The Oval Portrait and Obsessed: Thematic Comparison

In both the story “The Oval Portrait” and the film “Obsessed” there is a common theme of obsession with objects, people, or ideas leading to negative consequences. Obsession misleads people and disorients them from their priorities. This is seen when in the oval portrait the painter is so passionate in his painting that he loses sight of his wife’s health and is lost in the beauty of the painting. In obsessed the antagonist Lisa is so obsessed with the main character Derek, that she is willing to kill Derek’s wife Sharon to get to him. This shows how obsessions disorient people and mislead them from their priorities because in the oval portrait the painter does not tend to his wife and Lisa isn’t being productive in the workplace if she’s obsessed with Derek. Obsession affects other people, not just the person who is obsessed. In the oval portrait the painter’s wife is being affected as she isn’t getting any attention and as a result it seems as though her life was transferred to the painting. In obsessed Derek’s wife (Sharon), is being affected as she is being targeted by Lisa in an attempt to get closer to Derek. This seems to bother Sharon so she seriously confronts Derek saying “you better do something about this woman, or I will”. Therefore there is more than one person who is negatively affected in both situations displaying obsession.  Obsession ends in failure or negative consequence in both scenarios. In the oval portrait the painter’s objective was to portray his wife’s beauty onto the canvas, but he did so with consequence because as he depicted her, she felt that her life was seeping into the portrait and she was slowly passing as the portrait was being completed. In obsessed Lisa is so determined to be with Derek that it causes Derek physical and emotional harm. In the end Lisa dies, after she attempts to kill Sharon and says “If I can’t have him, no one will”. This shows how obsession leads to failure and negative consequences. In conclusion obsession hurts many people and leads to consequence; it’s also the common theme in both “the oval portrait” and “Obsessed”.