My Last Duchess Essay

720 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: My Last Duchess by Robert Browning poetry essay

Robert Browning’s speakers seem to love confessing, either through what the speaker suggests or how the speaker speaks. Death and Evil seem to be the draped in a mask of high social standing and beauty of his speakers. The themes of his poems usually portray multiple perspectives into the speaker’s dramatic monologues and the reader’s learn the many psychological levels the speaker exhibits. This is all prevalent in Robert Browning’s poem, “My Last Duchess.” The poem opens with the speaker presenting this lifelike portrait of his “last Duchess” emphasizing “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall/ looking as if she were alive” (1-2). The speaker illustrates this full size portrait, to at first, an unknown listener in a dramatic fashion, …show more content…

Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt, Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without Much the same smile? This grew. I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands As if alive. (36-47)
When confessing that he put his mesmerizing wife to death, for smiling, or so he declares, he asserts to his listener, a disclaimer. At the end of the story the speaker labels his listener as The Count, and whose daughter he is soon to marry. Robert Browning is not only using this dramatic monologue from the speaker as a confession, however, an underlying message to the Count of what is to come if his daughter is uncontrollable as well.
Once the speaker has completed his confession to his listener, he asks him to rise accordingly, walk down together, while pointing out his statue of Neptune taming a sea-horse. Not only is the Duke displaying his charm, once again, by walking along his guests, but also showing his underlying need for control: Nay, we’ll go Together down, sir. Notice Neptune,

Show More
Related

  • Soliloquies - Role of Speaker in Browning's Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister

    682 Words  | 2 Pages

    The speaker in any poem is significant because he enables the reader to aquire information necessary in order to enter the imaginary world of the work.  In Browning's Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister, the solitary speaker, who is a monk overwhelmed with hatred toward a fellow monk, plays an important role as the guide in the world of the poem.  The diction, structure, and tone of the entire poem communicate the speaker's motives, perceptions, emotions, and behavior.

    Read More

  • Comparative Analysis of Brooks' and Plath's Poetry

    1610 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poetry stands beyond agreement or disagreement and reinforce all ideas of mysteriousness (671). In “Lady Lazarus”, the story of Plath’s life with her tendency of self-destruction sheds light the meaning of the poem. A poem can be a reflection of the writer’s life; to understand the particular poem better, a study about the writer background helps to construct the subliminal meaning within the lines. Plath reconstructs the meaning of being a survivor from destruction, as she sustains the trauma of life that causes her to be suicidal. “Although “Lady Lazarus” draws on Plath’s won suicide attempt, the poem tells us little of the actual event. It is not a personal confession, but it does reveal Plath’s understanding of the way the suicidal person thinks.” (Dickie). The courageous endeavor to survive proves that the death is no longer terrifying. “Peel off the napkin/O my enemy./D I terrify?---“. On the contrary, the character in the poem, Lady Lazarus comes out to the light and challenges to whoever the enemy is, by saying, “I am you opus,/I am your valuable,/The pure gold baby”. She addresses how worthy she is as a human being, and she is revived and stronger than

    Read More

  • Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden

    1844 Words  | 4 Pages

    Browning, Robert. “My Last Duchess”. 1842. Literature. Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 6th Ed. Avenue of the Americas, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 781, 782.

    Read More

  • Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess by Robert Browning

    2228 Words  | 5 Pages

    Robert Browning was one of the greatest poets of the nineteenth century. In 1842, he published ‘Dramatic Lyrics’ which included the two poems ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’. In ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ Browning gives the reader a dramatic insight into the twisted mind of an abnormally possessive lover, who wishes the moment of love to last forever. In this essay, ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ will be compared to Robert Browning’s other dramatic monologue, ‘My Last Duchess’, where an Italian aristocrat reveals his cruelty to his late wife whilst showing off a portrait of her to one of his guests.

    Read More

  • Two Peas in a ‘Far Out’ Pod

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever fallen in love? Have you ever developed strong feelings for another? If problems arose between the two of you, were you able to overcome them? Well certain men in Robert Browning’s works couldn’t seem to. . . “overcome” these differences with their women. Browning grew up learning from his father’s huge library. His wife was much more successful at writing than him. Eight years after her death, his career turned around for the last 20 years of his life. During this time, he wrote many short dramatic monologues such as My Last Duchess and Prophyria’s Lover. These two very intriguing and disturbing Monologues, My Last Duchess and Prophyria’s Lover, by Robert Browning, involve two very messed up men whose actions are both alike in their idea of immortalizing their woman, but different in why they chose to commit the act between the two stories, and a conclusion may be drawn from this observation.

    Read More

  • Interpretation of Robert Brownings My Last Duchess

    741 Words  | 2 Pages

    It goes on to speak about sympathy in general and how Browning “delighted in making a case for the apparently immoral position”, how he found dramatic monologues the best form to do so, and how he went about it.     It keeps going for a couple more pages on things which I will not go into because they have little relevance to any interpretation of “My Last Duchess”.

