Everyone in life needs to feel like they are special and loved, and in the poem My Last Duchess by Robert Browning, the Duke of Ferrara is no exception. He uses his power not only to control who can love him, but also how they should. At the start of the poem the Duke is showing the servant of the Count, who’s daughter the Duke is going to marry, around his palace. In his gallery they stop at a painting that he unveils to be the portrait of his beautiful, young wife that passed (his last duchess). He goes on to describe how she was a very happy person, that she smiled at everyone the same, was easily impressed and saw beauty in everything. Browning uses characterization and symbols that force the reader draw their own conclusions in order to …show more content…
He also suggests that she should only have eyes for him, worship his status and be eternally grateful that he chose her to be his wife. He is outraged by the fact that she compares the Duke’s “gift” of a nine-hundred-years-old name with anyone because he should never be compared to a commoner; he should be worshiped by his wife (504). The Duke equates his status to that of a God in that his presence should always hold more significance than that of another person, and his wife should recognize this on her own, he shouldn’t have to tell …show more content…
He is constantly controlling everything from who gets to see his prized portrait of his Last Duchess to when people can leave the room. The Duke always tried to control his last Duchess but she was too naive to understand which lead to her demise. He feels he was forced to kill her because he would never stoop to the level of actually telling her that she needed to worship the ground he walked on and that no one else could make her happy, she just should have known better. He even chose when, where and how she died, which is the ultimate form of control, like playing God. The fact that he covers the painting of his former wife shows that he is finally in full control over her in death because he didn’t have control over her in life. Toward the last lines of the poem, the speaker’s guest tries to go down the stairs without him and he quickly puts a stop to it, and says that they will go down together to meet the company which again shows his control over people even people he’s just
In My Last Duchess, power and control are presented through objects. For example, the curtain used to cover up the painting acts as a symbol of the Duke’s control over his Duchess even now she’s dead, as he tells the envoy that “none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you but I”. This implies that even though she’s dead, he still wants to be able to keep her under his control, and treats her portrait like a possession, which he tried to do to her when she was alive. This represents his
The poem “My Last Duchess” is a historical event that involves the Duke of Ferrara and Alfonso who lived in the 16th century. Robert Browning "My Last Duchess" presents a narrative about a recently widowed Duke who talks with an emissary had come to an arranged marriage with another lady from a powerful and wealthy family. In the perspective of Duke, power and wealth were integral in marriage and was determined to be married to a wealthy lady from a famous family. As the Duke orients the emissary through the palace, he stops and shows a portrait of the late Duchess who was a lovely and young girl. The Duke then begins by stating information about the picture and then to the Duchess. Duke claims that the Duchess flirted with everyone and did not appreciate the history of the family: “gift of a nine hundred years old name.”(33) However, when an individual continues to read the poem, it is evident that the Duke played an important role in killing the lady. Duke states that “he gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together”(45-46) he used these words to define the death of his beloved Duchess. The aim of the essay is to analyze literary devices that emphasize the content of the poem, which includes rhetorical questions, exclamation mark, and em dash.
After all of the Duke’s anger builds up, we learn that he lets out all
his description of his duchess, proves his own need to be in control. He initially asks his
“My Last Duchess,” by Robert Browning, depicts powerful husbands attempting to control the actions of their wives as they are free to do as they please. In contrast, women are expected to be faithful and attentive only to their husbands. The power and control of the Duke is conveyed by a painting of the Duchess. It belongs to the Duke and is referred to as “my last Duchess” (1). The use of “my” demonstrates the possessive nature of the Duke and his claim of the Duchess as his own personal possession, much like the painting itself. As the Duke persists on forcing domination upon the Duchess, he is greatly displeased to find that she treats and considers him as the same value as nearly any other man.
In Robert Browning’s poem, My Last Duchess, is about a conversation surrounding a portrait. The focus swirls around the untimely death of the duchess, Alfonso II last wife, because of some impropriety. She looks alive, and the duke attributes this to the skill of the painter, Frà Pandolf. This serves to remind the reader that the duke does not approve of the way the duchess handled herself. Evidently, the duke does not approve of the zest for life that the duchess exhibited. He of course compliments her beauty,
Thus the Duchess is bound to the Duke and has become imprisoned within his art collection as nothing more than a possession. The Duke exemplifies this view when he makes reference to another piece of his art collection, as if the current and previous subjects of his monologue were completely analogous, “Notice Neptune, though/ Taming a sea horse, thought a rarity/ Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me! (Browning 54-56), he truly appreciates both pieces with similar enthusiasm. Although the Duchess is allocated no space to give her side of the story, through the Duke’s depiction the reader can infer that she was killed for having her own free will and as such there is zero doubt that she is a victim of imprisonment of the Duke’s egocentric ideals. While he puts an adulterous spin on her actions, by declaring:
“Art is an expression of human creative skill and imagination” (google) Paintings are works of art created to express or let out a person’s creativity or feelings towards a certain subject. In Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue, “The Last Duchess”, he uses the painting as a symbolism of the Duke’s relationship with his former wife. Therefore, as the Duke tries to impress people with his wealth through the painting of Fra Pandolf, he instead unintentionally displays his true personality to others. Initially, the painting is used to reveal Duke’s jealous nature as he mistakes his wife’s friendless as flirting which later reveals his controlling nature. Ultimately, the Duke’s selfishness and greed for power is slowly revealed through abusing art to control his wife and others.
