Summary Of Burial At Saulkin

Through out the monologue, the Duke reveals his arrogant and pride stem from his aristocrat ancestry name. He criticized the Duchess appreciations in life to be unfair. For example, this quote explain the Duke’s arrogant as he belief she did not respects his “gifts” enough, ”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.” (Browning 893) The line “nine-hundred-years-old name” can also be interpret that the Duke consider his status to be superior than hers, therefore it is the Duchess’s obligation to valued what he has given, more than others. Furthermore, the Duke’s pride would not allow him to stoop lower than his position in order to protest

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.

“My Last Duchess,” by Robert Browning, depicts powerful husbands attempting to control the actions of their wives as they are free to do as they please. In contrast, women are expected to be faithful and attentive only to their husbands. The power and control of the Duke is conveyed by a painting of the Duchess. It belongs to the Duke and is referred to as “my last Duchess” (1). The use of “my” demonstrates the possessive nature of the Duke and his claim of the Duchess as his own personal possession, much like the painting itself. As the Duke persists on forcing domination upon the Duchess, he is greatly displeased to find that she treats and considers him as the same value as nearly any other man.

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.

This is supported by the quotation: “I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together.” in which the Duke is remarking on how he thought that his wife smiled too much, so he ordered her to stop smiling. The simplicity of the sentence and the use of the semi-colon reflects easily the Duke is able to control and command his wife, as if she were one of his possessions, which clearly displays the dominant role of the Duke in the relationship presented. Furthermore, the use of sibilance in the words ‘smiles stopped’ acts to emphasise the threatening aspect of this line by creating a ‘hissing’ sound which accentuates the sinister tone of the poem.

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.

Immediately, it is evident just how egoistic and possessive the Duke is. Even in the opening statement, “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,” it seems to the reader that this Duchess was owned by the Duke. The word, “last”, adds to the subtle mystery: was this the Duke’s last ever Duchess? Or is this just his last one until he gets another one? Personally, after reading the poem several times, I believe that it is the latter of the two, and that if the Duke sees something that he dislikes in his next wife he will simply get another one.

The story “My Last Duchess”, written by Robert Hayden, is about the Duke of Ferrara who is addressing a painted portrait of his last duchess to a visitor. As the Duke articulates how the portrait came to be, his mindset toward the late duchess reveals how he truly feels about their marriage. Throughout the monologue, the reader is made aware of how jealous and controlling the ego-driven Duke truly is. To begin, one can see the Duke, who claims to never stoop down to his last duchess’s unapproved behavior, is ruled by his ego.

Revolutionary Heroines of 1623 and 2005: The Duchess of Malfi and Lisbeth Salander John Webster’s play The Duchess of Malfi observes Renaissance beliefs about women, as well as the treatment of women, through the corrupt characters of Ferdinand and The Cardinal. As was custom, the men are in control of their sister, The Duchess, because of their gender. Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is set in twenty-first century Sweden, but it shares the central theme of men wanting to possess and control women. However, in both works the female leads, The Duchess and Lisbeth Salander, are the heroines, as they possess the stereotypically ‘masculine’ qualities that their male competitors and oppressors seem to lack.

On that evening he realizes that at “that moment she was mine, mine, fair,/ perfectly pure and good.” This shows that he feels like her love is only temporary because only in that moment she is his, but in the next moment she could be gone, causing him to feel insecure and as if he is not in control of his relationship with her. In order to keep her forever, he feels he must kill her, so he does. Not only is the duke insecure and controlling but also psychotic. The duke is so caught up in controlling the Duchess that he goes to such lengths as to murder her to keep other men from even looking at her.

The subjectiveness of women is demonstrated in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and My Last Duchess, emphasising the patriarchal dominance in society. The iambic pentameter in, “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, looking as if she were alive. I call,” reinforces conversational tones, in which his rhythmic speech implies that he is unfazed by his actions, indicating his superiority and status over the Duchess. Furthermore, the use of the first person possessive adjective “my” as seen in the previous quote expresses the Duke’s evident fixation over the Duchess, objectifying women whilst also underpinning his ‘ownership’ over her. Through the symbolism in the poet’s reference to the Duke as “Neptune”, the powerful king of the sea, it implies that the Duke has an overruling power over the Duchess through the notion of being a King. This overpowering superiority is also demonstrated through The Color Purple, which explores the nature of the misuse of patriarchal power. Numerous examples of patriarchal dominance can be identified through direct speech after Alphonso repeatedly rapes Celie, “You better not tell anybody. It’d kill your mammy,” affirming his control and authority as the patriarchal head of the household. Through the simile, “Wives is like children. You have to let ‘em know who got the upper hand,” the lower status that is brought unto women is reinforced by comparing them to children, as well as highlighting the dominance of men in hierarchy. Albert continues to dehumanise Celie through the description, “Who you think you is? Look at you. You’re black, you’re poor, you’re ugly, you’re a woman – you’re nothing at all!” In this, he uses woman as an adjective among these belittling words, decreasing their worth and further lowering their place compared to men. The patriarchal power in both texts portray the influence and dominating power of men, who

As the poem progresses, the reader can begin to see the irony that is quite visible. At first, it appears that the Duke loved his last Duchess as exemplified when he says: "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, / Looking as if she were alive. I call / That piece a wonder, now:" (1-3). However, when the Duke says: "She had / A heart - how shall I say? - too soon made glad.

This is evident through how he views himself, as the “King of Kings”, and how he tells people

about the duke in the poem by what he says and how he says it. Through

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.