    Read More

  • On the Entrapment and Incarceration of the Victorian Woman

    2383 Words  | 5 Pages

    The doomed Duchess of Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue, “My Last Duchess” is the embodiment of the incarcerated woman taken to the eternal extreme. The setting for this poem is the Italy of the Middle Ages, a time when women had still less freedom than in the Victorian era. Women were regarded as possessions, a form of imprisonment within itself. As Johnson states the theme of “marriage as bondage” is consistently explored throughout Browning’s early wor...

    Read More

  • Diction In My Last Duchess

    644 Words  | 2 Pages

    In My Last Duchess, Robert Browning uses voice to create a sinister tone by the use of words he chooses for the Duke of Ferrara to use in his dramatic monologue. The Duke is an arrogant, selfish man who loves the arts. He introduces his deceased wife, as “That’s my last Duchess, painted on the wall,” he says as if he owned her. The Duke was not happy when she participated in things that that he did not provide her with, she didn’t bow down to his aristocratic ways and this displeased him to a great extent. Then nonchalantly, he tells the ambassador that “I gave commands, Then all smiles stopped together.’ This is the dukes sinister way of confessing he had her murdered.

    Read More

  • Comparing Poems Porphyria's Lover And My Last Duchess

    454 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Robert Browning’s poems “Caliban upon Setebos,” “Porphyria’s Lover,” and “My Last Duchess,” the speakers, listeners, and settings have different impacts. The fact that each of these is a dramatic monologue forces the reader to realize that the speaker is not exaggerating and really thinks this way. It also displays his uninterrupted thought process. In some poems, such as “Caliban Upon Setebos,” it characterizes the speaker positively as an unexpected intellectual. In others, it conveys the speaker’s insanity, as it does in “Porphyria’s Lover” and “My Last Duchess.”

    Read More

  • The Runaway Pilgrim Point essay

    522 Words  | 2 Pages

    In essence, Elizabeth Barrett Browning dramatic monologue proved a powerful medium for Barrett Browning. Taking her need to produce a public poem about slavery to her own developing poetics, Barrett Browning include rape and infanticide into the slave’s denunciation of patriarchy. She felt bound by women’s silence concerning their bodies and the belief that “ a man’s private life was beyond the pale of political scrutiny” (Cooper, 46).

    Read More

  • My Last Duchess Essay

    487 Words  | 1 Pages

    to understand how the mother feels. Alike, “My Last Duchess” the mood can be seen as heavy, threatening and rather sinister. As the poem progresses, the Duke’s true colours begin to seep through. The sinister atmosphere is created as it foreshadows what the Duke has already done to his duchess. The Duke’s commanding powerful presence created a pressurized and tense mood as the envoy is so disturbed near the end of the poem, he tries to leave.

    Read More

  • My Love Song Of J Alfred Prufrock Comparison Essay

    1669 Words  | 4 Pages

    Browning’s works were the primary model for the basic form of the standard Victorian dramatic monologue which was based around a speaker, listener, and a reader. Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess” became a model for the dramatic monologue form primarily because of the strict approach he took while developing the poem. One of the aspects characteristic of this work is the authors level of consciousness. Each element in “My Last Duchess” is thoughtfully constructed with form and structure in mind. This poem is filled with dramatic principle that satisfied the Victorian period’s demand for an action and drama that were not overtly apparent in the work. In the case of “My Last Duchess” the drama of the poem is how his character, the Duke, is introduced. In dramatic monologues the character’s self is revealed through thoug...

    Read More

  • Use of Irony, Diction, and Imagery in My Last Duchess

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    Browning uses irony in conjunction with dramatic monologue to produce a sinister and domineering effect. Irony, much like dramatic monologue, can make the reader question the true underlying meaning of the passage. This brief confusion causes an eeriness to be brought about in the work. In "My Last Duchess," verbal irony is demonstrated when the Duke says to his guests, "even had you skill in speech . . . which I have not"(35-36).

    Read More

  • Analysis of Porphyria’s Lover by Robert Browning

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    The rhythm and sound of this poem is made to draw in the reader, to make them feel a false sense of security before being dragged into a world of darkness and despair. The narrator never misses a beat throughout the whole poem giving the image that he may have planned the murder before hand. The narrator takes a twisted look at the nature of love and its effects on people. Browning shows the dangers of obsessive love through the narrator of the poem, whose sin fueled desire to dominance appears slowly through the poem. Browning’s use of the dramatic monologue and subtle word choice help the reader to fully understand the narrator’s shocking murder of his lover.

    Read More

  • Analysis of the Duke in Browning's "My Last Duchess"

    502 Words  | 2 Pages

    In "My Last Duchess", by Robert Browning, the character of Duke is portrayed as having controlling, jealous, and arrogant traits. These traits are not all mentioned verbally, but mainly through his actions. In the beginning of the poem the painting of the Dukes wife is introduced to us: "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,/ looking as of she were still alive" (1-2). These lines leave us with the suspicion that the Duchess is no longer alive, but at this point were are not totally sure. In this essay I will discuss the Dukes controlling, jealous and arrogant traits he possesses through out the poem.

    Read More

More about My Last Duchess Essay

Open Document