The duke’s rapacious nature can be seen many times throughout the poem, one of these moments can be seen from line 1 to 10 in the poem where he talks about who painted the painting and their reputation in the artistic world more than the subject of the painting. These references show how much the duke values wealth. After the duke has finished admiring the artwork of artist he goes on to talk about the innocent face of the duchess. Many strangers observe the painting and admire the honest, depth and passion of the duchesses face however in the quote “But to myself they turned” shows that the duke had completely different thoughts about the painting. 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.
Having made this disclosure, the Duke returns to the business at hand: arranging for another marriage, with another young girl. As the Duke and the emissary walk leave the painting behind, the Duke points out other notable artworks in his collection. Form “My Last Duchess” comprises rhyming pentameter lines. Consequently, the rhymes do not create a sense of closure when they come, but rather remain a subtle driving force behind the Duke’s compulsive revelations. The Duke is quite a performer: he mimics others’ voices, creates hypothetical situations, and uses the force of his personality to make horrifying information seem merely colorful.
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.
My Last Duchess is written by Robert Browning in 1842. A dramatic monologue of the Duke of Ferrara presents his best side to the agent of the count of Tyrol when he tries to talk about his previous wife. Set in iambic pentameter, AABB rhyme scheme along with other techniques such as enjambment and caesura, the poem reveals qualities about the speaker and his situation. The reader might be drawn to the conclusion that the speaker has something to do with his wife’s death as revealed in his confusing speech and actions throughout the poem. The dramatic monologue exposes the speaker’s true personality and his situation more than he aims to say both to the agent and the reader The Duke of Ferrara seems to be controlling in nature; he tries to control everyone he is comes to term with, like he controls the actions of the agent : “Will’t please you sit and look at her”, “Will’t please you rise?” and “Nay, we’ll go/ Together down, sir” .
Brittney Lynch “The Painting of the Duchess” “My Last Duchess” is a dramatic monologue written by Robert Browning in the year 1842, and was published in his collection Dramatic Lyrics the same year. In this poem, the Duke of Ferrara discusses his first wife while negotiating terms for a second marriage with a representative serving the Count of Tyrol. Browning uses characterization, setting, conflict, and symbolism to reveal the theme of the arrogant, authoritarian, proud mindset of the Duke. The speaker in the monologue “My Last Duchess” is the Duke of Ferrara. In this poem, the Duke states that he is entertaining an emissary who has come to negotiate his marriage to the daughter of another powerful family.
Critical Essay My Last Duchess – Ferrara Robert Browning has created a perfect blend of form and content in his poem, ‘My Last Duchess’. The poetic techniques used allowed me, as the reader, to become involved in this poem and also contribute to an engaging read. Through using key techniques Browning brought to me a deeper appreciation of this poem, and in this essay I will study these further. The poem concerns the character, the Duke of Ferrara who is giving a tour of his manner to an envoy, who has been sent to negotiate a dowry for the marriage of his master’s, the count’s, daughter to the Duke. 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.
WRITE ABOUT THE WAY TENNYSON TELLS THE STORY IN TITHONUS The Victorian poet Alfred Tennyson manipulates the narrative of the well-known story of Tithonus so the character achieves a sense of desperation, unhappiness and desolation. The aim of the writer is that the reader wonders about what is appropriate for a man and what is the limit that humans should not overstep. The poem Tithonus is an allusion: Tennyson uses a story familiar to the readers at the time to show his existential views on life. The genre of the poem is dramatic monologue. Therefore, the speaker addresses a silent audience: Eos, the Greek goddess of dawn: “Thy cheek begins to redden thro’ the gloom, /Thy sweet eyes brighten slowly close to mine”.
Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess is a dramatic monologue uttered by the Duke of Ferrari which highlights the jealous and sadistic nature of his character and the mysteriousness which surrounds his late wife’s demise. The poem starts with him drawing the attention of the person whom he is talking to, who is, as one later finds out, a messenger from the Count’s family whose daughter’s hand the duke seeks in marriage; to the portrait of his late wife on the wall. The duke praises the work of the painter, Fra Pandolf, who had spent a whole day slaving over the painting to make it look so lifelike. He instructs the messenger to sit down, and goes on to describe how anyone who has ever seen that picturesque expression on his lady’s painted face, has never failed to ask him, as he has always been present for no one dares to draw the curtain from the painting except him, the reason behind the lively expression. He then thinks about his late wife, remembering that it wasn’t just his company which made her blush.
Introduction: Post the Lippincott version - Wilde tried to defend novel with preface of English version. Supports the comment made as in the preface, Wilde directly states that "Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming" Victorian society is very hypocritical and felt that Dorian was a presentation of Wilde; they thought he was corrupt and he was facing trials. Paragraph - Dorian: Sells soul metaphorically upon seeing painting, realising his own beauty and Lord Henry's influence - "I would give my soul for that" Shows that Lord Henry's influence has made Dorian worship aesthetic items. "Then had come Lord Henry Wotton with his strange panegyric on youth, his terrible warning of its brevity". Dorian is no longer attracted by inner beauty but instead is excited and intrigued by exterior forms.
This piece of work of Browning has added a dimension to the world of literature., David Daiches says, “The Whole poem is but the visible part of the iceberg but the submerged invisible part is not a matter of vague suggestiveness; it is both psychologically and historically defined.” The poem is a beautiful study of soul-dissection in its short dramatic form. From our reading of this poem, the Duke of Ferrara emerges as unscrupulous, selfish, tyrannical and arrogant, emerges as an individual as well as a typical nobleman of the Italian Renaissance. We form the idea of the Duchess from the words of Duke himself. She is frank,