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Critical analysis of the poem my last duchess by robert browning
Critical analysis of the poem my last duchess by robert browning
Critical analysis of the poem my last duchess by robert browning
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There is seldom a more deeply rooted bond than that between an artist and his masterpiece. However, in the poem "My Last Duchess", written by Robert Browning, it is not, in fact, the artist that possesses this bond, but the owner of the artwork. This dramatic monologue seems to be a tragic love story at first; however, as the story progresses, is it revealed to the audience that the grief-stricken Duke may have had some issues with his blushing bride. While addressing a representative of his future fiancé’s father, the Duke relays his thoughts and feelings on the untimely demise of his former Duchess. The Duke is not remorseful over the death of his bride but is instead bitter that she did not fit his expectations of a perfect wife. This is displayed through his lack of grief, his sudden remarriage, and his use of symbolic language to reveal his inner feelings.
After the passing of a significant person the individuals who were close to the person generally take time to go through a grieving process in order to show respect for the dearly departed. The speaker in Browning’s poem should be doing the same, as the loss of a spouse is usually a traumatic experience. While he gives the façade of a loving and caring husband his attitude begs to differ, much like when the speaker says, “Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,/ Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without/ Much the same smile?” (43-45). The speaker seems to be grieving by remembering his Duchess’s wonderful smile but the smug tone that he speaks with quickly discredits his attempt at endearment. Instead of going through the normal stages of grief and remembering her fondly, his thoughts rapidly turn to bitterness because he felt that she gave the very same smile that should hav...
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...normal human being, this individual seems to have very few, if any, regrets about the whole situation. It can be argued that nearly every individual has some form of a conscience, or the ability to judge right from wrong, why then is it so difficult for some to display it? Perhaps harsh, sarcastic words and disrespect are the ways in which certain individuals display their grief, but if that is the case, can it even be called grief in the first place? By pushing away, or in this case getting rid of, someone who doesn’t seem to fit expectations, the issue at hand is fixed momentarily. However, it is evident that in the long run, nothing but strife has been accomplished, and nothing of actual value has been gained.
Works Cited
Browning, Robert. “My Last Duchess.” Backpack Literature. Ed. X.J. Kennedy, Dana Gioia. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2012. 387-388. Print.
Gioia, Dana, and X.J. Kennedy. "My Last Duchess." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, Compact Edition, Interactive Edition. 5th ed. New York: Pearson; Longman Publishing, 2007. 432-433. Print.
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.
The men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 were just ordinary men, from a variety of backgrounds, education, and age. It would appear that they were not selected by any force other than random chance. Their backgrounds and upbringing, however, did little to prepare these men for the horrors they were to witness and participate in.
"That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall," begins Robert Browning’s "My Last Duchess" (594). The Duke of Ferrara, Italy makes a dramatic monologue to the count’s representative in poetic form. The count, being a friend of the Duke’s, has offered to provide the Duke’s next wife. The Duke informs the representative of all the habits he found annoying in his former Duchess as an instruction of the customs his next wife should and should not do; or she will find the same fate as his previous wife. He found these habits so annoying that he had her killed. The power that the Duke has starkly contrasts with the helplessness Miss Dent feels in John Cheever’s "The Five-Forty-Eight." Blake hires Miss Dent as his secretary, after she has been in the hospital for eight months. She is very grateful to Blake for giving her the position because she has had a difficult time finding a job due to her prolonged stay in the hospital. Miss Dent forms an affection for Blake, who uses her vulnerability to carry on a one-night stand with her. The next day he has her fired while she is at lunch and he then takes the afternoon off from work. Miss Dent tries to contact Blake every day for the next few weeks, but he avoids her until she finally confronts him in hostility. The presence or absence of power in Miss Dent’s or the Duke’s lives is the impacting factor in their personalities, "love lives," and the concluding results each of them gains.
A Comparison of the Attitudes Shown in The Man He Killed By Tomas Hardy and in My Last Duchess by Robert Browning
I read a critical article on Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess”. I confess it was harder to find something in the NCLC’s than I would’ve thought. There was a considerable accumulation of critiques on Browning’s work, but very little on “My Last Duchess”.
