Davaris Brown Professor Johnson English 1102 18 April 2012 Explication of “My Last Duchess” This narrative poem is about a Duke who is looking at a picture of his dead Duchess. He talks about the portrait on the wall of her, which he admires. The Duke thinks about how the Duchess compares everything to him. The death of the Duchess shows another side of the Duke which started to show while he’s talking and is unrevealed at the end. The Duke thinks he is bigger than God and also a jealous and possessive man.
The messenger wasn’t the first person to talk about the duchesses face and whenever people ask about the face he replies in a very intimidating manner. The duke is also seen as a possessive person as seen in the quote “the curtain I have drawn for you”. This shows that he wants to be possessive over the duchess' lasting remains by keeping it behind a curtain where he can open and close as he pleases. In the quote “sir twas not her husband's presence only that created the spot of joy” The spot of joy represents blushing which the duchess always did. This made the duke irate as he thought he should be the only one to make the duchess blush.
Browning’s use of this Dramatic Monologue involves the reader in the process of assimilating and deconstructing the story of the Duke of Ferrara’s relationship with his ‘last duchess’ through his diction, style, structure and rhythmic pattern. The Duke is portrayed as arrogant, possessive and well educated with a sense of control issues. We are able to identify these characteristics through Browning's diction and tone of voice. The Dukes arrogance is vividly
Along with the frequent use of rhyming couplets and enjambment, this makes it clear that the Duke was a suspicious and dominant man to his dead wife and also shows his control. The first evidence in the poem to support this is “Will’t please you sit and look at her?” and also “Sir, twas not her husband’s presence only, called that spot of joy into the Duchess’ cheek!” Both are said in reference to his wife to the Count’s envoy. These are effective as we are presented with the subjective viewpoint of the Duke. Like Shakespeare, Browning wrote plays as well as poetry which is evident as we see how he combined the techniques of play writing and poetry. Again, as the Duke talks about the Duchess
One theme that we can see in The Prince is a sense of History. As a scholar himself, Machiavelli specifically writes “a prince should read history and reflect on the actions of great men.” He refers to this as an exercise for the mind. Machiavelli makes an argument that in order to be successful, one must study the leaders of it’s past. You must study the successes but mainly the failures of the leaders to know what not to do. A famous quote in the book is “the presence of sound military forces indicates the presence of sound laws.” With this a relationship is built between the development of states and war.
In ‘My last duchess’ love is shown as a very strong emotion because of the Duke’s possessive love for his ‘last duchess’. He showed disapproval when she smiled at other men or when her ‘looks went everywhere’. The Duke felt that as he had gifted her ‘his nine-hundred-years-old name’, she was his possession and that her smiles and her beauty should only be for himself. This shows how the Duke’s love was very selfish and arrogant as he thought of her as a trophy to show off as if he did not truly love her. This may have been the case as in the 14th to 16th century when the poem was set, women were treated like this and a man would choose his wife taking great consideration into the wealth of her and her family.
He stops at a painting of his late wife, his ‘last Duchess’ and begins a speech of which he is recanting his thoughts of her. From this speech, his wife was popular, especially with men, and a passionate and pleasant lady (to the reader only). The Duke is telling of his intolerances of her actions, being that of flirtations with men, however innocent, and how she did not rate his ‘gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name’, but instead treated him as she did others. It is well hinted that her behaviour angered the Duke so he had his Duchess killed, ‘I gave commands;Then all the smiles stopped together.’ It would seem his speech is also for the purpose of letting the envoy know his expectations of his new wife, that being very different to the last. Because the poem is in the form of a dramatic monologue, the reader only shares the conversation of the Duke.
All three villains may differ in many ways, yet it seems they share a common urge for power, control and a use of sadistic measures. Jealousy is a very powerful emotion that can cause resentment and envy, creating strong anxieties in villains. This enviousness is a common motivational force for socio-paths. Both Iago and the Duke take on this form of motivation, in order to justify their actions that lack morally-correct social behavior. The Duke’s duchess is flirtatious in nature and this displeases the Duke “Sir, ‘twas not her husband’s presence only, called that spot of joy into the duchess’ cheek”.
More than these, I think Lear is motivated by his idea that he is a good man. One thing that supports is when Kent says “I’ll tell thee thou dost evil,” (Act I, Scene I, Line 175) and Shakespeare writes the king as reacting in a frenzy, going so far as to say “This moment is thy death,” (Act I, Scene I, Line 190). By portraying the king in this way, Shakespeare causes us to judge him as unstable and mental. While his actions thus far have been rash, him reacting in this way, and him banishing his daughter saying, “Here I disclaim all my paternal care, Propinquity and property of blood,” (Act I, Scene I, Lines 117-118). From these thing, it is made clear that Lear is not only rash and insecure but also thoughtless and stupid.
Mrs. Slade knew Mrs. Ansley had liked her husband, Delphin Slade. She believed that pointing out the fact that she was the one he married and that she lost out on him would show her superiority over her. In an attempt to put Mrs. Ansley in her place, she tells her that the letter calling for a secret meeting at the Coliseum was in fact written by her. She says that it was a ploy to trick her into waiting for him, which caused her to get sick. After this first round of surprises Mrs. Slade assumes she is