Coy Mistress, Duchess

376 Words2 Pages
The two characters in these two poems have a certain attitude towards women, which is that they both see women as objects but in different ways. The Duke in "My Last Duchess" is an arrogant, disrespectful man, who cares more about status and wealth then love. He is a megalomaniac, who is jealous about his ex-wife not giving only him her attention. The speaker in "To His Coy Mistress" seems like a respectful man, who is articulate, this is important because it is his main strength which he uses to lure her to him. He uses his skill to flatter her, but we then learn that he only wants her for pleasure rather than love; he puts up a false persona of love as another technique to lure her. He is also worried about death and the end of his time. Both these characters are trying to persuade someone. In the Duke's case, it's the envoy and in the speaker's case, the woman. They are also similar because they are talking about a woman, but are different in how they approach this. In addition their wanted outcome is different. Both these men see women as objects, the Duke as an object he can control and look at, and the speaker as a sex object. "My Last Duchess is about a Duke, who is hoping to marry the Count's daughter, and is with his envoy talking about his ex-wife. "To His Coy Mistress, is about a man, who wants to sleep with a young woman, but is scared that he does not have a lot of time left. Both the characters aims are the same, but their motivations are different. The Duke is informing the envoy about how he expects his wife to be by talking to him about his ex-wife. This is because he is trying to finalise the deal of marrying the Count's daughter, and wants to make a good impression, this slips throughout the poem, and he reveals his real self. However this contrasts with the speaker, because he is trying to persuade a woman to sleep with him. His motivation for
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