Grand duke

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

examines the Duke of Ferrara’s recollection of memories- he is showing how the Duke is remembering the past experiences with the now murdered wife he once had, but whether he loved or despised her – or both- is unclear. Browning suggests that the Duke murdered her himself. The poem opens with the narration from the Duke and the voice of dramatic monologue is established. Browning refers to the painting in the duke’s voice as ‘my last Duchess’, using a possesive pronoun to show that the Duke has a dominant

Browning, Matthew Arnold, and John Donne characterize the speaker and, in one case, the person to whom the speaker addresses. In “My Last Duchess” and “Dover Beach,” Browning and Arnold depict the nature of their speakers. While Browning exposes the Duke as pompous and controlling, Arnold portrays his speaker as pessimistic. Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” also characterizes the speaker and his wife as having an emotional love. These characterizations help the poets to create a story

the story of a Duke who is arranging with a servant plans to gain the hand of a count’s daughter in marriage. The Duke takes the servant upstairs into his private quarters and shows him several possessions the first of which is a portrait of his "last" duchess. The Duke keeps this portrait hidden behind a curtain that only he may draw. The Duchess was apparently easily pleased: she smiled at everything, and seemed equally as impressed when given a branch of cherries as when the Duke married her. She

paintings are not supposed to stand. The Duke dehumanizes Fra Pandolf. This means that he would essentially a tool instead of a person. Throughout the poem, the Duke can be seen as he constantly boasts about the duchess. The Duke tells the painter that when other guests arrive at his palace, “they would ask me, if they durst,”. The embedded clause and conversational tone reinstates his status and power and that the poem is set in a patriarchal society where the Duke dominates and holds primary power. The

In this essay, the character of the Duchess will be analysed. The changes her character undergoes from her first to her last scene will go under the microscope, as well as her archetype and whether her character is realistic or not. There will also be conversation about the consistency of her character, her appearance and whether the audience has permission to judge her or not. The Duchess is a nasty creature when the audience first meets her, as she has little care for those around her, often mistreats

rhythmically Browning opens the poem up with the Duke telling the story of his last duchess who was to impure and loose to be his wife as he states, “Sir, ’twas not/Her husband’s presence only, called that spot/Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek” (lines 13-15). Suggesting that she allowed other men to touch her the way only he was suppose too, making it so that her soul and her body was no longer clean and free of others, taking away her image of being “pure”. The duke wanted to be able

In My Last Duchess, destructive Love is shown to be a forceful feeling in "My Last Duchess". The Duke's adoration for the Duchess was possessive as he demonstrated dissatisfaction when she grinned at other men or when her "looks went all over the place". Her excellence and consideration was implied for himself just, and when she turned out to be excessively of an irritation he "offered orders" to stop her forever. He enabled a representation of her to be painted in light of the fact that the craftsman

is narrated by the Duke of Ferrara, who is speaking to an envoy about a painting of his previous duchess. He recounts the memories behind the artwork in an ominous and snide manner, giving the reader insight on the nature of their relationship. Tone is a major literary element in the poem that not only paints the Duke as a monster, but also makes the piece more effective. Browning utilizes subtle figurative language that is

Browning describes the part toward the end where the Duke is talking to someone about what led to the death of his wife. Evidence supported by the quote itself, specifically the line “Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands: / Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands/ As if alive” (45-47), leads us to the conclusion that jealousy and arrogance got the best of the Duke, which made him give the orders to have his wife killed. The Duke is perceived to be the jealous, dominating type when