Premium Essay

Analysis of Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess"

In: English and Literature

Submitted By melvrogers
Words 926
Pages 4
Analysis of Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess”
Melvin J Rogers L26599934
Liberty University

Robert Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess” is based on an incident in the life of the Italian Duke Alfonso II d’Este of the Duchy of Ferrara (eNotes.com, 2014). The use of the dramatic monologue is the most effective device to reveal what Browning believes to be the true nature of the narrator, the Duke. By allowing the narrator to tell his own story it becomes readily apparent to the reader that he is a flawed person; self-centered, arrogant, controlling and bordering on the narcissistic.
In order to lead the reader to the pre-determined conclusion regarding the Duke’s character, Browning creates two tones, one for the Duke, and one for the poem overall. The tone of the Duke is one of arrogance or insolence; he is quite proud of himself in the way in which he feels he commands those around him and he feels that he is superior to them. Several lines in the poem paint this picture for the reader. The Duke feels that merely being a part of his family is something that should be celebrated and cherished (“- as if she ranked/My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name/With anybody’s gift.”) (lines 32 – 34). The Duke refers to the artist who painted the portrait of his wife in a way that implies that not just anyone could secure his services (“I said/ “Fra Pandolf” by design …”) (lines 5 - 6). He is proud of the fact that he does not compromise (“- E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose/Never to stoop.”) (lines 42-43). He even hints, with apparently no fear of reprisal, that he had his own wife killed (“This grew; I gave commands ;”) (line 45). There is also imagery that gives the impression that he felt a need to exert complete control over his wife. Support for this is found in the very first line, “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, /” (line 1) in

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Annotated Bibliography

...“My Last Duchess” Annotated Bibliography 1 When Lou Thompson’s wrote his article titled Browning’s MY LAST DUCHESS he wanted to compare the poem My Last Duchess by Robert Browning with the poem by Geoffrey Chaucer called The Book of the Duchess. Thompson talks about the “obvious parallels” (Thompson) it has In his article he describes the differences and similarities between the two men in the poems. In lines 21-24 of My Last Duchess and lines 873-875 of Book of the Duchess there are resemblances. In both poems the speakers describe their wives, which similarly they were both duchess’s and both have passed away. Both poems deal with the gladness and the looks of the women, and even the word ‘glad’ appears in both excerpts in a line-final position. The descriptions, however, are incompatible as Chaucer’s poem praises the wife “for were she never so glad, Hyr lokynge was not foly sprad, Ne wildely, thogh that she pleyde” (Chaucer). In Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess, the duke does the opposite “She had/A heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad—she liked whate’er/ She looked on, and her looks went everywhere” (Browning). Thompson goes on to compare the two poems by explaining the two men’s concerns with their wives’ and how beautiful both women in the poems were. The knight in the Chaucer’s poem worships his duchess while the Duke in Browning’s poem does not. Thompson also states how the Black Knight in Chaucer’s poem grieves for his dead wife and the Duke has no sympathy for...

Words: 464 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

The Boss

...The similarities between Robert Browning's two poems, “My Last Duchess” and Porphyria's Lover, are ordinary, as they can be compared in theme, plot, style, language, perspective and various other ways. The two poems make the same statement concerning men and love and men and their relationship with women. In both poems, the male narrator looks like a jealous, overbearing tyrant and the woman a passive victim of circumstance. Neither poem makes men look very good. This is a single stanza poem. The structure used of “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning. This poem provides a good use of Euphemism and Persona. The structural elements include iambic pentameter, the line, heroic couplet, strophe and stanza. Poets combine the use of language and a specific structure to create imaginative and expressive work such as My Last Duchess by Robert Browning. The structure used in some Poetry types is also used when considering the visual effect of a finished poem. The structure of many types of poetry results in groups of lines on the page which enhance the poem's composition. This poem provides a good example of Euphemism and Persona. “Porphyria’s Lover,” while natural in its language, does not display the colloquialisms or dialectical markers of some of Browning’s later poems. Moreover, while the cadence of the poem mimics natural speech, it actually takes the form of highly patterned verse, rhyming ABABB. The intensity and asymmetry of the pattern suggests the madness concealed within...

