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my last duchess theme of jealousy
the last duchess analysis poem
the last duchess analysis poem
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My Last Duchess by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue spoken by the Duke Ferrari. It highlights the jealous and sadistic nature of his character and the weirdness that surrounds his late wife’s demise. A dramatic monologue is a kind of poem whereby a single fictional or historical character other than the poet is made to speak to a silent audience, in this case, only the main character is allowed to talk. The purpose of the monologue is to not to disclose the poet’s own ideas but the thoughts of the lead character in the poem. (Christopher Baldick 1) .In the process, personality of the main character is revealed by the poet.
In "My Last Duchess," the duke is speaking to a aristocrat of a wealthy count. Before the commencement of the poem, the aristocrat has been led through the Duke's palace most likely through an art gallery filled with paintings and sculptures. The aristocrat has seen a curtain, which hides a wall painting, thus the duke decides to show his visitor a very special portrait of his late wife. The aristocrat is awed by the smile of the woman in the painting, he asks what produced such an expression, and that is when the dramatic monologue commences:
As it is common in many other dramatic monologues, “My Last Duchess” offers a peek of the Duke of Ferrara personality. The first line alone reveals that he has a deep passion for art. In the first three lines, “That's my last duchess painted on the wall/ Looking as if she were alive I call /That piece a wonder.”(1-3). The portrait of the late Duchess of Ferrara is a wall painting, which is a type of work painted directly on a plaster wall in watercolors. By calling that piece, a wonder emphasizes that he has many other paintings in his possession but gives the ...
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...f the piece, whereby it is revealed that he is in the process of negotiating another wedding ceremony. The imaginary listener character is a representative of another noble, as shown by the speaker's reference to him as "the Count your master" (ll. 49). In spite of the speaker's obvious ignorance for the value of life, and his apparent corruption, this agent seems to agree to arrange for the duke's marriage to the count's daughter. Therefore, it is assumed that the count, although not there in the setting of the poem, also agrees to the marriage of this duke to his daughter, fully aware of the death of the former's previous spouse; the count likely stands to benefit from such an arrangement, as was the practice of the time. This, again, speaks to the author’s opinion of the nobility as corrupt and made inhuman by the very power that elevates them above other men.
Initially, both speakers in the literary texts are similar because they killed their lovers. In Duchess, the duke that is the speaker says blatantly that he killed his last wife. As the speaker says in lines 45-46, “I gave commands; then the smiling stopped all together.” These lines mean that he told her to stop smiling, but she didn’t listen to him, so therefore he killed her, thus the smiles stopped all together. He explained that he did this such action because she smiled too much. In the same way, the speaker of Lover explained that he killed his lover too. The speaker grabbed his woman’s hair, and wrapped it around her neck three times, and strangled her to death! “I found a thing to do, and all her hair in one long yellow string I wound three times her little throat around, and strangled her” (Lines 37-41).
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.
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.
On the other hand, on “My Last Duchess”, the speaker is a Duke who is going to be remarried. As the speaker shows his new wife’s father a painting of his previous wife he describes how she was like. Unlike the previous poem, this one clearly depicts the speaker as a monster. He had his wife murdered for what comes across as fairly innocent crimes. In the following lines he states;
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...
Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” is a haunting poem that tells the story of a seemingly perfect wife who dies, and then is immortalized in a picture by her kind and loving husband. This seems to be the perfect family that a tragic accident has destroyed. Upon further investigation and dissection of the poem, we discover the imperfections and this perfect “dream family” is shown for what it really was, a relationship without trust.
My Last Duchess takes place in Italy, late Renaissance Italy which is over 300 hundred years before My Ex-Husband. You also see a reference to Italy within the poem My Ex-Husband. “You yet these lovely champagne flutes, hand blown, Imported from Murano, Italy” (Lines 52-53) Italy is yet another connection between these two paired poems. May it be the glorious and beautiful history or may it just be symbol of wealth between My Last Duchess and My Ex-Husband. The symbol of wealth is almost ironic because in the end who is really wealthy? They both have faced a sense of
In the first several lines (1-8) of the poem , the duke is addressing an unknown listener. He only uses the pronoun "you" so it is never clear until the ending who the intended listener is. He begins by pointing out the portrait on the wall...
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...
The Speaker in ‘My Last Duchess’ is conversing with the servant of a count whose daughter he is proposing to marry. He treats t...
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
The first two lines of the poem introduce us to the main topic of the duke's speech, a painting of his late wife: "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,/Looking as if she were alive. " We immediately begin to suspect that the duchess is no longer alive, but are not sure. The clever language Browning chose suggested that something was wrong, but left enough ambiguity to quickly capture our attention as readers. Also in these lines, we are given our first hint that the duchess really isn't all that important to the Duke. He speaks of the painting as if it was the Duchess, suggesting that his late wife was nothing more than her external appearance.
The theme of “My Last Duchess” is power, it is based on the Duke’s political and social power applied by the speaker. In this
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.
A Comparison of the Dramatic Monologues of Porphyria's Lover and My Last Duchess by Robert Browning