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My last duchess by robert browning annotated
Discuss the ways Robert Browning reveals character in My Last Duchess
Discuss the ways Robert Browning reveals character in My Last Duchess
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Recommended: My last duchess by robert browning annotated
Confucius once said that silence is a friend who will never betray. For the Duke in Robert Browning's poem "The Last Duchess" silence is the only friend he has left, but just barely. While giving a tour of his estate, the Duke talks about his late Duchess in terms that could lead the audience to believe she was murdered. However the Duke never mentions whether the audience's assumptions are true, just that "I gave commands; / then all smiles stopped together" (Lines 45-46). Ominous and vague, and given that way for a reason. Earlier on in the poem the Duke makes a point to mention that he would never stoop to his late Duchess' level. The question is what won't he stoop down to do? Talk to his wife about her smiles or admit to dirtying his hands in her untimely death? The reason that Browning doesn't tell the audience whether or not the Duke killed his …show more content…
It is clear from the Duke's characterization that he is in control of the poem. This is a given since the poem is one-sided and conversational in tone. The Duke's speech is painfully strict and controlled by using rhyming couplets (AABBCC) and enjambments to complete his careful thoughts. It's terrifying to know that even though he is giving up precious information he is not letting on to the extremes of his jealousy, which is another controlled substance to his story telling. He hints to a darkness within him but keeps silent on the actuality of it. From the Duke's phrasing, he wants the viewer to think that he is the innocent party. Stooping never looks innocent, as he has led us to believe. "She had / A heart – how shall I say? – too soon made glad, / Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er / She looked on, and
From the very first word of the poem, there is a command coming from an unnamed speaker. This establishes a sense of authority and gives the speaker a dominant position where they are dictating the poem to the reader rather than a collaborative interacti...
In contrast to Macbeth’s love for his wife, in Browning’s ‘My Last Duchess’ there is an absence of the romanticised emotion of love. The Duke refers to his wife as ‘My Last Duchess. Here the use of the possessive pronoun ‘my’ gives us the idea from the outset that the Duke saw his wife as merely a possession. The iambic pentameter of ten syllables per line used in the poem also emphasises possession by stressing ‘my’ further in the pattern. Browning’s portrayal of love is one that is absent of emotional attachment, but instead something by which he could possess and have power over her. It could be argued that there are similarities in the way that Lady Macbeth also uses the emotion of love. Being in the form of a dramatic monologue, use
held, and he is clearly very controlling in his relationships. Browning's use of the first person narrative in "My Last Duchess" allows the reader to gain insight into the Duke's character and personality. The use of the servant as a listener also allows the reader to see how the Duke interacts with others and how he wants to be perceived. Overall, Browning's use of the first person narrative in his dramatic monologues is a powerful tool in revealing the thoughts and feelings of his characters.
Often times in feminist research, there has been a major focus on women. This makes sense, being that in most cultures women still don’t hold an equal standing with their male counterparts. Yet in the patriarchal society seen in most western cultures, there are still extreme setbacks for men. Though the patriarchy tends to favor men in many aspects, it holds them back in what is seen as an essential part of being human; expressing emotions. These emotions are bottled up and often turn into rage. When men try and express themselves, they are often ridiculed or harassed until they go back to bottling their emotions. This toxic masculinity can lead to violent outbursts, either to those around them or to themselves. I will be exploring the expression
Elizabeth Browning starts out her letter by setting up her ethos. She explains to the Emperor about herself and her life. She states, “having grown used to great men (among the Dead at least) I cannot feel entirely at loss in speaking to the emperor Napoleon.” By revealing this, Browning is attempting to build her virtue in the eyes of Napoleon, making her seem more than just a common person. She follows the first paragraph, where she crafted
However, the speaker is aware of her passionate attempt to conceal her pride and vanity. Her beauty, pride, and conceit prevent Porphyria from completely loving the speaker. The unnamed speaker realizes that Porphyria cannot make a true commitment to a serious relationship of love. He is overcome by his passion and desire to be her only lover. As the couple embraces one another, the speaker is unable to restrain overwhelming desire to make Porphyria his only lover. He has terrible thoughts about how he could make her devoted only to him. He suddenly realizes what he must do to gain her total devotion and love. Debating what action he should take, the speaker gazes into her eyes and believes that Porphyria loves only him. In an instant, she belonged only to him. She was totaling devoted to the speaker. At that particular moment, her love was perfect, pure, and good. Suddenly, the speaker understands what he must do in order to gain Porphyria's faithful love. He takes her long yellow hair and repeatedly wraps it around her little throat. He strangles Porphyria until she dies. The speaker states that she felt no pain. He is certain that her death was painless. He opens her eyelids and again sees the laughter reflected in her blue eyes. As he loosened her hair from around her neck, Porphyria's cheek brightly blushes as he kisses her passionately. They couple continue to hug each other with Porphyria's head resting on her lover's shoulder. The speaker notices a smile upon her little rosy face and believes she is blissfully consumed by his grotesque love. The speaker and the lifeless Porphyria sit together all night. The speaker makes an unexpected declaration in the finale verse of the poem. The speaker concludes the poem believes there are no witnesses who observe his bizarre behavior. The mysterious speaker feels no shame or guilt regarding his wicked and selfish conduct. He boasts that even God did not speak a word against him. Robert Browning reveals rare insights and an unusual interpretation concerning the concept of love. The two romantic relationships described in "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover" is comparable in certain areas, however each poem reveals contrasting ideas about the concept of love.