Words: 1603 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

How to Write a Literary Essay

...HOW TO WRITE A LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY The purpose of a literary analysis essay is to carefully examine and sometimes evaluate a work of literature or an aspect of a work of literature. As with any analysis, this requires you to break the subject down into its component parts. Examining the different elements of a piece of literature is not an end in itself but rather a process to help you better appreciate and understand the work of literature as a whole. For instance, an analysis of a poem might deal with the different types of images in a poem or with the relationship between the form and content of the work. If you were to analyze (discuss and explain) a play, you might analyze the relationship between a subplot and the main plot, or you might analyze the character flaw of the tragic hero by tracing how it is revealed through the acts of the play. Analyzing a short story might include identifying a particular theme (like the difficulty of making the transition from adolescence to adulthood) and showing how the writer suggests that theme through the point of view from which the story is told; or you might also explain how the main character‟s attitude toward women is revealed through his dialogue and/or actions. REMEMBER: Writing is the sharpened, focused expression of thought and study. As you develop your writing skills, you will also improve your perceptions and increase your critical abilities. Writing ultimately boils down to the development of an idea....

Words: 3487 - Pages: 14

Free Essay

A Room of One's Own

...meant. They might mean simply a few remarks about Fanny Burney; a few more about Jane Austen; a tribute to the Brontës and a sketch of Haworth Parsonage under snow; some witticisms if possible about Miss Mitford; a respectful allusion to George Eliot; a reference to Mrs Gaskell and one would have done. But at second sight the words seemed not so simple. The title women and fiction might mean, and you may have meant it to mean, women and what they are like, or it might mean women and the fiction that they write; or it might mean women and the fiction that is written about them, or it might mean that somehow all three are inextricably mixed together and you want me to consider them in that light. But when I began to consider the subject in this last way, which seemed the most interesting, I soon saw that it had one fatal drawback. I should never be able to come to a conclusion. I should never be able to fulfil what is, I understand, the first duty of a lecturer to hand you after an hour's discourse a nugget of pure truth to wrap up between the pages of your notebooks and keep on the mantelpiece for ever. All I could do was to offer you an opinion upon one minor point--a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction; and that, as you will see, leaves the great problem of the true nature of woman and the true nature of fiction unsolved. I have shirked the duty of...

Words: 38194 - Pages: 153

Free Essay

The Outline of English Literature

...Министерство образования и науки Республики Казахстан Кокшетауский государственный университет им. Ш. Уалиханова An Outline of British Literature (from tradition to post modernism) Кокшетау 2011 УДК 802.0 – 5:20 ББК 81:432.1-923 № 39 Рекомендовано к печати кафедрой английского языка и МП КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, Ученым Советом филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, УМС КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова. Рецензенты: Баяндина С.Ж. доктор филологических наук, профессор, декан филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова Батаева Ф.А. кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры «Переводческое дело» Кокшетауского университета им. А. Мырзахметова Кожанова К.Т. преподаватель английского языка кафедры гуманитарного цикла ИПК и ПРО Акмолинской области An Outline of British Literature from tradition to post modernism (on specialties 050119 – “Foreign Language: Two Foreign Languages”, 050205 – “Foreign Philology” and 050207 – “Translation”): Учебное пособие / Сост. Немченко Н.Ф. – Кокшетау: Типография КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, 2010 – 170 с. ISBN 9965-19-350-9 Пособие представляет собой краткие очерки, характеризующие английскую литературу Великобритании, ее основные направления и тенденции. Все известные направления в литературе иллюстрированы примерами жизни и творчества авторов, вошедших в мировую литературу благодаря...

Words: 82733 - Pages: 331

Free Essay

Grammar

...NEW EDITION HIGH SCHOOL English Grammar & Composition BY WREN & MARTIN (With New Appendices) REVISED BY N.D.V. PRASADA RAO S. CHAND Page i New Edition HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION By P.C. WREN, MA. (OXON) and H. MARTIN, M.A. (OXON), O.B.E. Revised By N.D.V. PRASADA RAO, M.A., D.T.E., Ph.D. Dear Students, Beware of fake/pirated editions. Many of our best selling titles have been unlawfully printed by unscrupulous persons. Your sincere effort in this direction may stop piracy and save intellectuals' rights. For the genuine book check the 3-D hologram which gives a rainbow effect. S. CHAND AN ISO 9001: 2000 COMPANY S. CHAND & COMPANY LTD. RAM NAGAR, NEW DELHI -110 055 Page iii PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION Wren and Martin's monumental work High School English Grammar and Composition now appears in two editions. One is a de luxe edition, illustrated in full-colour, and the other is an ordinary edition without illustrations. The material in the book has been further updated where called for. It has been felt necessary in particular to revise some material in the chapters dealing with adjectives, active and passive voice, articles and prepositions. Appendix I, which deals with American English, has been expanded. Appendix II has been replaced with a newer set of tests covering the important areas of grammar. It was in the year 1972 that the shrewd visionary Mr. Shyam Lai Gupta obtained the permission of Manecji Cooper Education Trust for the revision of this book...

Words: 211294 - Pages: 846