Author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu wrote the story called Schalken the Painter. This story tells a tale about a man named Schalken, who is a talented Flemish artist who is in love with Rose Velderkaust, the ward of his painting master, Gerard Douw. However, due to Schalken being extremely poor, his marriage gets rejected by her father Gerard Douw in favour of a suit pressed by a rich, mysterious old man named Minheer Wilken Vanderhausen of Rotterdam. However, as he gets to know this man, Schalken becomes terrified (the theme of horror/terror) as he appears as a ghost/ walking corpse:
"So far all was well; but the face!--all the flesh of the face was coloured with the bluish leaden hue, which is sometimes produced by metallic medicines, administered in excessive quantities; the eyes showed an undue proportion of muddy white, and had a certain indefinable character of insanity; the hue of the lips bearing the usual relation to that of the face, was, consequently, nearly black; and the entire character of the face was sensual, malignant, and even satanic” (9). …show more content…
Rose ends up appearing to Schalken and her dad Gerard dressed in a strange white garment and says: "the dead and the living never can be one” (ambiguous signifier here) and then begs for protection. Both men attempt to protect her but end up failing as she vanishes from behind a locked door, never to reappear again. However, years later while in Rotterdam for his father's funeral, Shalken has Rose appear in his dreams. She is dressed in a white outfit and guides him to a small apartment that has a curtained bed. When she spreads the curtain open, Vanderhausen also appears and sits up. This causes Schalken to faint and go unconscious. He is found the next day about to be buried beside a
"So far all was well; but the face!--all the flesh of the face was coloured with the bluish leaden hue, which is sometimes produced by metallic medicines, administered in excessive quantities; the eyes showed an undue proportion of muddy white, and had a certain indefinable character of insanity; the hue of the lips bearing the usual relation to that of the face, was, consequently, nearly black; and the entire character of the face was sensual, malignant, and even satanic” (9). …show more content…
Rose ends up appearing to Schalken and her dad Gerard dressed in a strange white garment and says: "the dead and the living never can be one” (ambiguous signifier here) and then begs for protection. Both men attempt to protect her but end up failing as she vanishes from behind a locked door, never to reappear again. However, years later while in Rotterdam for his father's funeral, Shalken has Rose appear in his dreams. She is dressed in a white outfit and guides him to a small apartment that has a curtained bed. When she spreads the curtain open, Vanderhausen also appears and sits up. This causes Schalken to faint and go unconscious. He is found the next day about to be buried beside a