It goes on to speak about sympathy in general and how Browning “delighted in making a case for the apparently immoral position”, how he found dramatic monologues the best form to do so, and how he went about it. It keeps going for a couple more pages on things which I will not go into because they have little relevance to any interpretation of “My Last Duchess”.
My Last Duchess by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue about a duke who is showing the portrait of his first wife, the duchess, to a servant of his future father-in-law, the Count. In a dramatic monologue, the speaker addresses a distinct but silent audience. Through his speech, the speaker unintentionally reveals his own personality. As such, in reading this poem, the reader finds the duke to be self-centered, arrogant, controlling, chauvinistic and a very jealous man. The more he attempted to conceal these traits, however, the more they became evident. There is situational irony (a discrepancy between what the character believes and what the reader knows to be true) in this because the duke does not realize this is what is happening. Instead, he thinks he appears as a powerful and noble aristocrat.
Browning’s works were the primary model for the basic form of the standard Victorian dramatic monologue which was based around a speaker, listener, and a reader. Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess” became a model for the dramatic monologue form primarily because of the strict approach he took while developing the poem. One of the aspects characteristic of this work is the authors level of consciousness. Each element in “My Last Duchess” is thoughtfully constructed with form and structure in mind. This poem is filled with dramatic principle that satisfied the Victorian period’s demand for an action and drama that were not overtly apparent in the work. In the case of “My Last Duchess” the drama of the poem is how his character, the Duke, is introduced. In dramatic monologues the character’s self is revealed through thoug...
In his speaking of her, he gives the impression that he is resentful of his past wife and jealous as well as greedy. His jealousy is declared many times in remarks about her gazing onto others but not the Duke himself, “Strangers like you that pictured countenance, /The depth and passion of its earnest glance, /But to myself they turned” (Browning Lines 7-9).
Browning uses irony in conjunction with dramatic monologue to produce a sinister and domineering effect. Irony, much like dramatic monologue, can make the reader question the true underlying meaning of the passage. This brief confusion causes an eeriness to be brought about in the work. In "My Last Duchess," verbal irony is demonstrated when the Duke says to his guests, "even had you skill in speech . . . which I have not"(35-36).
Through the appearance of jealousy, the Duke tries to hide his actual inner struggle of insecurity. The Duke may have that feeling, possibly because of his appearance and how the Duchess usurpers him in that category. This results, in the Duke poisoning the Duchess, because the Duke comes to the conclusion that possibly someday she would grow tired of him and have an affair. So not only did he murder her but in doing so he made sure she could only be with him, thus sealing her fate. For this reason, the Duke clearly thinks of himself as a self-justifier who is attempting to cover up his feelings and actions by getting rid of her. The quote references his insecurity which therefore is a fuel for his jealousy. Michael G. Miller states in his essay, “Browning’s My Last Duchess”, “His subtle and unconscious slander of his last victim exposes at the bottom an instinctive self-justifier or at least a man
Another aspect of the duke’s character addressed in the poem is his condescending attitude. Two times in the poem the duke needlessly told the names of the artists who created the masterpieces that he owned (lines 3 & 56). He felt superiority over the emissary he was speaking to by dropping these names. The duke addressed the emissary as a “never read stranger'; (line 6). Not only was it patronizing for the duke to call him a stranger, but he called him unintelligent too.
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.
The Duke’s egotistic and self-absorbed behavior is once again emphasized by “That’s my last duchess painted on the wall, looking as if she were alive.” The possessive pronoun ‘my’ shows that the Duke views the Duchess as an object. Additionally, the Duke also has a sense of dominance over the Duchess. “I gave commands, then all smiles stopped together.