Robert Browning’s poem, “My Last Duchess” is a poem that is being narrated from the point of view of a Duke in rhyming pentameter, each line does not stop unless the sentence he is speaking ends and rather flows into the next. He is speaking of “his duchess on the wall…” When the poem begins he is lamenting on his Duchess and her beauty and is reliving the day(s) in which the portrait of her was painted. He is speaking of her with love, but the poem quickly takes a chilling twist as he reveals that she was a flirt and after the revelation the reader becomes aware of the fact that the Duke was the cause of her death. The reader is not certain that the Duke can be trusted concerning the Duchesses alleged wrongdoings, but it is certain that the …show more content…
Lines 25-30 is lamenting how she flirted and what those with whom she flirted bestowed upon her. If the Duchess spoke or smiled to anyone then she was flirting with them. Lines 30-35 are much the same as the previous lines. The Duke is listing her “indiscretions”. Her “approving speech, Or blush…” “She thanked men—good!” these are all instances in which the Duke believes that she is flirting, but the reader begins to question if this is even true, they seem to be but polite gestures. In these lines he also talks about his “nine-hundred-years-old name”, he is disgusted that she does not appreciate everything his name is more than to drag it through the mud with her “flirting”. In lines 35-40 the Duke is still ranting. He is ranting about how disgusted he was/is with her. In lines 40-45 the reader really begins to understand how the Duchess was “lessoned” because she had “stooped” below his level flirting which made her beneath him and he would never “stoop”. In lines 45-46 he begins by talking about her bestowing him still with her smile, but she smiles at everyone so it made no difference. But because the smile was not only his the “smiles stopped together”. The Duchess is dead and now her smile lives only in this portrait. This is the end of the talk about the
He shows the man a painting hidden behind curtains of his previous or 'last' wife. The poem is very conventional as it uses iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets and enjambment. Beneath the surface is a terrible story of ruthless and despotic of the Dukes disapproval of his wife's innocent acts and naivety, who loses her life for not being appreciative of his great name. The picture kept hidden shows that he still feels a love for her and that now she is a piece of art he is able to control her which shows his sick, unnerving possessive side.
... “the Appearance of a Gentleman” (236). She then baits him with a story, insisting that he “cannot, when you hear my Story, refuse that Assistance which is in your Power to give an unhappy Woman, who without it, may be rendered the most miserable of all created Beings” (236). Furthermore, the reason Beauplaisir concludes that the Widow Bloomer will be sexually responsive is her description of her previous marriage: “From that she passed to a Description of the Happiness of mutual Affection; —the unspeakable Ecstasy of those who meet with equal Ardency; and represented it in Colours so lively, and disclosed by the Gestures with which her Words were accompanied, and the Accent of her Voice so true a Feeling of what she said” (237). By distracting Beauplaisir with his own visual appearance, the Widow Bloomer supersedes his masculine power through her own auditory power.
These lines show the attitude toward women prevalent throughout the play. It is the men's nonchalance toward the small details t...
Margaret is Mr. Macomber’s wife who is exceedingly dramatic and finds joy in putting others down, but toward the end of the story she has a shift and gains fear. Margaret says, “I suppose I could,” she said, “since you put it so pretty”. In this example, Margaret is shown to be dramatic and flirty. A reader can see that she is dramatic and flirty because she flirts with Wilson by talking about how he talks “so prettily”. This shows that she is disloyal to her husband and doesn’t care how he feels.
The speakers in these two poems both have issues with the people they have been with. In the poem “My Last Duchess,” the speaker, the Duke of Ferrara, is complaining about his last wife and how he
My Last Duchess by Robert Browning is story of a duke recanting his story about his late wife. In this poem the author uses diction similar to conversational words as if he was speaking to someone or something, varied syntax, where he questions to engage the reader, and a vain and superficial tone where he places the value of his late wife to some simple bronze.
Is this dominant male’s intention toward the mistress out of love or lust? What the narrator does clearly portray to the audience is that this is a straight forward poem. The male says that, if immortal, he would with pleasure spend all the time on heavens and earth wooing his mistress. But, time is not immortal and nor are they, that he suggest she willingly give herself to him and fulfill his seize the day urgency (531). Using clever literary devices and enchanting imagery the scene is set for him to go forth with his seduction.
