Essay on Pre 1914 Love Poetry from the Victorian and Elizabethan Era

An ambiguous quality about the Duke is his historical character. The incident the poem dramatizes clearly references the historical Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara, who married Lucrezia, daughter of a man who

Indeed, it quickly becomes clear that the Duke disliked many things about his dead wife. The Duke dislikes how the Duchess liked everything that she saw, believing that she was “too easily impressed; she liked whate’er she looked on”. It disappoints him because he wanted to impress her with his marriage to her and also with his money and lifestyle. What annoyed the Duke most was that:

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 say what he was alluding to earlier on, “She had/ A heart—how shall I say? —too soon made glad,/ Too easily impressed: she liked whate’er/ She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.” She blushed easily and enjoyed looking at things, so in his mind she was a bit promiscuous. He thought his wife unfaithful basically because she was polite. This, as well as his uppity attitude, are both made clear in lines 31-34, “She thanked men, —good! but thanked/ Somehow—I know not how— as if she ranked/ My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name/ With anybody’s gift.” He thinks that his name alone is a better gift than anything else; he’s conceited and entitled.

“My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover” are two mind boggling tales that relate in many ways. Two of which, they are both written by Robert Browning and from a male’s point of view. The Duke in “My Last Duchess” gives off a controlling, jealous, and arrogant vibe towards the Duchess which results in her death. The man in “Porphyria’s Lover” is angry and irritated because the woman he loves will not divorce her husband which also ends with her death. The poems “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover” demonstrate two different relationships with women while both men view women as objects.

“My Last Duchess” can be seen as diverse when compared to the poem “Porphyria’s Lover”. In this poem, Robert Browning tells of a story of a man who is searching for a new wife after the death of his old one. The only dilemma is the minutiae of how this prosperous Duke felt of his last lady. “It’s precisely her heart (effusive) and her gaze (delighted) that infuriates the Duke” (Guthrie). The Duke who speaks in this poem, implies the idea that because his last wife was so happy, he had no other option other than to kill her. In the poem, it says “A heart-how shall I say?-too soon made glad, too easily impressed; she liked whate’er Sir” (line 21). The Duke feels that because this woman was ecstatic from all things, it took her attention away from him. Because this idea overwhelmed him, he was filled with fury and told her to be cautious in what she expressed. She must not have complied, as she did not live to continue out the life they planned to spend together.

In Robert Browning’s poem, “My Last Duchess,” the author writes of a Duke who seems to admit to murdering his last duchess. The poem starts with the Duke introducing the painting of his last duchess to an emissary. He goes on to claim that she was unfaithful and believes that she was flirting with the artist of her portrait. The Duke insists that he should be the only one that has her attention. Throughout the poem, the Duke’s ego is revealed and he implies that he executed his own wife (Browning 1016-1017). “My Last Duchess” is filled with ambiguous claims which calls the reader to examine every possibility. This is difficult considering there is only one speaker, the Duke, in the poem. The three things that are discovered when a reader dives deeper into Browning’s poem, “My Last Duchess”, are the dysfunction of the Duke and Duchess’ relationship, the reason for the Duke’s vanity, and the misrepresented Duchess.

Browning uses his poetry to discuss the roles of women in both Victorian England and Renaissance Italy. Women in both time periods were expected to uphold moralistic values, listen to their husbands and stay at home to watch their children. In both of Browning’s poems we can see characters who stray from the idealistic views of the time. In Porphyria’s Lover, Porphyria enters a man’s house and initiates sexual activities. Before anything happens, the man decides to kill porphyria to ‘posses’ her forever. The entire poem is centred around the breaking of a women’s stereotype. Not only does Porphyria initiate the sexual contact “Let her yellow hair fall”, she also leaves her own home to come to his, “glides in straight”. Browning uses vivid imagery to show the corruption within Victorian England as he is showing how women deserve more than they were given at the time. He also uses the symbolism of Porphyria’s Yellow hair to show that she is to impure to have ‘golden’ hair as she is having an affair. Browning continues to explore the theme of women in My Last Duchess. This poem was set in the 16th century Italy and was based on Duke Ferarra and his marriage to one of his wives. The poem is about the Duke talking to an ambassador about his previous Duchess and her qualities. The poem talks about how the duke was unhappy with the way his previous Duchess acted “here you miss or exceed the mark” and that she didn’t value him for what he was worth “she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name with anybody’s gift”. Browning also uses juxtaposition to illustrate how women were constrained to act and behave in certain ways and the punishments if they disobeyed these expectations. Both where and when Browning lived