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.
Written by Robert Browning, “My Last Duchess” is a poem about an egocentric Duke who has a painting of his last wife upon the wall and is trying to impress an ambassador who is negotiating his next marriage. Although it is obvious that the Duke is trying to persuade this ambassador, however, this is where the first mystery is created. It is almost as if he is trying to persuade no one more than himself.
Love, death, and infidelity were weaved through the readings this week. In “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning, the speaker is a Duke who is looking at a painting of his last (now deceased) Duchess and remembering her. His memories are not fond; he was jealous and possessive, and frankly, a bit of a drama queen. His suspicion is evident repeatedly, starting in line 13 where he states, “Sir, ‘twas not/ Her husband’s presence only, called that spot/ Of joy into the duchess’ cheek”. Lines 21-24 boldly say what he was alluding to earlier on, “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.” She blushed easily and enjoyed looking at things, so in his mind she was a bit promiscuous. He thought his wife unfaithful basically because she was polite. This, as well as his uppity attitude, are both made clear in lines 31-34, “She thanked men, —good! but thanked/ Somehow—I know not how— as if she ranked/ My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name/ With anybody’s gift.” He thinks that his name alone is a better gift than anything else; he’s conceited and entitled.
At the age of twelve Browning sent a collection of poems off to a magazine editor, which were rejected. Once rejected Browning decided to start a career as a poet, writing poetry that is still read today. One of Browning poems “My Last Duchess” starts off by introducing that the Duke is talking to an ambassador from another nobleman while staring at a picture of his deceased wife. The Duke goes on to say how he wants to arrange another marriage. While reading this poem, the reader may start to understand that this marriage was not a happy one. Browning goes on to say some of the things that made the Duchess happy in her life, “The dropping of daylight in the West,/The bough of cherries some officious fool/Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule.” A metaphor the narrator uses to describe the Dukes problem on wanting to control everyone is a sculpture of Neptune taming a sea horse. In the end, the reader starts to understand that the Duke killed his wife because he could not contain
As a mental mechanism of self defense the speaker blamed the Duchess for the jealousy he had because of the way she thanked other men and in his mind the way she ranked his prestige to the gifts of others. In addition, by shifting the blame to her he was able to have her killed without having to feeling remorse and still maintain the jealousy he had towards anyone who views his beauty with eyes of desire. As the source of the speakers jealousy the woman was was used as a tool to convey the message of the poem, which was to show the reader how the innocent gratitude of Duchess woman was vied as a negative thing and converted to jealousy by the speakers own insecurities. In the end the use and significance of the painting was to symbolize the possessives the speaker had towards the woman's beauty and when he refers to another art work in the end of the poem this symbolizes how her beauty has become part of his
The dramatic monologue “My Last Duchess” was penned down by Robert Browning. In this poem, the narrator is the Duke of Ferrara, and the listener is the count’s agent, through whom the Duke is arranging the proposed marriage to a second duchess. The poem is ironical and reveals its rhetorical sense, gradually. In the later part of the poem, the Duke claims that he does not have a skill in speech, but his monologue is a masterpiece of subtle rhetoric. While supposedly entertaining the listener by showing his wife’s portrait, he clearly reveals his character. Through his formalized tone of rhyme, he reveals his egoistic and jealous attitude.
The poet uses dramatic monologue, where the readers and the messenger are almost one person. From the description that the Duke uses to describe the Duchess, one feels as if he/she is the messenger that the Duke is addressing. The persona remarks about the innocence of the Duchess, which irks him. She finds delight in things such as riding a mule or the setting of the sun. The Duke uses symbology to connote his anger, which gets the better of him that he kills her. Her substitute is the piece of art, reflected at the beginning at the end of the poem. The use of both simple and archaic language styles creates the symbolic image that he uses to explain to the