...ding this poem, it is obvious to think that the Duke was definitely a cruel and heartless man. Assuming he had his first wife killed, he didn't seem to care. He just forged ahead in an attempt to find another woman he could control. As a matter of fact, he used his influence to actually warn the servant of his plans for his marriage to the Count's daughter. Instead of mourning his first wife, he seemed to revel in the fact that he was now able to control her beauty in the portrait by only allowing viewing to those he invited to see it when he opened the curtain. Oh, what a powerful feeling that must have been for him! In the 20th century, however, I think this poem would have been written differently to reflect the freedom women have today. No woman would have put up with him! Maybe the Duke would have had second thoughts about how he treated his beautiful Duchess.
Both of these poems can be used read from different points of view and they could also be used to show how society treated women in the Nineteenth Century: as assets, possessions. Both of these poems are what are known as a dramatic monologue as well as being written in the first person. The whole poem is only one stanza long, and each line in the stanza comprises of eight syllables. ‘My Last Duchess’ is about a member of the nobility talking to an ambassador concerning his last wife, who later on in the poem is revealed to have been murdered by the person speaking, who is about to marry his second wife. ‘Porphyria's Lover’ gives an insight into the mind of an exceptionally possessive lover, who kills his lover in order to capture that perfect moment of compassion. ‘Porphyria's Lover’ uses an alternating rhyme scheme during most of the poem except at the end. The whole poem is only one stanza long, and each line in the stanza comprises of eight syllables.
At the start, the first stanza of the poem is full of flattery. This is the appeal to pathos. The speaker is using the mistress's emotions and vanity to gain her attention. By complimenting her on her beauty and the kind of love she deserves, he's getting her attention. In this first stanza, the speaker claims to agree with the mistress - he says he knows waiting for love provides the best relationships. It feels quasi-Rogerian, as the man is giving credit to the woman's claim, he's trying to see her point of view, he's seemingly compliant. He appears to know what she wants and how she should be loved. This is the appeal to ethos. The speaker seems to understand how relationships work, how much time they can take, and the effort that should be put forth. The woman, if only reading stanza one, would think her and the speaker are in total agreement.
The overarching irony in Browning's "My Last Duchess" is that it really is not about the duchess, but instead about the controlling, jealous, and arrogant nature of the duke. In his monologue describing a painting of his former wife, the duke introduces us to his dark and sinister qualities. By giving us the Duke of Ferrara as an example, Robert Browning subtly condemns the nobility for their poor character.
As all Cavalier poets, he supports the statement of "carpe diem", or "seize the day", that is an extension to the Renaissance code of chivalry. Today, the speaker's speech may seem sexist in its attitude toward women and irresponsible in its attitude toward the coy mistress (the speaker doesn't explain how he would seize the day if the woman became pregnant, for example). The mistress would like to postpone sex (theoretically until she and the speaker are married). The speaker wants to consummate their physical relationship. The poem's speaker is attempting to persuade "His Coy Mistress" to have sex with him.
Gossip can cause people’s opinions of other people to change, whether the gossip is true or not. This is present and seen within the play. In Lady Windermere’s Fan the role of gossip transforms Lady Windermere’s loyalty to her husband into misplaced revenge. As the play goes on, there are various ways that gossip and status are used throughout the acts. To begin the first act the Duchess of Berwick tells Lady Windermere that her husband has had an affair.
There she stands as if alive.” The use of the forceful word ‘commands’ shows that the Duke has power over the Duchess. Together with the view of the Duchess as a possession, suggests the patriarchal society of the past. Furthermore, ‘then all smiles stopped together’ underlines a subtle but sinister tone change within the poem. The use of a. Possessive pronoun, a patriarchy.
The Duke does not think that such things, which are trivial to him, should bring her the same amount of joy as the presents he bestows on her. He is also mildly jealous of the way that other things can make his wife happy. He thinks that she should love him and him alone. This is particularly shown when he refers to someone else.