Analysis of My Last Duchess Essay - 585 Words

‘My Last Duchess’ is a poem written by Robert Browning in 1845. It’s a first person narrative of a duke who is showing the ambassador around his palace and negotiating his marriage to the daughter of another powerful family. As they are walking through the palace, the duke stops and looks at the beautiful portrait of his lovely last duchess. The duke speaks his thoughts about the girl, and as the poem progresses we begin to realize that his last duchess had been murdered. â€Å"†¦I gave commands, then all smiles stopped together,† This metaphorical sentence tells us that his commands were the ones that caused her death and her ‘stop of all smiles together’. The reason behind this is that she was flirtatious with all men because â€Å"she†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"My favour at her breast, the dropping of the daylight in the West†. Here the Duke tells us that he believed he had a seat at her heart. However her passion for him was diminishing as quickly as a day’s sunset in the West. The daylight is such a beautiful thing, but her love for him was like the ‘dropping of daylight’ meaning that he was losing such a beauty and he regretted. This metaphor used is a tragic metaphor. The rhetorical question used on line 23 reflects his anger. â€Å"A heart – how shall I say? – too soon made glad†¦Ã¢â‚¬  this quote explains that she was pleased by all men, and the Duke was struggling to find a way to express himself successfully. This is because he was so bothered by the fact that he didn’t satisfy her enough since she needed the satisfaction from other men. His frustration also reflects that there is an element of jealousy within him. â€Å"Oh sir, she smiled†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The poet makes use of a sibilant, which is an irritating sound to hear. This emphasizes his anger and frustration. He never refers to her by name, which reflects his disturbed character. After all of the Duke’s anger builds up, we learn that he lets out all of his frustration in a very negative and disturbed manner. â€Å"This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands as if alive.† The deliberate ambiguity used in this sentence hints to the audience that he has murdered her. The poem is oneShow MoreRelatedMy Last Duchess Analysis929 Words   |  4 Pages The characters of â€Å"My Last Duchess† are the Duke and the Duchess. At the start of the poem the Duke is looking at a picture of his deceased wife, the Duchess. The Duke is remembering the day the Duchess posed for the painting, â€Å"That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf’s hands /Worked busily a day, and there she stands† (Browning lines 3-4). The Duke talks about how easily the Duchess was â€Å"impressed† with small gifts given to her by others and that she had a wandering eye, â€Å"Too easily impressed; sheRead MoreAnalysis Of My Last Duchess 1187 Words   |  5 Pagesdifferent ways. ‘My Last Duchess’ is a dramatic monologue, which describes the Duke’s obsession with his Duchess. Similarly, ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ presents love and death as a battle to prevent deaths’ victory. ‘Remember’, in cont rast, explores love and death through subverting the sonnet form to guidance on coping with the death of your partner. The title ‘My Last Duchess’ demonstrates from the outset the Duke’s obsession by the use of the possessive pronoun â€Å"My†. Furthermore, theRead MoreAnalysis of Dramatic Monologue in My Last Duchess1866 Words   |  8 PagesThe Analysis of Dramatic monologue In My Last Duchess Abstract: Dramatic monologue which is an important poetic form which invented and practiced principally by Robert Browning, Alfred Tennyson, Matthew Arnold in the Victorian Period. Though the technique is evident in many ancient Greek dramas, the dramatic monologue as a poetic form achieved its first era of distinction in the work of Victorian poet Robert Browning. Brownings poems My Last Duchess and Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister, thoughRead MoreMy Last Duchess Character Analysis897 Words   |  4 Pages In the short poem My Last Duchess, the author Robert Browning starts the story with the Duke introducing his pitch to one of his servants to let him marry the servant’s daughter. The duke later takes the servant upstairs and shows him around his prized possession art gallery. The duke finally proceeded onto his prize possession onto to which was a portrait of his ex-wife; he then started to describe to him what his ex-wife was like and he started to get very worked up and angry. He rambled on aboutRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem My Last Duchess 1837 Words   |  8 Pagesmonologs. One of his monologs includes the famous poem â€Å"My Last Duchess† which was first recognized in 1842. The pace of the poem builds towards the revelation that the Duke had his wife murdered, then to the quick addition of his terms for the marriage arrangement. The tone of assurance that he uses within the poem shows that the Duke considers himself totally justified and he remains remorseless and confident in his sense of power. In â€Å"My Last Duchess,† Browning explores how absolute power can corruptRead MoreAnalysis of the Duke in Brownings My Last Duchess Essay494 Words   |  2 PagesAnalysis of Duke 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: Thats 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 areRead MoreAnalysis Of My Last Duchess By Robert Browning1523 Words   |  7 PagesZografakis English Period 8 7 November 2014 Throughout history, gender roles have been an important barrier in society. Women are forced to satisfy expectations established by men and society. â€Å"My Last Duchess,† by Robert Browning, focuses on the powerful Duke establishing certain expectations of the Duchess, and attempting to control her. Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, concentrates on Laertes establishing certain expectations of Ophelia, and seeking to control her. A Room of One’s Own, by VirginiaRead MoreAnalysis of the Setting in My Last Duchess and Dover Beach Essay669 Words   |  3 PagesAnalysis of the Setting in My Last Duchess and Dover Beach At first glance the setting of a poem is the psychological and physiological environment in which the story takes place. In some instances, the setting is used to develop the characters. Robert Browning and Matthew Arnold use the setting to expose their character traits. My Last Duchess and Dover Beach, respectively, portray the weaknesses of the characters using elements from the setting. The text, page 629 and 630, tells us thatRead MoreAnalysis Of My Last Duchess By Robert Browning2479 Words   |  10 Pagesmore subtly by societal constructs such as marriage. For ‘a man attaches himself to woman - not to enjoy her, but to enjoy himself’ , and this concept of a one-sided, selfish relationship is apparent in literary pieces. Within the setting of ‘My Last Duchess’, the Renaissance period, men held all-encompassing and direct control over their daughters and wives. The common practice in this era, of arranged marriage for dowry, consolidated the concep t of women as a resource for they represented moneyRead More Analysis of My Last Duchess by Robert Browning Essay examples1222 Words   |  5 Pages Analysis of My Last Duchess by Robert Browning Murder mystery intrigue. All describe Robert Brownings poem, My Last Duchess. From the speakers indirect allusions to the death of his wife the reader might easily think that the speaker committed a vengeful crime out of jealousy. His flowery speech confuses and disguises any possible motives, however, and the mystery is left unsolved. The poem is a great example of dramatic dialogue, a poetic form used to narrate and dramatize. It consists