06/14/2012 YASH PANCHAL Love and Seduction “My Last Duchess” by Browning and “To His Coy Mistress” by Marvell are examples of two men searching for the right words to express their emotions towards a woman. The speakers in both poems are talking about love and seduction. Even though they both are written in two different centuries, both pieces have remarkable similarities as well as some of the common expected differences. “To His Coy Mistress” values women and their love they give, while “My Last Duchess” totally humiliates the role of women in society. “My Last Duchess" and "To His Coy Mistress" shows the act of the men in these two poems.
In My last Duchess, the character of the Duke immediately gives an impression of being rather self-obsessed, he seems proud and quite boastful as he. Begins the poem by showing off The painting of His last Duchess.The implication beneath this is that he values his art much in the same way he did the Duchess, as something to be admired, something of beauty.This contrasts to the river god, who despite being a man of power, begins the poem in a modest manner 'I may be smelly and I may be old'.However toward the end of the monalogues the characters both seem more alike in their possession over women.One similarity is the implication by both the Duke and The River God of killing the women to keep them obedient shows a power that both the men feel.The quote 'I gave command and smiles stopped altogether' tells us that he ordered the death of his wife, because she didn't appreciate her title as much as he would have liked.The fact that he infers this to the envoy males it seem like a threat to his next Duchess.The river god seems more gentle and romantic to his girl, he speaks of her with more affection 'beautiful White face' this soft tone is a continuous one up until the last line, where the mood grows more sinister as he gives the girl an indirect threat 'if she goes,I will not forgive her' behind this there is an implication of killing te girl if she strays,just like the last
Already, there is a clear pattern shown in these poems in the relationships between men and women; the man has little respect for the female. In Marvell’s poem the man is making sexual advances to the woman, and in Browning’s poem the Duke talks about how the Duchess annoyed him with her personality and flirting nature when he says She had A heart how shall I say? too soon made glad, Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er She looked on, and her looks went everywhere. and then how he ordered her death, and now how he is trying to get someone else to find him another wife. The speaker
He uses persuasion at the start of the poem, but then starts charming his mistress by saying he’ll love her once they have sexual intercourse. One of the most obvious similarities between both poems are that they both have a male narrator. Both poems are also similar as they both contain lines about death. In Sonnet 116, Shakespeare is saying that if its true love what someone is going through then they shall love someone even until they die. “but bears it out even to the edge of doom” He is really saying, that no matter what happens through life, you shall love that person unconditionally even when they die.
The use of “...we are, for as long as we are.” (Line 16 and 17) Shows that Duffy is inviting her readers into the poem to help reflect upon how she feels. The formats of these pieces are all varied. Shakespeare firstly has written a play. However, within his play he writes a few sonnets to show the feelings of love between both Romeo and Juliet. One of the famous sonnets in the play is in act 1 scene 5, where Romeo shows his true feelings for Juliet during their first encounter.
Soon as the poem progresses, we discover a darker aspect to both of the poetic voice’s personality. During the poem the Duke explains his jealousy about his Duchess when she gave the “same smile” to everyone, this can be interpreted as if she was a flirt or “easily impressed”. The Duchess genial nature was enough to throw the Duke into a psychopathic rage and jealousy. So without hesitation he “gave commands” to end all her “smiles”. This could suggest that the Duke now perceive the Duchess as a traitor so he had her killed or maybe
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.
In this essay, I will be showing a comparison between ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (Shakespeare), ‘To His Coy Mistress’ (Marvel) and ‘Sonnet 130’ (Also by Shakespeare). The first main comparison between these three texts is that they all show different types of love. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is based on true love as both main characters fall in love with each other at first sight. Shakespeare shows their love by the soliloquy and the sonnet that he added to this text as the words and techniques used in them project a connection between Romeo and Juliet. ‘To His Coy Mistress’ shows an idea of a sexual and lustful love.
Throughout Browning’s poems there is a reoccurring battle of power between men and women. The majority of Browning’s poems show women as inferior and naive beings who are owned by men, however Browning sometimes reverts the stereotypical Victorian women in a couple of his poems; making them the powerful figure. One poem which agrees with the statement is My Last Duchess. The Duke starts off by lacking the power to control his flirtatious Duchess but by murdering her and immortalising her into a painting the Duke gives himself ultimate power and control. “Since none puts by/The curtain drawn for you, but I”.
The persona makes use of enjambement in the last two verses of each stanza. In the first stanza of the poem, the use of enjambement is noted in “For in your beauty’s Orient deep/ These flowers, as in their causes, sleep.” The enjambement further deepens the depth of Orient’s beauty and indicates the appreciation of the persona for his lover. The persona uses a regular rhyming scheme of AABB throughout the poem. This regular rhyming scheme of the poem reinforces the theme of