My Last Duchess Analysis - 929 Words

The characters of â€Å"My Last Duchess† are the Duke and the Duchess. At the start of the poem the Duke is looking at a picture of his deceased wife, the Duchess. The Duke is remembering the day the Duchess posed for the painting, â€Å"That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf’s hands /Worked busily a day, and there she stands† (Browning lines 3-4). The Duke talks about how easily the Duchess was â€Å"impressed† with small gifts given to her by others and that she had a wandering eye, â€Å"Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er / She looked on, and her looks went everywhere† (23-24). The Duchess compared these small gifts with the gift of the Duke’s name that he had bestowed upon her and somehow his gift was lacking in her eyes, â€Å"as if she ranked / My†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"And thro the puissance of his Table Round, / Drew all their petty princedoms under him, / Their king and head, and made a realm, and reigndâ⠂¬  (17-19). Guinevere attempted to get a peek of her king and future husband, â€Å"Guinevere / Stood by the castle walls to watch him pass† (47-48). However, in lines 49–53 of The Coming of Arthur Tennyson told the reader that because Arthur was not wearing anything to identify him as the king, Guinevere was unsuccessful: But since he neither wore on helm or shield The golden symbol of his kinglihood, But rode a simple knight among his knights, And many of these in richer arms than he, She saw him not, or mark’d not, if she saw. The piece ended with the wedding scene between Arthur and Guinevere, which included them stating their vows and the knights celebrating the nuptials by singing to the bride and groom. The negative instances include the unenthusiastic reaction caused by Arthur becoming king and this I turn resulted in wars. When Arthur was crowned King, it caused upheaval because he was not a descendent of the recently deceased king, â€Å"Arthur newly crown’d, / Tho’ not without an uproar made by those / Who cried, He is not Uthers son†Ã¢â‚¬  (41-43). Many of Arthur’s Lords and Barons got together and challenged Arthur, â€Å"Of those great Lords and Barons of his realm /Show MoreRelated Analysis of My Last Duchess Essay585 Words   |  3 Pages‘My Last Duchess’ is a poem written by Robert Browning in 1845. It’s a first person narrative of a duke who is showing the ambassador around his palace and negotiating his marriage to the daughter of another powerful family. As they are walking through the palace, the duke stops and looks at the beautiful portrait of his lovely last duchess. The duke speaks his thoughts about the girl, and as the poem progresses we begin to realize that his last duchess had been murdered. â€Å"†¦I gave commandsRead MoreAnalysis of Dramatic Monologue in My Last Duchess1866 Words   |  8 PagesThe Analysis of Dramatic monologue In My Last Duchess Abstract: Dramatic monologue which is an important poetic form which invented and practiced principally by Robert Browning, Alfred Tennyson, Matthew Arnold in the Victorian Period. Though the technique is evident in many ancient Greek dramas, the dramatic monologue as a poetic form achieved its first era of distinction in the work of Victorian poet Robert Browning. Brownings poems My Last Duchess and Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister, thoughRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem My Last Duchess 1837 Words   |  8 Pagesmonologs. One of his monologs includes the famous poem â€Å"My Last Duchess† which was first recognized in 1842. The pace of the poem builds towards the revelation that the Duke had his wife murdered, then to the quick addition of his terms for the marriage arrangement. The tone of assurance that he uses within the poem shows that the Duke considers himself totally justified and he remains remorseless and confident in his sense of power. In â€Å"My Last Duchess,â €  Browning explores how absolute power can corruptRead MoreAnalysis of the Duke in Brownings My Last Duchess Essay494 Words   |  2 PagesAnalysis of Duke In My Last Duchess, by Robert Browning, the character of Duke is portrayed as having controlling, jealous, and arrogant traits. These traits are not all mentioned verbally, but mainly through his actions. In the beginning of the poem the painting of the Dukes wife is introduced to us: Thats my last Duchess painted on the wall,/ looking as of she were still alive (1-2). These lines leave us with the suspicion that the Duchess is no longer alive, but at this point were areRead MoreAnalysis of the Setting in My Last Duchess and Dover Beach Essay669 Words   |  3 PagesAnalysis of the Setting in My Last Duchess and Dover Beach At first glance the setting of a poem is the psychological and physiological environment in which the story takes place. In some instances, the setting is used to develop the characters. Robert Browning and Matthew Arnold use the setting to expose their character traits. My Last Duchess and Dover Beach, respectively, portray the weaknesses of the characters using elements from the setting. The text, page 629 and 630, tells us thatRead More Analysis of My Last Duchess by Robert Browning Essay examples1222 Words   |  5 Pages Analysis of My Last Duchess by Robert Browning Murder mystery intrigue. All describe Robert Brownings poem, My Last Duchess. From the speakers indirect allusions to the death of his wife the reader might easily think that the speaker committed a vengeful crime out of jealousy. His flowery speech confuses and disguises any possible motives, however, and the mystery is left unsolved. The poem is a great example of dramatic dialogue, a poetic form used to narrate and dramatize. It consistsRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem My Last Duchess By Robert Browning1370 Words   |  6 Pageswriters who along with all of the things they wrote about were the issues that woman faced throughout time in history. Emily Dickenson wrote the poem 303 which talked about a woman who chose to empower herself; Robert Browning wrote the poem My Last Duchess about a woman who was ruled over by the same man who killed her; and Jamaica Kincaid wrote the poem Girl which elaborated on the ways a woman should behave and conduct herself accordingly in almost any situation that is heaved in her path. InRead MoreAnalysis of Robert Browning ´s My Last Duchess1165 Words   |  5 Pagesgiven by a character within the poem. My Last Duchess is a narrative poem where the poetic persona is narrating to another the story of his late wife. He first expunges on the painting of the duchess and then digresses to her personality and all her transgressions. He then makes some startling revelations about himself that allow the reader to become intimately aware of his personality. It is clear that the poetic persona in Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess is the Duke who is narrating the poemRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem Porphyria s Lover And My Last Duchess 1794 Words   |  8 Pages​In the poems, â€Å"Porphyria’s Lover† and â€Å"My Last Duchess†, both written by Robert Browning, each speaker mentions a woman whom they had once known. The poems, being considered as dramatic monologues, depict a particular role that women have through the eyes of speaker. B rowning keeps the speakers mysterious, but lets out their true characters through the use of the women in each of their lives. Each speaker brings their own eerie tone to the poem which adds to the mysteriousness of their charactersRead MoreAnalysis Of My Last Duchess 1187 Words   |  5 Pagesdifferent ways. ‘My Last Duchess’ is a dramatic monologue, which describes the Duke’s obsession with his Duchess. Similarly, ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ presents love and death as a battle to prevent deaths’ victory. ‘Remember’, in contrast, explores love and death through subverting the sonnet form to guidance on coping with the death of your partner. The title ‘My Last Duchess’ demonstrates from the outset the Duke’s obsession by the use of the possessive pronoun â€Å"My†. Furthermore, the