My last duchess. My Last Duchess Analysis 2022-10-14
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"My Last Duchess" is a dramatic monologue written by Robert Browning in 1842. It is spoken by the Duke of Ferrara, who is giving a tour of his palace to an envoy from another noble family. As the Duke talks, he reveals that his last wife, the Duchess, was a beautiful and charming woman who was beloved by everyone. However, the Duke was not satisfied with her, and he had her killed because he felt that she was not showing him the proper respect and deference.
Throughout the poem, the Duke displays a disturbing level of control and possessiveness over the Duchess. He is extremely jealous and paranoid, and he feels that she is his property to do with as he pleases. He tells the envoy that he had the Duchess painted with a "faultless breast," but that he "gave commands," and "all smiles stopped together." This suggests that the Duke was not happy with the way the Duchess smiled, and that he wanted her to be more reserved and submissive.
The Duke's behavior is highly narcissistic and manipulative. He wants to be the center of attention and to have complete control over the people around him, including his wife. He is also extremely superficial, focusing on the appearance and demeanor of the Duchess rather than her inner qualities. The Duke's attitude towards the Duchess is reminiscent of the way that men in the Renaissance period often treated their wives, as objects or possessions rather than as human beings with their own thoughts and feelings.
Despite the Duke's cruelty and lack of empathy, he is also deeply insecure. He constantly feels the need to prove himself to others and to assert his dominance over them. He is obsessed with maintaining his reputation and his status, and he is willing to go to great lengths to do so, even if it means killing the woman he claims to love.
In conclusion, "My Last Duchess" is a powerful and unsettling poem that explores themes of power, control, and possessiveness. It highlights the dangers of toxic masculinity and the way that men in positions of power can use their influence to manipulate and harm those around them. It also serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of letting superficiality and ego drive our actions and relationships.
My Last Duchess: A Reflection of Victorian Age Essay Example
Browning had a story to tell; and for that story a location was necessary. He talks about his late wife and details the reasons why he did not like her. After saying that he alone opens the curtain, the duke promptly begins a catalog of complaints about the way his wife had acted. Thus he loved the artsâarchitecture, music, poetry, sculpture, and paintingâbut he loved them most because they recorded human experience, and best when they most fully expressed the conflict and contrast in a single personality. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. Unaware, he gives us a clear vision of the open-hearted Duchess: She had A heartâhow shall I say? Throughout the poem there is a chilling meiosis, the words imparting much more than they express. A basic device used throughout the poem is irony.
My last duchess is a powerful example of psychological poetry, composed in rhyming couplets in a single long stanza developing the persona of the arrogant Duke. Moreover, it is shown to be unreliable, due to the layers of narration which are implemented by the poets. His interest in music influences his poems; for they show a finer appreciation of music and a greater knowledge of its technique than those of any other writer. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. The last date is today's date â the date you are citing the material.
A lot of importance was given to arts in Victorian age when the great exhibition opened in the year 1851, the whole nation suddenly realised that a unique thing has happened. In 1878, however, he returned to Northern Italy; and of his eleven remaining years, seven autumns were spent in Venice, until his death there in 1889. How does the poet use the theme of power in the poem The last Duchess? He uses his power to get others to do his will, including, presumably, the agent. He rules with an iron fist. The Duchess in this poem is the ultimate abused victim.
Like amateur detectives, we must read between the lines. Trapped by her gaze, which so captivates its viewers, as Medusa turned her onlookers to stone, the Duke feels compelled to undermine her power by accusing her of excess. With his deep insight into human nature, as well as art history, he took the characters which he found in the world of art, the good or bad, and gave them to us as examples of the striving, often unsuccessful soul. By positioning her there, he directs and controls those who see her and controls the narrative his chosen audience is fed. What is the purpose message of My Last Duchess and how is this message conveyed? A Glossary of Literary Terms, Macmillan Publishers, ISBN 13: 978-0230-90262-2. Such a casual beginning is full of wicked dramatic This uncanny ability to make absence present is built into ekphrasis, a genre that begins in the Iliad. This grew; I gave commands; 46Then all smiles stopped together.
The duke suspects that the duchess falsely interpreted these comments as compliments, provoking the depicted blush. Those arts in which personality is strongest are used most by the writer. In saying this, the duke remarks that he keeps the portrait behind a curtain that only he may draw aside. The importance is relocated in psychological interiority and social structures. Deciphering the hints and tracking the way Browning reveals the nature of his villain seem to fascinate students.
Unless he can possess his next duchess as he possesses the portrait and the bronze statue, she too may become only an artifact on the wall, as nameless as the first duchess. This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. In 1838, at the age of twenty-six, he made his first trip to Italy; and in 1844 he was again there, from August or September until December. What is the purpose of My Last Duchess and how is this message conveyed? Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem. My favour at her breast, 26The dropping of the daylight in the West, 27The bough of cherries some officious fool 28Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule 29She rode with round the terraceâall and each 30Would draw from her alike the approving speech, 31Or blush, at least.
What is the poem My Last Duchess by Robert Browning about?
She had A heart â how shall I say? In the poems Ozymandias by Percy Shelley, and My Last Duchess by Robert Browning, power is depicted as unstable and easily lost, creating a tone of mockery. He brings up the business for which the addressee has come to his estate. Now, it is not clear whether he ordered to kill her, or send her with the nuns, as Browning himself, refused to provide a clear answer. This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. The last date is today's date â the date you are citing the material. He simply keeps the reader on a tight rope of uncertainty with the ambiguous monologue. Browning invites us to make a connection between looking, reading, and interpreting.
Robert Browning: ââŹĹMy Last DuchessââŹÂ by CamilleââŹÂŚ
. Forty-nine poems out of two hundred and twenty-two, or more than one-fifth of the entire number, have some mention of one or more of the arts or artist of Italy, while other poems deal with the arts of other nations or with a general comparison of the arts. His art monologue is of two kindsâthe monologue of the artist who is the chief character in the poem as in My Last Duchess , and the monologue of the poet addressing the artist directly. He acknowledges that she smiled when she saw him, but complains that she gave much the same smile to anyone else she saw. What Does My Last Duchess compare well with? What are the main themes of the poem My Last Duchess? My favour at her breast, The dropping of the daylight in the West, The bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule She rode with round the terrace -- all and each Would draw from her alike the approving speech, Or blush, at least. There she stands 47As if alive. His purpose was not to give art history, but to present personality as it existed in relation to art.
