The themes of love, pride and possession are now starting to disentangle. Browning begins the story by using the possessive pronoun, ‘my’. The Duke clearly wants to impress his audience by implying his sense of ownership, pride and oppression. The Duke then continues ‘last duchess painted on the wall’. Immediately the word ‘last’ invites the reader to then wonder about the Duchess’ whereabouts.
Browning uses the dramatic monologue form for My Last Duchess. As it is the Duke who is 'speaking', his character is therefore created through his own words. From the very first line of the poem, the Duke unwittingly portrays himself as a selfish and rather ignorant egotist. That's my last Duchess painted on the wall He refers to the woman in the painting (who, we should remember, is dead) as if she were a possession - "my last Duchess" and this unfeeling attitude is intensified with the use of the word "last" as if the woman will be replaced by a newer model, as if replacing a car or suit. The Duke name drops the painter's name "Fra Pandolf" to see if it impresses the listener.
The duchess is objectified in the poem. Instead of seeing her innate virtuous and pious characteristics, the duke observes only the aesthetical beauty of his wife in a painting after her death. This notion is reinforced by enjambment in the quote: ‘I call/ That piece a wonder, now…’ The words ‘that piece’ are a pun which is used to describe the painting as well as the duchess herself. The underlying concept here is that in Victorian society women were regarded as trophy possessions and your wife had to be presentable as she reflected your reputation. The duke despises his wife’s great kindness and humility towards other people and is enraged that she did not show the same sort of devotion towards him.
“My Last Duchess” is about a Duke who is looking for a new wife and is showing a count’s servant around. He shows him a painting of his “Last Duchess” and tells him about her. The form of both the poems is similar but the structure and language is different. The form of both poems is a dramatic monologue. This shows a lot about the characters as we only hear their side of a story and their feeling about what is happening in the poem.
In ‘My Last Duchess’ 1842 and ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ 1836, Browning uses a range of narrative methods to convey the story. This includes the use of enjambment, rhyme schemes and alternation between the past and present; all of which contribute in building tension within the poems. In both of the dramatic monologues there is a single stanza and speaker to narrate the story. However, in ‘My Last Duchess’ Browning uses the rhyme scheme AABB with iambic pentameter whereas in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ the rhyme scheme used is ABABB. This reflects the speaker’s personalities as the Duke seems to have a compulsive character in which he continually discusses the objects he owns, ranging from the Duchess to other notable artworks.
The story of the painting is that Venus is jealous of a mortal girl named Psyche’s beauty so she sends in her son Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with the most despicable man she might happen to meet. Instead Cupid falls in love with Psyche and brought her to his palace, where he made love to her every night. The painting shows Cupid leaving at dawn so that the sleeping Psyche could never know his identity. This story on this painting is a great example of how the Romantic period begun to focus a lot on romance hence the Romantic Period. Love and sex was showed by telling stories using paintings and sculptures.
He painted a portrait of Elizabeth Siddall but actually is the character of Beatrice Portinari from a poem La Vita Nuova of Dante Alighieri; she is Dante’s longterm lover. Rossetti had suffered a similar affliction in his beloved wife’s death, so he combine Dante’s love story with himself to illustrate his love. Firstly, I will describe the general painting and the single object. After that, then using my personal understanding to interpreting the meaning and the story hiding in this painting. The artists express their soul through their artwork, by creating a work of aesthetic beauty.
In other words, she will become his “next duchess.” As the poem carries on early in the poem, the audience get the vibe that the Duke questioned his relationship with the Duchess in the portrait. It is at this moment in the poem that the Duke begins to tell the reasons he did not trust his ex-wife. His attitude towards the duchess was quite absurd here in this example, “"The bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule She rode with round the terrace -- all and each would draw from her alike the approving speech, Or blush, at least. She thanked men, --good; but thanked Somehow...I know not how...as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name" (27-33). As it shows, it is obvious to see that the Duke has listed many "flaws" of the Duchess, with his strong ego thinking that she hasn’t quite made the cut in terms of being his next wife.
My Last Duchess - YELLOW Macbeth - GREEN ‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning is a poem which deals with the imaginary character of the Duke of Ferrara. In essence, the poem is a psychological portrayal of the Duke presented to the reader as if he or she is simply listening in on a conversation. As the poem unfolds, the reader becomes aware that the Duke is talking to an envoy from his fiancée’s family in order to make final arrangements for his new marriage. Thus, the nature of the discussion seems rather strange as the Duke is standing in front of a portrait of his former wife, recounting memories of his last marriage. The fact that the reader is able to get a strong sense of what the Duke is like, is testament to Browning’s skilful use of the dramatic monologue form, coupled with effective word choice and imagery.
The poem has a light tone and humorous aspects throughout. In contrast MLD which is written in 19th Century has a much darker and menacing tone; it is about a controlling Duke and his previous duchess and unravels the dark story behind them. PL is a Victorian poem, the poem is gothic, crude and perverted in parrts with a man's strange insane intentions. However all these poems are linked by the idea of the male possessing and controlling a woman. H on the other hand is a woman's interpretation of a 19th century fictional character and how this character is left with feelings of violent hatred after being let down in marriage by her fiancé who has wed her to gain some of her riches.