My Last Duchess Sociopaths

The narrator (Duke) who is of an upper-class is having a conversation with an envoy when he mentions ‘Will’t please you sit and look at her?’. This shows the Duke’s commanding nature as he almost forces the envoy to look at his painting although he uses a question it is rhetorical (envoys do not reply) and it shows how the Duke has power. Also, the Duke’s power is emphasized as he chooses who can see the painting ‘since none puts by the curtain I have drawn’. This gives him a sense of importance. Browning also writes ‘she ranked my gift…with anybody’s gift’. This shows that the Duke believes that names and status hold importance, power even and he expects the ‘name’ of Duchess will be enough for her but she treats everyone the same, this angers him. Throughout the poem the Duke says that he does not have ‘skill in speech’ which from the poem we can see is false. When discussing his lack of skill he says ‘which I have not’, This shows the power in words and ultimately how he couldn’t stop her with his words because he would have ‘to stoop’ he used a different way to fix his problem. Also, he says ‘I choose never to stoop’. The ‘I choose’ shows hierarchy as he has the choice. The use of the verb ‘stoop’ is interesting as it means to directly to bend one’s head, associating with the lower class or submitting yourself. This also shows the Duke’s commanding nature as he refuses to ‘stoop’ he

Browning has used extensively rhetorical questions. Rhetorical questions are questions that are posted in a literary work that does not need an answer: the strategic aims of rhetorical questions are for emphasizing an issue or creating an object. Duke indicates the aspect of misogyny through stating “Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said.” (5) This is not a suggestion but indicates an aspect of command especially when he completes the state with “I said.” Reading the poem shows that the Duke never appreciated women or had a negative perspective of women, which may have contributed to the death of Duchess. The approach taken is a form of objectification of women, which may have been right at the time but the current society frown about it. In addition, the Duke wants the reader to sympathize with him and he states “A heart—how shall I say? — too soon made glad,” (22) indicating that he lacks the wording for his comments. Even though he may have contributed

      Browning’s use of distinct imagery further creates the picture of the Duke as an

Robert Browning uses descriptive details to portray a theme of how darkness rises from warmth and happiness by showing us on how a man’s love for someone makes him turn to savagery. The narrator of the poem has very deep feelings for his lover, but he only thinks of himself and he never wants the girl to leave his side so he does the unthinkable. In the times that the girl was not home or was not with the narrator then there was coldness and darkness, but when she was with the man then the house would “blaze up, and all the cottage warm”. She created hope and the narrator needed that constantly, so he realized that his love was too strong to put on hold everyday when she would leave. The fact that the narrator had to watch his lover leave everyday

Browning closes My Last Duchess by establishing that envy can lead a person to commit extreme acts and hinder their- or someone else’s sanity. Browning uses characterization to exploit the character development of the duke and also enhance how envy can lead

The Duke is going on and on and we only have one point of view. He is controlling what the audience perceive the characters as. Browning uses enjambment to make the rhyming couplets flow better in order to make the speech of the Duke more realistic. The easiness of the speech and the fact that it is flowing, shows that the Duke seems to have rehearsed everything that he is now saying to the agent. So he has had to think about what to say and wants to be able to manipulate the agent into taking his side and, indeed, wants to have control over the agent’s opinion of both him and his last Duchess. The duke's loss of control is also depicted through the rhythm of the poem. The enjambment in the poem reveals that the Duke is almost at ease with his wife's murder, because it is so flowing and he doesn’t get upset and almost doesn’t have to stop. Except for once; this is shown by the use of caesura, however as he only stutters once it seems as if he is just doing it for show. Near the end of the poem, the duke loses control. You can imagine the horrified agent rising to go and the duke's uneasiness as he loses control, and his desire to regain control of the situation as he says, ‘Nay we'll go down together, sir’ There is a caesura between ‘Nay’ and ‘we’ll’ which shows the Duke does not want to lose control but then has to pause as he thinks of a reasonable explanation for him saying ‘Nay’ to the agent leaving without him.

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.

Indeed, it quickly becomes clear that the Duke disliked many things about his dead wife. The Duke dislikes how the Duchess liked everything that she saw, believing that she was “too easily impressed; she liked whate’er she looked on”. It disappoints him because he wanted to impress her with his marriage to her and also with his money and lifestyle. What annoyed the Duke most was that:

look at but he feels as if the Duchess takes him for granted and she

Browning wrote, “And you to turn and ask me, if they durst, how such a glace came there; so, not the first are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, t’was not her husband’s presence only, called that spot of joy into the Duchess’ cheek” (Lines 11-15). The Duchess was made happy to easy, “Was courtesy, she thought, and caused enough for calling up that spot of joy. She had a heart-how shall I say?-too soon made glad, too easily impressed; she liked whate’ver she looked on, and her looks went everywhere” (Lines 20-24).

To make a clearer depiction of the character of the Duke and his opinion and treatment of his late wife, Browning effectively made use of Renaissance images. The most apparent symbol used is the portrait of the late Duchess, painted on the wall by artist Frà Pandolf. The poem only tells the reader that the painting captures the Duchess’ bright personality and her love for life – a depiction that has distressed the Duke when her wife was still alive. But the painting itself and how it came to be tells us more about the Duke’s personality. The painting portrayed and captured the duchess in a nice light, however, the duke chooses who can see it as he stated, “none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I…” clearly the duke only wants to show a select few of people how he wants his last duchess to be remembered.

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.