The idea of femininity and sexuality comes in to play because the Duke identifies his woman as a useless object, but still loves and worships her at the same time. In the first lines of “My Last Duchess”, we see the Duke praising or grieving for his dead lover by having a painting of her hung on the wall. “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall. Looking as if she were alive.” We already assume that his lover is dead, but we don’t know how. Duke states in line 10, “the curtain I have drawn for you”. This specific line examines that Duke has covered up the portrait of his duchess with a curtain, which only he can unwrap and secure. No one could see the portrait of the Duchess expect him, unless the Duke wants them too. The Duke thinks that while she was still alive, many people were

The Victorian era was characterized by a patriarchal society that imposed strict ways of life and moral codes on its women. Because women were considered to have belonged primarily in the domestic realm, the traditional and ideal Victorian woman was the passive, pure, and virtuous “angel in the house.” Women were expected to maintain their virginity until marriage, and expressions of female sexuality or promiscuity were of moral outrage and came with serious consequences. Accordingly, Robert Browning uses this idea of female sexuality and its ramifications in several of his dramatic monologues. Close readings of Browning’s poems “Porphyria’s Lover” and “My Last Duchess” demonstrate how Victorian women are empowered by expressions of their

Like Porphyria's lover, the murderer in "My Last Duchess" also demands control in his relationship with the Duchess. The Duke begins his speech by exposing the exquisite portrait of his former wife to an initially unidentified guest. To him, this object is his wife. "The language he uses in relation to the portrait seems deliberately confused:

John Florio wrote, “A deaf husband and a blind wife are always a happy couple.” This seventeenth century saying demonstrates the importance of marriage even if that means overlooking your spouse’s faults. During that time period, marital norms for women were expectations from society. The law’s Resolution of Women’s Right (1632); wrote, “All of them are understood either married or to be married” (…..). This demonstrates that marriage was the vocation for women. Broadside ballads allow us to further understand gender disparity, because women are portrait as “ephemeral, while men are often to be stable and fixed” (Murphy). Ballads, such as the “Patient Grissel” during

The Victorian Age was a time of relative prosperity, improvement and stability. At the same time, there was also a strong emphasis on individuals becoming more educated and in two seemingly normal pieces of literature, “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover” written by Robert Browning, are in actuality so twisted that the lovers of each poem are characterized as deranged. Both monologues incorporate unique aspects of love that deviate from the norm because it is nowhere close to a happy ending. The lovers of each poem provide contrasting views on love that convey their haughty attitude towards love and their irrational reasoning that justifies their behavior. Disturbing images are prevalent in both poems creating a mysterious and elegiac tone. Browning also includes fervent diction to contrast the different behaviors of each speaker in the poems and convey that pursuing love comes along with inevitable consequences.

Demanding and laborious are two characteristics that fit into the Duke’s character. Readers can interpret from the poem that the last duchess was doing things that made the Duke irate. And the line that says that the smiles stopped all together, gives a clue to the readers that the duchess does not take direct commands well (Browning). This would have made the Duke unsettled because he was not following orders and commands. While the personality of this women is very stereotypical almost. Even the readers can assume that she was being cheated on by her ex-husband yet; she still is very much in love with her ex-husband and wishes to not move forward into a new relationship. She obviously loves him enough to have his picture framed in a frame they received from their wedding (Spera). Since the readers do not have any more information that what is given to us in the poem, the speaker could be considered to be loving and kind-hearted. Those characteristics would make it difficult to let go and move into a new

hisdeceased wife. As the poem progresses the reader can begin to pick up on a bit of jealousy fromthe Duke. He states that “She had-A heart-how shall I say? - too soon mad glad, too easilyimpressed” (21-22). This shows that the Duke did not like the fact that his wife was friendly andeasily entertained. Dan Negrut, from The Scientific Journal of Humanistic Studies, helps furthersupport my claims of the Dukes jealousy by stating “Unconsciously, the Duke reveals himself asa tyrannical husband whose wife should have been made glad only by his presence, a wife whoseheart, should have been impressed only by him and who should have like and looked only at him”(p152) This could be seen has the Duke being insecure and afraid to lose his beautiful wife.

The Duke takes control of the situation entirely as he is the only speaker throughout the poem and his way of speaking leaves no scope for interruption, by the listener. The way he addresses his listener, “That’s my last duchess”, calls attention to the peculiarity of his designation which he indicates in a very proud manner. The apparent pauses throughout the poem, shown by dashes, indicate hesitation as the Duke considers what to say. This clearly suggests his manipulative attitude. As soon as he points towards the standing portrait of his last wife, he asks his listener to sit down –“Will’t please you sit and look at her?” His way of asking is not very polite and is more of a command which shows the psychology of a man with power.