentrate our strained attention on the story. The colours alone are enough to bring us to nervous breakdown, not mentioning the effect of the other, non-coloured words and the whole set of events. On the whole Poes colours are soft, vague, not clear (for example, dusky-red, dingy black). Poes light is never bright and clear. Even the sun emits no decisive light. Its glow is dark and sullen, without a reflection. It was proved by the psychiatrists that pastel colours create a feeling of mystery. The soft colours make the story dream-like or more of a nightmare-like. There is another reason why Poes choice of colours has such a great effect on us. Lets remember the colours used in the story: red, black, yellow, grey, and white. All these colours have some certain associations that are aroused in our minds when we see them, especially when we read the names of these colours. Lets see the definitions of these colours given by Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and decide which associations we have with this or that colour and how it helps the author to create the atmosphere of horror. Black having the colour of night or coal1. What is night? Night is quite often represents death. We can draw a conclusion that when we see the word black we immediately feel some coldness and fear. Red having the colour of blood or fire1. One of the most typical associations with red is blood. Poe emphasize this association by saying that dull glare of red light streamed down the sides of the vast chasm. This light streams just like a flow of blood, which also makes us feel if not frightened then at least anxious and alarmed. Grey having the colour of black mixed with white, like the colour of ash1. This mixture has no definite colour; it is not clear and therefore helps to create the atmosphere of mystery. To sum up we can say that the colours that Poe uses in his story have not only an almost unnoticeable effect on our minds (like making us more concentrated and tensed), they are also a source of numerous associations, some of which are slightly tipped by Poe (like the stream of red light which we immediately associate with a stream of blood), others arouse feelings of horror and terror without any hints (black is usually associated with death). Now that we have studied the effects colours can have on us, it is clear that Poe uses them to add to the sinister atmosphere of the story and to increase our feelings of worry and fear. This statement is easy to prove. I made a table Colour and light words with all the colour and light words I found in the story. As you can see, Poe uses colour and light mostly around the climax of the story. In the MS found in a bottle colour words are used in paragraphs number 5, 7, 8, 9. These are the ones describing the shipwreck. Starting with the 10th paragraph and till the 20th paragraph there are no colours or light words at all. Only 5 colour words are used through the paragraphs 21 to 24, and in the 26th paragraph everything is lost in the darkness. At first we are given just a simple word colour: I observed a very singular, isolated cloud. It was remarkable, as well for its colour, as from its being the first one we had seen Isnt it symbolic that the first coloured object will in the end lead to the death of the ship and all the members of the crew? Poe belonged to the symbolic school and I think it is quite possible to treat all the colours and the word colour itself as the symbol of cruel destiny. Poes colours are indistinct and can change, just like the fortunes wheel. 1 - Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Third edition |
