The dark blue waters appear to fall into the world of Hades...

The dark blue waters appear to fall into the world of Hades, where the ferryman, possibly the male figure, will escort the dying across the river to be submerged into the underworld for eternity. The erect trees, possibly a phallic symbol, amplify the man’s role; he is taking her into his domain . but where, or for what purpose exactly (Slavoj, 3)?

The spectator slowly forgets about the man and the woman and is overwhelmed by their uncanny surroundings, which arouse a sense of the sublime, due to the figures in the foreground, who are also spectators and appear at a safe distance from an engulfing nature, allowing them, and us, “to feel this soul-stirring delight” (Kant, 49). The uncertainty of the situation is what creates the sublime, because “obscurity is necessary” (Burke, 13).