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In ‘Medusa’ and ‘My Last Duchess’ their central characters have some remarkable similarities that represent a common theme. In each of the poems, both Medusa and the Duke of Ferrara represent the danger of power as they are both driven by jealousy to use their power to corrupt. The poets use strong language, a clear structure and harsh sounds to present the strength and power of both the characters.

Carol Ann Duffy shows how the jealousy of Medusa turned her into a powerful monster through the quote, ’turned the hairs on my head to filthy snakes’. Medusa's transformation into monster becomes a metaphor for the power of jealousy to corrupt. The theme of jealousy is shown in the rule of three on the first line: 'a suspicion, a doubt, a jealousy'. The rule of three evokes a growing tension and the fact that the word ‘jealousy’ is placed at the end of the line suggests that it is the strongest emotion she is feeling. She says later it was 'as though' her thoughts 'hissed and spat on her scalp.' .The reader can infer that her thoughts sound like a snake hissing which gives the impression that they are angry and dangerous. Also, the fact that the snakes were actually coming out of her head suggest that there were evil thoughts of jealousy coming out her head. The assonance in ‘hissed’ and the onomatopoeia of ‘spat’ emphasises the powerful, menacing tone of the poem. The structure is regular: six lines per stanza and each one perfectly end-stopped but the line length is as jagged like the mood. The rhymes, when they come, are out of step, as in stanza three where 'own' rhymes with 'stone' and in four where 'ground' only half-rhymes with 'down' - echoing the colloquial phrase 'ground down' showing how emotionally exhausted she is. The co...

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...ose who possess a disobedient temperament, and imagining women, such as his late wife, as the rarely tamed seahorse, the Duke leaves no doubt as to his severe expectations regarding obedience and submissiveness in his future duchess. Also, unlike Medusa, there are no verses in ‘My Last Duchess’. This conveys an urgent continuous pace as the poem moves relentlessly on suggesting the Duke will not be stopped.

Overall both the poems use their imagery, sound and structure to show how powerful the two main characters are and how they use this power. In both ‘My Last Duchess’ and ‘Medusa’ the characters are very strong and are driven by jealousy to use their power to corrupt. The Duke feels betrayed when his wife smiles at others while Medusa feels betrayed by her love. This shows that although they are strong characters, they both have an underlying feeling of betrayal.