...ose who possess a disobedient temperament, and imagining women, such as his late wife, as the rarely tamed seahorse, the Duke leaves no doubt as to his severe expectations regarding obedience and submissiveness in his future duchess. Also, unlike Medusa, there are no verses in ‘My Last Duchess’. This conveys an urgent continuous pace as the poem moves relentlessly on suggesting the Duke will not be stopped.
In A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway, the novel concerns itself primarily with Hemingway's philosophy of life: unordered and random. There is no God to watch over man, to dictate codes of morality, or to ensure justice. Hemingway’s hero must accept his place as something insignificant, yet continue to fight endlessly against the meaninglessness of life. The universe is indifferent to man's plight. In the book, this indifference is best exemplified by the war -- an ultimately futile struggle of man against man and the death of Catherine Barkley – someone good and pure. She did not die due to her “sins”, but merely because life is short, unfair, and unorderly.
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.
My last duchess Browning not only has the leader obvious with the discourse "my last duchess," but the verse man heading the monologue "My Last Duchess," as if engagement consideration to the peculiarity of that appellation. The Duke may have inadvertently granted himself be gone by the proverb "my last duchess. " He admits he is not serviceable at unambiguous himself, The emission "my last duchess" has an singular right, exact to it.
A Farewell To Arms written by Ernest Hemingway illustrates a typical love story between two people, this love story plays out in a war torn Italy during world war I, where Italy was battling Austria, the novels main characters, lieutenant Fredrick Henry an American ambulance driver serving in the Italian army and Catherine Barkley an English volunteer nurse who served in Italy. The novel portrays Henry as a drunk who traveled from one house of prostitution to the next, he was not happy with his lifestyle. Henry feels detached from life and is on a quest for identification, he gives a particular insight about how he feels about women “clear, cold and dry”. Henry loved to play the role of a womanizer. He is isolated from his family and compatriots. He is an American fighting a war in another country. In my opinion Henry is emotionally exhausted and it appears he has no place to go. Henry meets Catherine Barkley, near the front between Italy and Austria-Hungary. Catherine suffered during this war before she met Henry. Catherine had lost her fiancé during this war. She was startled by rain in her nightmares. She perceived rain as death. At first Henry wanted to seduce the nurse, to him it was a game, he had told the nurse that he loved her, but she had caught on to his game. Catherine confronted Henry and told him what she thought of his game. He was severely wounded on one of his runs. Henry was sent to the American hospital where Catherine worked. That is where he actually began to fall in love with her. He fully recovered and returned to the war-front, during a retreat the Italians started to fall apart. Henry shot an engineer sergeant under his command for dereliction, later in the confusion Henry is arrested by the battle police for the crime of not being Italian. He is disgusted with the army and facing death at the hands of the battle police during questioning. Henry decided he has had enough of the war, he ran into the river to escape. After swimming to safety, Henry boards a train to reunite with his love Catherine whom is pregnant with his child. Here is where he meets with an Italian bartender who will help him escape to Switzerland by boat. Henry and Catherine plan to get married soon after the baby is born.
She says “writing can be an expression of one 's innermost feelings. It can allow the reader to tap into the deepest recesses of one 's heart and soul. It is indeed the gifted author that can cause the reader to cry at her words and feel hope within the same poem. Many authors as well, as ordinary people use writing as a way to release emotions.” She makes plenty points in her review that I completely agree with. After reading the poem I think that Elizabeth Barret Browning is not only the author of her famous poem, but also the speaker as well. She is a woman simply expressing her love for her husband in a passionate way through poetry. In the 1st Line it reads “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” A woman drunk in love she is, and next she begins to count the numerous ways she can love her significant
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
My Last Duchess is a dramatic monologue by Robert Browning and it describes a story of a Duke in Renaissance Italy. The Duke requests to have his ex-duchess painted on a wall in his home and he is taking his time remembering all of traits and as it seems that she was pleasant towards everyone and the duke attempts to seem like he is complementing. On a quick glance through the poem you may think that the duke is a generous and caring person, but reading through it thoroughly, it show how insecure and selfish the duke really is. The duke says “I choose