My Last Duchess and Greek Mythology Robert Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess” contains a wide variety of rhetorical devices and includes some symbolism. One piece of symbolism that has gone relatively unnoticed is the allusion to Poseidon because of the mention of his Roman counterpart Neptune; both aid in making Browning’s point clear. Neptune and Poseidon both have strong connections to the main speaker (the assumed Duke of Ferrara). Browning is trying to make the point that unfaithful women and quick-tempered men should be avoided. Browning’s poem is about a nobleman showing an emissary of a potential new wife around the nobleman’s art gallery. The nobleman points out the portrait of his last Duchess and talks about her flirtatious nature and other qualities that annoyed him “her looks …show more content…
He let the behavior continue and finally “gave commands” (45), ending the confrontation when the smiles stopped. The way the speaker talks about the painting, “as if she were alive” (2) tells us that she is not alive. Then he shows the emissary a statue of Neptune, which is also one of his favorites. The defining quality of the painting, the one that he would be most proud of, is that it was painted by a famous painter, not that it was about his late Duchess. This means that the nobleman cares more about the painter’s renown than his own Duchess’ beauty. The overall tone and description of the Duchess tells the reader that she is naïve and definitely younger. Her blush and smiles lend to the idea that she is coquettish and bubbly. He also says that it was not just her husband who brought her joy. She valued other men’s gifts as highly as her marriage, “if she ranked/ My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name with anybody’s gift” (32-33), giving his name is basically a poetic way of saying he married her. The Duke would not tell her of his displeasure because that would seem degrading to him “In