My Last Duchess by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue spoken by the Duke Ferrari. It highlights the jealous and sadistic nature of his character and the weirdness that surrounds his late wife’s demise. A dramatic monologue is a kind of poem whereby a single fictional or historical character other than the poet is made to speak to a silent audience, in this case, only the main character is allowed to talk. The purpose of the monologue is to not to disclose the poet’s own ideas but the thoughts of the lead character in the poem. (Christopher Baldick 1) .In the process, personality of the main character is revealed by the poet.
In "My Last Duchess," the duke is speaking to a aristocrat of a wealthy count. Before the commencement of the poem, the aristocrat has been led through the Duke's palace most likely through an art gallery filled with paintings and sculptures. The aristocrat has seen a curtain, which hides a wall painting, thus the duke decides to show his visitor a very special portrait of his late wife. The aristocrat is awed by the smile of the woman in the painting, he asks what produced such an expression, and that is when the dramatic monologue commences:
As it is common in many other dramatic monologues, “My Last Duchess” offers a peek of the Duke of Ferrara personality. The first line alone reveals that he has a deep passion for art. In the first three lines, “That's my last duchess painted on the wall/ Looking as if she were alive I call /That piece a wonder.”(1-3). The portrait of the late Duchess of Ferrara is a wall painting, which is a type of work painted directly on a plaster wall in watercolors. By calling that piece, a wonder emphasizes that he has many other paintings in his possession but gives the ...
... middle of paper ...
...f the piece, whereby it is revealed that he is in the process of negotiating another wedding ceremony. The imaginary listener character is a representative of another noble, as shown by the speaker's reference to him as "the Count your master" (ll. 49). In spite of the speaker's obvious ignorance for the value of life, and his apparent corruption, this agent seems to agree to arrange for the duke's marriage to the count's daughter. Therefore, it is assumed that the count, although not there in the setting of the poem, also agrees to the marriage of this duke to his daughter, fully aware of the death of the former's previous spouse; the count likely stands to benefit from such an arrangement, as was the practice of the time. This, again, speaks to the author’s opinion of the nobility as corrupt and made inhuman by the very power that elevates them above other men.
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.
My Last Duchess takes place in Italy, late Renaissance Italy which is over 300 hundred years before My Ex-Husband. You also see a reference to Italy within the poem My Ex-Husband. “You yet these lovely champagne flutes, hand blown, Imported from Murano, Italy” (Lines 52-53) Italy is yet another connection between these two paired poems. May it be the glorious and beautiful history or may it just be symbol of wealth between My Last Duchess and My Ex-Husband. The symbol of wealth is almost ironic because in the end who is really wealthy? They both have faced a sense of
The doomed Duchess of Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue, “My Last Duchess” is the embodiment of the incarcerated woman taken to the eternal extreme. The setting for this poem is the Italy of the Middle Ages, a time when women had still less freedom than in the Victorian era. Women were regarded as possessions, a form of imprisonment within itself. As Johnson states the theme of “marriage as bondage” is consistently explored throughout Browning’s early wor...
My Last Duchess by Robert Browning centers on historical events revolving around the Duke of Ferrara-Alfonso. Alonso the speaker of the poem narrates how he is entertaining and envoy sent to negotiate his second marriage after the death of his first wife. As he shows the visitors around the palace, he stops in front of the late Duchess’s portraits and starts recalling past events through monologue. The reader realizes that the Duke caused the death of the Duchess. On the other hand, My Ex- Husband by Gabriel Spera depicts a woman who found strength to fight for her beliefs when she discovered that her spouse was having another affair. As the poem beginning, the woman is preparing to go out with her new lover when he notices the picture of her former husband hanging on the wall. In Both poems, the new spouses discover the speakers’ former relationships through pictures hung on the wall. The two poems make use of dramatic monologue to reveal their history and personality. Changing the sexes of the speakers in the two poems is not going to change the theme of Jealousy in both poems.
Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” is a haunting poem that tells the story of a seemingly perfect wife who dies, and then is immortalized in a picture by her kind and loving husband. This seems to be the perfect family that a tragic accident has destroyed. Upon further investigation and dissection of the poem, we discover the imperfections and this perfect “dream family” is shown for what it really was, a relationship without trust.
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
The theme of “My Last Duchess” is power, it is based on the Duke’s political and social power applied by the speaker. In this
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.
A dramatic monologue is defined as a poem in which a single character is speaking to a person or persons- usually about an important topic. The purpose of most dramatic monologues is to provide the reader with an overall or intimate view of the character’s personality. A great poet can use punctuation and rhythm to make the poem appear as if it were an actual conversation. Robert Browning, known as the father of the dramatic monologue, does this in his poem, “My Last Duchess.'; The Duke of Ferrara, the speaker in “My Last Duchess,'; is portrayed as a jealous, arrogant man who is very controlling over his wife.
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 "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 Speaker in ‘My Last Duchess’ is conversing with the servant of a count whose daughter he is proposing to marry. He treats t...
Throughout "My Last Duchess," Browning uses diction to further increase the haunting effect of his dramatic monologue. His precise and scattered word choice is meant to make the reader recognize the underlying haughtiness in his speech to the Count's emissary. The Duke refers to his former wife's portraits "depth" and "passion" in order to place a cloudiness over the realism of the painting. This, along with the "faint" and "half-flush" appearance that "dies along her throat," brings about an overcast appearance to the poem. The Duke's "trifling" lack of "countenance" is evident in his jealousy of
In conclusion, Mr. Robert Browning depicts in ‘My Last Duchess” that the Duke is not an ideal husband by referencing how controlling he is over women and other people in his vicinity. Mr. Browning also references the Duke’s jealous and petty actions that make him seem desperate for a way to seek attention. That is why the Duke disposes of her since she was not giving him the proper care he wanted he decided that she was not worthy. The Duke is also not an ideal husband based on his views of how disposal women are to him. His jealousy and insecurity lead him to be an unhappy self-centered
In Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue “Fra Lippo Lippi” we as the readers are presented with a lot of background information about the speaker itself. This monologue overall subjects a monk/painter of Renaissance Italy. I find this monologue very interesting because of the fact that Browning uses sarcasm and witty personality in his favor at the beginning of the poem. The trait of the authorities being overzealous in the monk’s eyes is what charms the beginning first half of the monologue. For this writing assignment, I will analyze specific lines of 1-60; I believe the monk reveals a lot about himself as a character in the very first half of the poem which is why I find this of significance. While analyzing these specific lines, I will also describe how these lines help us as readers better understand this character in question.