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Analysis of browning my last duchess
Analysis of browning my last duchess
Analysis of browning my last duchess
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Browning's "My Last Duchess" is about an entitled Duke that kills his wife because he was not happy with her on how she treated him. Yet Browning uses this poem to reveal that Victorian men are disabled by their reliance on the authority they have over females. He also utilizes the unusual association among the Duke and the Duchess to show Victorian men's fixation with control, when also displaying that it takes both genders to put an end to the misuse of women during the time when the author wrote the poem and the time when he got his inspiration. Men from the Victorian era and Renaissance era observe their wives only to look for a reflection of themselves instead of viewing them as a person. Browning not only blames both genders but society …show more content…
Consequently, from this poem, Browning is displaying to the audience that the mistakes among women and men was resulted by the formation of the Victorian culture. Although Victorian men take part in the suppression of the women’s equality movement Victorian women are not innocent for their own oppression. Women feel the need to please not only men but society as well and in result relinquish themselves and their individuality. Victorian men feel threatened if their own wife is smarter or as equally intelligent as they are and as a result demean their spouse so they can easily control them. The Duke had his wife murdered because she viewed him as an equal while he viewed himself as a god. After the Duchess’s murder he then goes to the envoy to find another wife, but this time he is telling the envoy that he wants his next wife to be nothing like his first wife. By killing the Duchess he is making a threat toward the future Duchess to understand that he does not want an equal but an object on the
held, and he is clearly very controlling in his relationships. Browning's use of the first person narrative in "My Last Duchess" allows the reader to gain insight into the Duke's character and personality. The use of the servant as a listener also allows the reader to see how the Duke interacts with others and how he wants to be perceived. Overall, Browning's use of the first person narrative in his dramatic monologues is a powerful tool in revealing the thoughts and feelings of his characters.
The death of the female beloved is the only way deemed possible by the insecure, possessive male to seize her undivided attention. This beloved woman represents the "reflector and guarantor of male identity. Hence, the male anxiety about the woman's independence for her liberty puts his masculine self-estimation at risk" (Maxwell 29). The jealous and controlling males in Robert Browning's "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess" possess a fervent desire to fix and monopolize their unconstrained female beloveds. Due to a fear of death, both speakers attempt to achieve control and deny object loss; by turning their lovers (once subjects) into objects, they ultimately attain the role of masterful subject.
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”.
In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s epic-novel, she creates a hybrid form. By mixing both the epic as well as the novel, she is mixing a traditionally male genre with a traditionally female genre. Women, traditionally seen as emotional beings meant to be a man’s “helpmate” as well as a caretaker of children are seen in a new light in Aurora Leigh. Men are also given new roles. As Barrett Browning writes of the epic and poetic tradtion, “Their sole work is to represent the age,/Their age, not Charlemagne's,–this live, throbbing age…” (Barrett Browning V.202-203). By writing this, Barrett Browning pushed the boundaries. She represented an age of change both with from and content. She not only represented her age, but proposed a new ideal; that women can be and are self-sufficient.
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...
Throughout "My Last Duchess," Browning uses diction to further increase the haunting effect of his dramatic monologue. His precise and scattered word choice is meant to make the reader recognize the underlying haughtiness in his speech to the Count's emissary. The Duke refers to his former wife's portraits "depth" and "passion" in order to place a cloudiness over the realism of the painting. This, along with the "faint" and "half-flush" appearance that "dies along her throat," brings about an overcast appearance to the poem. The Duke's "trifling" lack of "countenance" is evident in his jealousy of
“My Last Duchess” by Ferrara In this poem, A Duke is speaking of his last wife the Duchess. He has a picture behind a curtain he draws for those he chooses to see his wife. The Duke is a very proud man with “…a nine-hundred-years-old name” (line 33) and seems to imply the past was beneath him. The entire piece filled with his arrogance towards his wife in speaking with a second person who not identified directly, but reference given to have the reader draw the conclusion it could be a possible next wife. The Duke speaks of a dowry in line52 and the entire conversation takes the air of a warning about what can happen when the Duke is not obeyed, “…I gave commands;” (line 45).
The exciting line, ‘I am here’, emphasises her importance and leaves us questioning what she is about to do next. Browning is mocking society’s expectations of the patriarchal and classist structures of lower-class women, suggesting that women can also only ever bring pain to other females because they cannot match against men and their intelligence. Her intended victim is both, but her jealousy is directed at another woman. ‘Let death be felt’, is the penultimate line that truly shows her power in this poem. Surprisingly for a female, she has no remorse or guilt about what she is doing, almost as if she has gained male qualities.
In conclusion, Mr. Robert Browning depicts in ‘My Last Duchess” that the Duke is not an ideal husband by referencing how controlling he is over women and other people in his vicinity. Mr. Browning also references the Duke’s jealous and petty actions that make him seem desperate for a way to seek attention. That is why the Duke disposes of her since she was not giving him the proper care he wanted he decided that she was not worthy. The Duke is also not an ideal husband based on his views of how disposal women are to him. His jealousy and insecurity lead him to be an unhappy self-centered
Robert Browning, the author of "My Last Duchess", uses the setting to show the Dukes greed, cruelty, and jealousy. The development of the setting begins with the Duke showing an agent for the Count of Tyrol the curtained picture of his deceased Duchess. Count of Troy sent an agent in order to see if the Duke is worthy to marry his daughter. The fact that he keeps the picture behind closed curtains and deems it a privilege to view the Duke's last Duchess illustrates his possessiveness and greed. "She thanked men--good! But thanked somehow--I know not how--as if she ranked my gift of nine-hundred-years-old name with anybody's gift". This line lends to the setting by showing his greed and how he places himself above other men according to his possess...
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the braver literary pioneers. Choosing to utilize the vocabulary she favored rather than submit to the harsh criticisms of those who held the power to make or break her is an applaudable novelty about her. Many writers, having been successful in their literary exploits, are susceptible to accusations that their work was catered to critics. Surely, this cannot and should not be said of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
During the Victorian Era, the concept of how a “proper” man and woman were to behave came under fire and there were men and women on both sides willing to argue for their beliefs. Though the traditional Victorian Era attitude is long since gone and devalued, it can be very enlightening to see the ways in which these attitudes surfaced themselves in the literature of the time. Sarah Stickney Ellis wrote The Women of England: Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits from the viewpoint that women should self-abnegate their own beliefs and become fully interested in the man. And to illustrate this point, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnet 43” will be closely looked at along with the essay to make some critical points.
When considering the social context of the stifling Victorian period, it is revealed that in addition to her message regarding child exploitation, Browning subtly utilised her writing to express her feminist views. Throughout the poem, Browning repeatedly questions the male factory owners that uphold such appalling conditions under the justification of economic progress. By addressing these males exclusively, Browning suggests that only a male-dominated society could treat the young and innocent so poorly. This idea is suggested further by the use of the word “Fatherland,” rather than the traditional “Motherland” to describe England. Browning writes, “For a man’s grief abhorrent, draws and presses / Down the cheeks of infancy.” This metaphor powerfully reiterates that it is the men of society who have treated the children so unjustly. The inferential message implied, is that if the women of the Victorian era did not break the sex barrier and fight for social reform, then they would be forever supressed by the masculine ideals of
Browning, Robert. "My Last Duchess." The Norton Anthology of Poetry. Ed. Margaret Ferguson and Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. London: Norton & Company, 2005. 1012-1016.
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.