mmediate exposition as opposed to an
             immediate exposition . Within the latter exposition, "the author opens by acquainting us with the elements of the
             story material." The beginning of The Portrait is very close to being defined as purely immediate but the storyline
             is not as simple. Therefore it would be characterized as a semi-exposition. The reader is presented with the
             character of the artist, a poor young idealist man and his environment, which sets the scene for the development of
             the story. The artist is described as having an "old overcoat and unfashionable . . . he was a man who devoted
             himself to his work with self-denying zeal." The poverty of the artist, invokes feelings of sympathy in the reader.
             These emotions of sympathy are expected and are manipulated by the author for his own use. In particular, the
             choice of the author for a poor character, resulting in sympathetic emotions is a purposeful one, from a formalist
             perspective. "The function of sympathy is primarily to direct interest and maintain attention-to call forth, as it were,
             the personal interest of the reader in the development of the theme." The reader, in having emotionally invested in
             the character, is irrevocably attracted to the story.
             Chartkov purchases a portrait, which the reader knows he cannot afford, for its glaring eyes with its "unnatural
             loveliness." Already the reader knows the unusual importance of this portrait, if anything merely by the
             implications created by the semi-exposition itself. Indeed, this portrait and namely its eyes, develops into the
             dynamic motif of the story. But for the moment, Gogol puts
             ...