Analysis Of ' My Last Duchess ' By Robert Browning And ' A Woman 's Lover '

This analysis will look at how major themes such as, ambition, supernatural, reality and appearance, played a role in the way events occurred and how they have affected the marriage between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. This analysis would also study how the author, William Shakespeare, portrayed these themes using language and historical context to affect the opinions of the audience’s perception of the two characters. As Shakespeare’s Macbeth had been written in the past, it would be of great contrast to the two modern poems that would also be analysed. This analysis will look at the similarities and differences of the poems: ‘My last duchess’ by Robert Browning and ‘A woman to her lover’ by Christina Walsh. The uses of language, literary devices and the contexts of the poems and the play will be studied together in detail. The essay will end with a conclusion given on the way Shakespeare presents commitment in marriage in his piece, ‘Macbeth’, in contrast to how commitment is portrayed in the modern works of Browning and Walsh. Shakespeare’s Macbeth is of the ‘tragedy’ genre. In terms of Shakespeare’s work, a tragedy is defined as when main characters are put in to situations where the end result leads to infortune and failure. The central characters, such as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, were found to be unfortunate later on in the play, as they had reached a time of madness, guilt and later on death, as certain aspects such as ambition and the news of a prophecy brought them