My Last Duchess and the Murderer

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Torn between love: My Last Duchess and The Murderer My Last Duchess by Robert Browning and The Murderer by Stevie Smith tie together in various ways. My Last Duchess, being written in the 16th century is not an easy poem to understand. The poem begins with the speaker telling how his late wife showed so much affection to other men. It gives off the impression that the speaker is so furious with his wife’s actions that he kills her. It is very clear that he is talking about his late wife because he say’s “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall” (1) and doesn’t stop talking about her for the rest of the poem. He mentions that she is easily amused with anything but him, he thinks she is unfaithful. In reality, the speaker is not certain that any cheating has happened. For all he knows, his wife was just an extremely happy woman. He was so wounded from love that his feelings overpowered his mind. He had so much pride to be taken as a fool. He states “as if she ranked/ my nine-hundreds-year-old name/ with anyones gift” (32-34). This means that he is giving her the royal name and she doesn’t even bother to appreciate that. Instead she is off being amused by careless things. Perhaps it wasn’t love that made him kill her but the embarrassment that she made him go through. The Murderer ties in with My Last Duchess in the same way because although this poem is very short, it is right to the point. Stevie Smith talks about how his love is taking her last breath and how she wasn’t like most girls which is why they had an accident. There is so many interpretations for this poem. Many readers might believe because that the speaker himself killed his lover or his wife because he says they had an “accident”. In this poem it gives off the impression that the speaker is extremely jealous, so much that it causes his wife’s death. Although Smith’s poem is short, it is straight

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