My Last Duchess Essay

One can imagine the messenger standing up and bolting towards the stairs, to warn his master of the dark intentions of the Duke, only to be abruptly halted. This is a clear example of his controlling nature and provides insight into the oppressive nature of the Duke. The Duke is so narcissistic and oppressive the he feels entitled to express his darkest attributes and still maintain his social and political status through subtle yet blunt manipulation. This is reflected in the structure of the poem through the use of a dramatic monologue; where the Duke commands the conversion and guides it where he wants to go, forcing his thoughts onto the audience and drawing focus only to what he desires. This mentality of oppression is further reflected in the diction and syntax that is used; where the Duke uses phrases to control the individual in a seemingly polite way. This view is shared by Joshua Adler in his article Structure and Meaning in Browning's "My Last Duchess".

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,

Art is not just a form of beauty but also a form of power. In it lies deep meaning and value and often tells a story. Robert Browning’s poem “The Last Duchess” portrays this power of art, which is evident in how the Duke captures more than just the image of his former wife in the painting. To him the painting represents his control and power and tells the tale of his former wife in the way he speaks of the painting. An analysis of the poem “My Last Duchess” will reveal how the Duke uses art to further the narrative of this poem through symbolism, reveal the relationship with his former wife and control others.

In Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” a servant of a man named the Count is coming to see a duke to arrange a marriage between the Count’s daughter and the duke. During the meeting, the duke reminisces about his late wife, the duchess. When discussing the late duchess, the duke talks about how the duchess was unfaithful to him with men who gave her gifts. However, the duke subtly gives hints that he is not the best spouse. He is an intimidating man, and he thinks of himself superior to everyone, including his wife.

In the beginning of the poem, the Duke is introduced as a loving husband who misses his late wife; however, the Duke quickly reveals that he misses having a conquest that doubled as a possession. The Duke gives off the impression that he misses the Duchess

The first two lines of the poem introduces us to the main topic of the duke speech and gives the reader a hint that there’s seems to be something wrong “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive” the reader begins to suspect that the duchess is no longer alive. Browning uses clever language in theses lines of the poem to foreshadow that the duke assassinated the duchess, in which later on in the poem the reader realizes that he did so. In lines 45, 46, and 47 the following is written, “This grew; I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together. There she stands as if alive” The reader comes to the conclusion that the duke assassinated the duchess, illustrating that the duke is a cruel man who will give the command to get ride of whatever disturbs him, in this case the duchess. But, what did the duchess do that disturbed him so

9th Grade English Essay: Discuss the attitude of the poet towards the duchess in My Last Duchess by Robert Browning

The Last Duchess of Ferrara was the Duke’s ex-wife. She was a woman of compassion, modesty, and she loved the simple things of life. In contrast, the Duke was an arrogant, possessive, jealous and controlling person. In the dramatic lyric, “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning, the Duke becomes carried away with talking about a painting of his Last Duchess by Fra Pandolf. He reveals to the Counts envoy that he gave the command to kill his wife, because he could not express to her how he felt about the way she acted towards other men. Browning uses dramatic monologue, rhyme couplets, enjambment, and stanza in “My Last Duchess” to reveal the controlling thoughts of a jealous, controlling, and arrogant Duke who killed his wife.

Browning composes his work through the use of the form, dramatic monologues. This helps to portray the psychotic mindset of the character to notify the reader and expand their knowledge. In addition, this enables Browning to capture the deluded aspect of the character. Robert Browning unveils his work through one long stanza; this is signified in My Last Duchess, where it illustrates the Duke’s potency and sense of mightiness. Furthermore, this demonstrates how much of a self-absorbed, narcisstic imbecile the Duke is to give the reader the characters attributes.

In “My Last Duchess,” The poet is clearly unhappy with his last Duchess, the tone is wheedling, reproachful admiration of the actual portrait of the woman, whom he adores—as art. The words, “MY last”, implicate that this is not the only duchess he had. If there were only one, he might have said, “My first’ duchess” He is not interested in mourning his previous wife, but extolling the beauty of the painting of her--while courting a new one. He explains that she was more than delighted to smile at other men, no differently than she did for him. She clearly upstaged him on several fronts, not being deferential to him, or to the name she took on with marriage to him.

My Last Duchess, which was written by Roberts browning demonstrates the horrible condition of the Victorian society by exposing the author’s perspective on the genders’ role in the Victorian era. The book, the literature of the Victorian era, defines the poem “a perfect picture of cold-blooded heartlessness, a thing possible in any age though fortunately” (Hugh 427). The poem clearly shows the dreadful social condition for a woman in the Victorian era. According to the author, Michael O’Neill,

In the poem “My Last Duchess” by poet Robert Browning, the speaker is a very wealthy Duke who is showing another man around his estate whilst discussing the terms of his next impending marriage. While showing the visitor his collections of art they come across one work to which the Duke draws back the curtain covering it and states “that’s my last Duchess painted on the wall”. The Duke then goes on to describe his former wife’s demeanor stating in a displeasing tone to his visitor “Sir, ‘twas not Her husband’s presence only, called that spot Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek”. The reader then begins to understand from the statement that; not only was the Duchess was not completely faithful in her marriage to the Duke, but the Duke himself has

The Duke is also shown as someone who is very proud and immodest. From the first line of the poem “That’s my last Duchess painted on wall” (Browning, 1). He communicates in a tone that shows some pride and arrogance while addressing the “visitor”. Moreover, when the Duke opts to use the indefinite pronoun “it” to refer to someone he cherished gives us the opinion that he was viewing the Duchess as an “object” rather than a human being (line, 8). From that, Browning shows the Duke as someone who looks down upon people and is less bothered by the feelings he elicits in other

“My Last Duchess” was inspired by the history of Alfonso II of Ferrara, whose wife Lucrezia died under suspicious circumstances. Robert Browning’s poem, “My Last Duchess”, shines at light at the character of a wealthy and powerful man. The Duke in “My Last Duchess” tries to present himself as a just and worthy choice for the daughter of noble family; however, the Duke’s facade was brought down his late wife’s portrait. The Duke’s introduction of the portrait served as a first warning bell about his character. His monologue about his late wife’s failing nature reinforced the breakdown of the facade the Duke set up. Furthermore, the Duke is further revealed to be a man different from his title through the description of the painter.

In Browning's time, artists such as Constable strove to find beauty in reality, without appealing to ‘fake' looks. Furthermore, the poem shows his possessiveness over Lucrezia, ‘My face, my moon, my everybody's moon'. However this contrasts to the dangerous and violent nature of the count's possessiveness in ‘My Last Duchess', another Browning poem. This is seemingly ironic since he does not object to his wife covertness' with her cousin, urging her to ‘Go, my love'.