As well, Browning utilizes delayed responses in order to support his dramatic monologue. This, then, expands on the circumstances surrounding the Duchess’s death. As the Duke describes her countenance and penchant for having her “looks” everywhere (23-24), his charges against her begin mounting. However, allowing his guest and the audience gaze into this aspect of her life serves primarily to reveal him as an insecure man who abused his wife because she did not center his existence. Furthermore, as he discusses her smiles (43) and how he “gave commands” (45) to stop them, both his guest and his audience get the sense that this story is a veiled warning for his potential new bride. In particular, this assertion stems from the fact that he immediately addresses his guest about the terms under which he will marry the Count’s daughter. The Duke’s need for power is once again confirmed after …show more content…
Because the audience is brought in the middle of the poem’s action, there exists yet another layer to the system of concealing and revealing in the dramatic monologue. The audience enters at a specific moment in time in which the guest has already begun communicating with the Duke and, presumably, discussing the reasons for his visit and the terms of the proposed marriage. This significance of this event is evident if one analyzes the Duke’s speech as a warning to the potential new Duchess as the Duke reveals his incessant need to possess things. As he pulls back the curtain on his late wife, he forces the Count’s agent to stare at the painting and ultimately redirects the attention to “Neptune / taming a sea horse” (54-55). Neptune’s statue serves a dual purpose: to show again the Duke’s ownership and power as well as to allude to his ability to control even the most unruly of creatures. This becomes the ultimate warning and declaration of his
The air reeked of alcohol, the intoxicated breaths of young people colliding together over drunken slurs to create one distinct scent. She kept her head low as she made her way through the maze made by the seemingly endless crowd. Full of regrets, she was doing all she could to get out of there, the distraction turning out to be nothing more than a few drinks with people who didn't even know when her birthday was. The song finished abruptly, followed by simultaneous cheering. She kept moving, weaving in and out of people with fierce determination until she walked right into him. She murmured a quick apology and went to continue when the familiarity of the figure in front of her hit. She hesitantly looked up, heart dropping into her stomach at the mere sight of him.
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.
Trust is a key factor to have a healthy relationship. The Duke is unhappy and gets jealous when the Duchess smiles at men and “thank[s] men—good!” (31) as he thinks she doesn’t smile nor enjoy his company the way she smiles at other men. This reveals that the duke’s relationship with her is that the Duchess does not give him enough attention. Browning also reveals that the Duke is hiding the painting behind a curtain, this suggests that he doesn’t want her to be smiling and looking at anyone but him. The hiding of the painting also represents how the Duke only wants the Duchess for himself. The blush that is called the “spot/ of joy into the Duchess’ cheek” (14-15) reveals that the Duke only wants his
The book of Daniel is known for its prophecies that span the centuries and show amazing accuracy. In this article, we see the biographical chapters also have an application to "latter days" and end-times. The obvious is Obamacare from Daniel 1, but all of the first five chapters can fit what's been happening under Obama.
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
Nothing was heard, only the water droplets that drops from the crack ceiling. Making a small puddle on the ground, having mice roaming around the place.
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,
was when Paul went out the window and walked on the fire escape to see if he could make it to the next apartment to get help.
The health triangle is an organizer which generally divides our everyday activities into three main aspects. It stresses the importance of maintaining a balance of good physical, mental, and social health in order to obtain an ideally healthy and happy life. Each individual’s triangle is different and is customized to their own lifestyle and habits, however, as we grow up, many of us often devote our attention to one side, leading to health imbalances.
I push the cracked oak wood tavern door open. Eyes sweep across the room falling on me. Wearing a dark hood and cloak concealing all but my piercing ice blue eyes and half of my nose. My wide chest, wiry arms, thick legs and my two swords also hidden away underneath my cloak. I’ve been growing my beard out, short cropped it isn’t much to deal with. The tavern is laid thick with the scents of; stale alcohol, fresh bread, and charred savory meat roasting on the spit in the center of the tavern. In the opposite corner of the tavern sits a table bathed in shadows with four armed individuals.
“Concentrate, Aiden!” He clapped his hands. “Please you really need to focus. This is important. Children have to be careful when they venture into the forest. There’s a pack of wild, voracious wolves with gaping mouths reeling with fangs and forked tongues each as thick as my wrist. They roam the woods, ten feet or more, and then hung in the trees, breathing raggedly tasting your scent, considering how best to devour you. As a matter of fact only, the other day several of them snatched a baby elf out of its sleeping mother’s arms and thrashed the poor little dear to pieces.
“My Last Duchess” is a manifestation of detective fiction in that it engages the readers on a higher level; this causes the readers to become involved in the poem in order to understand it and grasp the use of reverse imperialism in Browning’s poem. Although the poem never states that the Duke murdered the Duchess, the dialogue of the poem insinuates it. While talking with the currier Duke Ferrara declares, “I gave commands;/Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands/As if alive.” (45-47) This statement by the Duke makes the reader assume the worst of the Duke, believing that he ordered for his last duchess to be done away with. The society would note the calculated order given by the Duke to be similar to the order a ruler of another country would give to begin the invasion of a weaker country. Another manifestation of an imperialistic country, which Duke Ferrara displays, is his desire to control everything in his house. Browning shows this control in Duke Ferrara’s statement, “(since non puts by/The curtain I have drawn for you but I)” (9-10) when the Duke is first revealing the Duchess’s picture to the currier. Society would notice the control over who sees the painting of the last Duchess as a manifestation of the attitude an imperialistic country would have coming into England and wishing to control every aspect of society’s life. Not only is the poem itself a
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.
Macbeth the play wrote by William Shakespeare is a tragedy from the Elizabethan era which is set in Medieval Scotland. The antagonist has inner battles between right and wrong when he is tempted with the idea of being King, Which is implanted in his brain when the Three Weird Sisters tell him his future. When Macbeth transitions in to a tyrant he loses most of his noble qualities; the only two qualities of determination and courage stay with him, but they are for selfish reasons. Contradicting the whole idea of being noble. He stays determined but to keep himself alive, he doesn’t lose his courage but his courage is to murder someone for his own benefits, and he loses his noble title through his actions as the play progresses.
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.