In his poem “My Last Duchess,” Robert Browning uses character to show the reader how the duke’s twisted views cause him to lose the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. In the poem, the duke is speaking to one of the servants of the count. He unveils to the servant a portrait of his late wife, the former duchess. The duke begins to tell the tale of his wife’s life, and he recounts the events that lead up to her eventual demise. He explains that he didn’t feel that she valued him as much as she should’ve, and that he felt like that was very wrong. He revealed to the servant that his late wife valued his “...gift of nine-hundred-years-old name with anybody’s gift.” (Lines 33-34, Browning) He goes on to rhetorically ask the servant, …show more content…
He continues to explain how much her behavior angered him, but he makes it clear that he had no intention of speaking to her on the issue; instead he was going to let her be until he could arrange a plan to change her using other means. The duke continues to speak to the servant about how he was never going to “stoop to the level” of his wife, as he felt that it wasn’t worth it; that he was greatly superior to her. He tells the servant that he chooses “...never to stoop.” (Lines 42-43, Browning) This piece of the duke’s monologue brings out his character, as it shows that he felt superior to his wife, and didn’t think she deserved any attention on his part if she would not completely devote herself to him. He is disillusioned into believing that his wife is a bad person, and more than that, a lesser person than himself. He is unable to see how wrong it is that he values himself and his life above others. This disillusionment causes him to be unable to see the difference between right and wrong. He thinks it is alright to demote and essentially dismiss his wife. In the poem, character is used in conveying the duke’s disillusioned manner, and how it causes him to lose the ability to see a difference
For the prince it is more of what he did not do than what he did. The prince lets the feuding families grow in enmity. He doesn’t take enough action to squash his rebellious subjects’ uproars, and when he does take action and punishes them, he is too lenient. The prince himself acknowledges his faults by saying, “And I for winking at your discords too. Have lost a brace of kinsmen.
he thinks that she is the only daughter who doesn't love him. It is Lear's
Lear’s character is constantly and dramatically changing throughout the play both by growing as a character but also through many downfalls. Lear becomes emotionally stronger and gains much more rationale near the end of the play, but only after a great downfall in each of these sectors. This was a result of the self-entitlement that Lear had placed on himself. King Lear’s vanity and excessive sense of entitlement was his tragic flaw throughout the play. He was a King, and needed to be served on time. Furthermore, when he is referred to as “my lady’s father,” this also hurts his ego for he is a King and that is what he wishes to be addressed
Elizabeth’s relationship with her elder male cousin, the Duke of Norfolk, was not good at all. The Duke of Norfolk wanted to kill Elizabeth because he wanted to become the king of England. Becoming the king of England was impossible while Elizabeth was still the queen. When Mary was on her deathbed with cancer the Duke of Norfolk tried to get Mary to sign a paper that would allow him to kill Elizabeth and become King of England. The Duke of Norfolk would speak against Queen Elizabeth and try to turn England against her. At one meeting she had to lock him and his men up so he wouldn’t cause a disturbance. They both had their differences.
In conclusion, Shakespeare has used the concept of honour and fidelity throughout the play. He shows many different aspects of honour and fidelity through his characters, the contrasting differences between men and women. He shows us what how important these traits are to Elizabethan society and if honour was ever lost in the upper classes the consequences were never too pleasant. Shakespeare even shows us the true loyalty between Benedick and Beatrice which gives and insight to his feminist views which were quite modern for the time.
The tragic hero of Shakespeare's King Lear is brought down, like all tragic heroes, by one fatal flaw, in this case pride, as well as pride's sister, folly. It is the King's egotistical demand for total love and, what's more, protestations of such from the daughter who loves him most, that set the stage for his downfall, as well as calling to the minds of the Elizabethan audience of Shakespeare's day the above-cited biblical edict. This daughter, Cordelia, can be seen as the humble lamb mentioned earlier, and her love and filial devotion go not only beyond that of her sisters (which is nil) but beyond words, thus enraging the proud king whose subsequent petulant rebukes extend to a bit of ironic Freudian projection: "Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her" (I.i.125). Here, Shakespeare is emphasizing Lear's pride by having him indulge in the common tendency of despising in others (and in this case wrongly) what one is most guilty of oneself. Lear's rash pride ...
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”.
Edward and the Duchess are two rebels, trying to rebel against what they thought was wrong with their situations. For Edward he felt that if he was the king, who is all mighty, then he should have the right to be happy with anyone he chooses. He might have loved being a king, but it were the very thing that kept him from happiness. In a way, he was being choked by his own crown, preventing him from being happy.
The king is only seen this one time in the play but it tells a great deal about him and the people that follow him. He enters the scene with this grand entrance cheerful and welcoming surrounded by nobles doing his bidding. This part has a Jekyll and Hide feeling about because the king goes too see Thomas More to talk, finding out that he made his trip to get More’s word that he will approve of his divorce. Once he realizes that more will not approve, and like a switch he turn off his nice and honest act and and shows his hostile, dishonest and aggressive personality, demanding More to conform, storming off. The nobles reaction to the king tells a lot about them as well , they followed him like a lost child, with no will of their own, they're willing to throw everything they are to get a head by pleasing the king even if it goes against their beliefs and integrity.
This is a clear portrayal of William's early struggle with his sexual identity in which he thought homosexuality was forbidden. Just like Blanche he attempted to hide it because it went against his early puritanical beliefs as well as being harmful to his public image as a
Duke is portrayed as being a very controlling gentleman. He thinks that no one but himself has the authority to show off his late wife portrait: "Since no one puts by/ The curtain I have drawn for you, but I" (9-10). The duke seemed like the kind of man who wanted his wife's company all to himself. He enjoyed having the power to try and control who she smiled upon. He felt she treated too many others the same way she treated him. Apparently, in his mind he t...
He was talk to the person as if they were equal. The reason he was very prideful toward to Elizabeth when he said “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your with me.” (P&P 9) He is saying this because he did not know who is elizabeth and he was very unconformable to speaking her.
well-being or an unarranged marriage, she is a prize to be won – here. the woman is trapped in a patriarchal society, “I may neither choose. who I would nor refuse who I dislike; so is the will of a living. daughter curb’d by the will of a dead father”. Act 1 scene 2 line 22.
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
"She had A heart—how shall I say?— too soon made glad, Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er She looked on, and her looks went everywhere. " This show how he thought she was getting to happy by other people and we can really see his jealous and how he thinks he is so greater than others when he said "She thanked men—good! but thanked Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked