A Comparison of the Attitudes Shown in The Man He Killed By Tomas Hardy and in My Last Duchess by Robert Browning
The attitudes shown in the two poems “The Man he Killed” by Tomas
Hardy and “My Last Duchess” Robert by Browning are very different;
where as Hardy creates a modest, baffled character who feels very
guilty, Browning’s Duke is a vain, proud man who has killed his wife
in a premeditated manner. These characteristics are also revealed
through the poet’s use of stanza, structure and language choices.
Both of the poems are about killing In the Man He Killed the solider
feels very guilty for his actions; this is evident when he says;
“I shot him dead because-
Because he was my he was my foe,
Just so – my foe of coarse he was;
That’s clear enough; although.”
His guilt is evident because he is questioning his actions; this is
reinforced by the repetition of the word ‘foe’. Also the use of the
words ‘That’s clear enough…’ where he is trying to reassure himself,
about his actions.
My Last Duchess The duke does not feel guilty for his actions; this is
evident when he says;
“I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together.”
His lack of guilt is evident because he is giving commands to someone
to kill his wife; and he is not showing any regret or sadness.
Therefore the two characters feel very differently about the deaths
that they have both been involved in. The attitudes about the deaths
are very different: both men also reveal different attitudes towards
the past.
The Duke would kill again if his wife was not perfect and the solider
would kill again only if he came into contact with anothe...
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...itudes of the
two characters are extremely different.
In the two poems both Thomas Hardy and, Robert Browning use
enjambment, to emphasise what they are saying, and to reflect on the
naturalistic speech. In The Man He Killed
“That’s clear enough; although
He thought he’d list perhaps “
Here enjambment is used to show the hesitation, the moment he realises
that the other man was just like him. In My Last Duchess,’ enjambment
is used in a different way
“I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together”
The Duke is thinking about what he has done – the audience are
encouraged to reflect on this and are naturally shocked at what he has
done. This quote shows that both writers used enjambment in two
different ways, to emphasize their character’s actions towards the
deaths that have occurred.
Obviously, Robert Browning’s two texts, Duchess, and Porphyria’s Lover can be compared and contrasted. They can be similar because speakers in the texts killed their women, they both had mental issues, and they were both jealous for one reason or another. Also, the speakers in the texts were different because the speaker in Duchess wanted to replace his wife, while the speaker in Lover didn’t. The Speaker in Duchess was also very rich, and the speaker in Lover was not. Lastly, the speaker in Duchess committed premeditative murder, while the speaker in Lover just murdered his girl.
As the reader examines "Prophyria's Lover" by Robert Browning, one recognizes the complete effort of the speaker to disguise his feelings toward the murder of his wife. The speaker goes through different thoughts in relation to the life he has with his wife. Many thoughts include the positive and negative parts about her and their relationship. Throughout the monologue, the speaker tells the readers of his struggles of coming to the conclusion of murdering his wife and the reasons to do so. In “Prophyria’s Lover”, the speaker is faced with many types of insanity before, during, and after the murder of his wife, Prophyria because of the love he has for her.
Jane Austen's novels at first glance tell a story of romance set primarily within the landowning society amidst country estates, and their cultivation of tea parties, social outings, and extravagant balls; ladies sashaying in flowing gowns through precisely decorated rooms, and men deliberating over their game of whist. The storybook romance usually unfolds in these familiar settings, and inevitably involves the conflict of two lovers separated by differences in social class, and the resulting influence of the diverse societies they revolve in. Although these superficial aspects of Austen's stories are protruding at the seams, underneath the skin of these well-clothed dramas lie serious moral issues afflicting the culture of England during Austen's life.
...is interactions with his wife are filled with tension and he is saddened when he reflects upon the men lost during war and the death of his brother.
I was gratified to see that this critic agreed with my interpretation of the Duchess’s demise, viz., the Duke had her murdered. The theory advanced by my brilliant and magnificent Professor had been that the Duke gave her so many orders and restrictions that she pined away. I had been looking at his famous line “And I choose/never to stoop.” He married her for her beauty but would never lower himself to tell her when she angered him.
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.
The purpose of this essay is to analyze and compare and contrast the two paired poems “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning and “My Ex-Husband” by Gabriel Spera to find the similarities presented within the pairs. Despite the monumental time difference between “My Last Duchess” and “My Ex-Husband”, throughout both poems you will see that somebody is wronged by someone they thought was a respectable person and this all comes about by viewing a painting on the wall or picture on a shelf.
Jane Austen wrote Northanger Abbey as a satire and when the reader turns every page, it is clear that Jane Austen was making fun of the society she was living in. It’s the satire of the Gothic novel that was surrounding her at the time. What Northanger Abbey does so well in terms of satire is subvert the system of Western patriarchy by the gothic genre and questions the structure of women and nature. Like many of the tales in England of the heroine, Northanger Abbey tells the story of the daughter, who heroic acts are modesty and submission. This essay will focus on what gothic heroine meant at the time, while analyzing why Jane Austen was making fun of the meaning.
When one's accomplishments are held under scrutiny, there are varying standards that they may be considered against, depending on the judge. However, the criteria that one evaluates others with speak volumes to the critic's own character. In the passage of Pride and Prejudice, where Darcy, Caroline, Elizabeth, and Bingley discuss the definition of an "accomplished woman", the requirements that each character considers ideal reveal the stark contrast between their personalities; Jane Austen's variation in each characters' tone, irony, and diction suggests that the way one critiques others is a reflection of their own innate nature.
The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition Volume1. Ed. M.H.Abrams. New York: W.W.Norton and Company, Inc., 1993.
Kramer, Dale. “Far from the Madding Crowd: The Non-Tragic Predessor.” Thomas Hardy: The Forms of Tragedy. Detroit: Wayne state University Press, 1975. 25-47. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski. Vol.153. Detroit: Gale 2004. Literature Resource Center. Web. 20 April 2014.
the Duchess's kindness toward others. Her benevolence "disgusts" the Duke, and causes him to "stoop" down to spouting off "commands" in her direction.
Pride and Prejudice is a very complex and detailed book that illustrates dramatic love stories that develop between three girls within the Bennet family. The author of Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen. Jane was born and raised in Steventon, England from 1775 through 1817; she was the youngest of seven children (Wikipedia). She was very tall, slender, outgoing, and much admired. She was proposed to many times, but she refused all of her marriage offers. She spent her short life living with her family. Jane received a typical education, and she began to write at a very young age (Introduction ?). Jane mainly composed romantic fiction, and all her books included “intense realism and biting irony”. Pride and Prejudice is romantic fiction, and it was composed in 1813 within the Romantic Era (Wikipedia). The Romantic Era was mainly focused on the individual and their relationship with nature. Considering this, Pride and Prejudice did not really fit the time era considering the characters spent most of their time indoors and only developed relationships within each other. Jane composed Pride and Prejudice as a romantic fiction because when she wrote it she was just thirty eight. She had never been married but most likely loved love. She was also a very realistic and ironic writer, and with Pride and Prejudice being this genre she brought a lot of realism and irony considering the period it was written in. Pride and Prejudice is the second book publish by Jane Austen, but it is her most popular work for many, many different obvious reasons (Wikipedia).
Analysis of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen It centers on the elder sisters of the Bennet family, Jane and Elizabeth. Their personalities, misunderstandings and the roles of pride and prejudice play a large part in the development of their individual relationships. The spirited Elizabeth and softhearted Jane have to deal with not only their own feelings but also the status of their family, both of which affect the outcomes of their marriages. The struggle is very believable and realistic because the story takes place a long time ago. The way people interact with each other today is quite different than how they would interact with each other back
“He is a gentleman, and I am a gentleman 's daughter. So far we are equal” (Austen 51). Jane Austen was an acute observer of the Georgian era society that she lived in, through her observations, she began to notice many flaws, especially in the treatment of women. With her love of writing and social awareness, Austen decided to combine both together to create some of the most famous works of literature. As seen in Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice and others, Austen uses realism, an upper class voice, and an ironic tone to deliver her underlying message of feminism to the gentry of the Georgian era.