Porphyria's Lover And My Last Duchess Essay

The actions of the Duke can be compared to a personified green-eyed monster. He is a perfect metaphorical figure for jealousy. He feels jealous of any attention his wife shows to other people; even if what she does is to show gratitude to them for getting her some cherishes. Dukes gets consumed with jealous whenever his wife smiles and blushes either intentionally or unintentionally, to somebody. He is jealous to the point that he cannot

As a mental mechanism of self defense the speaker blamed the Duchess for the jealousy he had because of the way she thanked other men and in his mind the way she ranked his prestige to the gifts of others. In addition, by shifting the blame to her he was able to have her killed without having to feeling remorse and still maintain the jealousy he had towards anyone who views his beauty with eyes of desire. As the source of the speakers jealousy the woman was was used as a tool to convey the message of the poem, which was to show the reader how the innocent gratitude of Duchess woman was vied as a negative thing and converted to jealousy by the speakers own insecurities. In the end the use and significance of the painting was to symbolize the possessives the speaker had towards the woman's beauty and when he refers to another art work in the end of the poem this symbolizes how her beauty has become part of his

The speaker knows that some may have viewed her actions as being common “courtesy” (line 20); however, he believed she was “too easily impressed” (line 23). To extend the point further, the Duke was displeased by the fact that she “liked whate’er she looked on” (line 23-24). One of the Duchess’s activities that gave her immense amount of happiness is riding her “white mule” (line 28). The reader infers that the Duchess was young and callow; she appreciated the small things in life. The Duchess’s temperance was the root of most of the Duke’s anger toward the Duchess. The Duchess “thanked” (line 31) men which the Duke viewed as unnecessary. The Duke probably believed that some of her mannerisms didn’t match his mental prototype of how a Duchess should act. Furthermore, the Duke believed that the Duchess’s admiration for everything disrespected his gift of giving her his “nine-hundred-years-old name” (line 33) because he felt that he should come first above any and everybody. Ironically, the Duke disregards his previous statement about her disrespecting his family name by calling his previous statement a “sort of trifling” (line 35). Even though he expresses his anger about the Duchess, he tries to downplay his anger in response to her actions. The reader infers that he is trying to impress the person who is showing off his gallery to. As the Duke

The Duke reveals to the representative of the Count that his wife treated all men the same when she should place him above everyone else. His jealousy leads him to be paranoid, and accused her of having an affair. Brown developed the form of dramatic monologue, and he puts words in the mouths of characters who were conspicuously nasty, weak, reckless, or crazy. For example, the Duke of Ferrara exposes his psychological state of paranoia, jealousy, desire of power, and arrogance as he talks to the envoy of the Count whose daughter he intends to marry about the last Duchess portrait. the Duke says, ‘That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now” (Kennedy & Gioia, Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, 2016, p.35). The Duke is addressing an audience thought the poem, but the listener never responds to his questions.

He tells how she was charming and that this portrait could not recount her love of everything, her blushing at the attention of men. He then leads into how she never quite appreciated him and how unimpressed she was with his “nine-hundred-years-old name.” From this, the reader begins to see the distant relationship between the Duke and his wife. This essay will talk about the theme of “My Last Duchess” and how Robert Browning uses rhyme and other metrical devices that supports the overall meaning of the poem.

In ‘My Last Duchess’, we find a refined and sophisticated man (thought to be Alfonso II d'Este, the fifth Duke of Ferrara) bragging about his last duchess and the power he had over her (the duchess referred to is believed to be his first wife Lucrezia de' Medici). On the other hand, in Porphyria’s Lover, we find an unyielding and curious man recounting how he made Porphyria’s love for him

The speaker, the Duke, has a picture of his last Duchess which only he is allowed to pull the curtain to view. He spoke of her beauty comprehensively; from the “spot of joy into the Duchess’ cheek” to “her mantle lips” (Browning 14-16). The Duke enjoyed her beauty and kindness that she presented to him, but the only problem was that she gave it to everyone else. Her appreciation for everything, big or small, created the Duke’s pit of jealousy, and that ultimately led him to get rid of his Duchess. However, even after her conceivable death, she continues to live on through the well painted picture and his evocative description.

Another author addresses the Duke’s mentality in “My Last Duchess”: “Because the Duke draws a curtain to display the painting to his auditor, some critics have compared him to a theatrical producer.” The main character’s mental states in both of these poems say a lot about their similarities and

How does Browning tell the story in ‘My Last Duchess’ ? Browning’s ‘My Last Duchess’ examines the Duke of Ferrara’s recollection of memories- he is showing how the Duke is remembering the past experiences with the now murdered wife he once had, but whether he loved or despised her – or both- is unclear. Browning suggests that the Duke murdered her himself.

In other words, he, the Duke, controls the Duchess; or he wishes to control his Duchess. The Duke wouldn’t want anyone to see the portrait of his Duchess, with her blushed cheeks, unless he was there. The same can be inferred from the last few lines of the poem, line 54-55, “Notice Neptune, though,/Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,/ Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!” The Duke is implying, that he himself is Neptune, and his last Duchess is the sea-horse. No one could have imagined that a sea-horse could be tamed, but Neptune achieved it. Identical to the way that the last Duchess herself was tamed.

The Duchess’ exploits, are not lost on the Duke as he frequently acknowledges it throughout the poem. So, “...twas not/ Her husband’s presence only, called that spot/ Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek...” (lines 13-15) is not an innocent expression describing a coy Duchess, but what I argue is an allusion to the Duchesses harlotry. Perhaps the most obvious suspect for an accomplice to the Duchess’ adultery is Frà Pandolf. The Duke identifies the friar as a flirt who makes advances towards his wife. The Duke provides examples of the Friars flirts. One such come on is that of the friar telling the Duchess that she wears too much and bears too little skin: "Her mantle laps/Over my Lady's wrist too much" (line 16-17). To such a pass the Duke said his Duchess would welcome, if not appease such lewd comments. The Duke seems hesitant to explain his former wife’s behavior to the wedding negotiator: “...She had/A heart – how shall I say? – too soon made glad” (lines 21-22) This unwillingness in description indicated by Browning’s use of dashes leads to the notion of a more sultry reaction than simply a heart “made glad” but rather a heart won over. As hesitation in speech is often used by those who are trying to avoid the social ramifications for whatever they are about to say, we can assume that the Duke does not want to openly admit to the Duchess’ cheating as it could give away the motivation for the Duchess’ absence.

In “My Last Duchess,” the speaker presents a painting of his last wife who has passed away in the first section of the poem and talks about her throughout the poem. This shows that she is just part of his artwork collection, and he is moving on as if in a gallery looking at art. This could also be seen as if his real self has been uncovered, and he is trying to change the subject quickly as to avert the visitor from the painting. It is also another example of control and how much the Duke loves control, by having a sort of 'tribute' towards it. The speaker uses his manipulative technique to persuade the woman in “To His Coy Mistress,” when he says, "This coyness, Lady, were no crime.” (Line 2) Here, by calling here 'Lady' we see his false respect for her. It also shows us he acts like a gentleman and has been well educated. We also see this respect, when he says "And should, if you please, refuse” (Line 9) Here, he is saying how she has the right to reject his offer. The way he says it shows us that he is asking and makes it seem like he is a real gentleman who cares

In the poem “My Last Duchess” by poet Robert Browning, the speaker is a very wealthy Duke who is showing another man around his estate whilst discussing the terms of his next impending marriage. While showing the visitor his collections of art they come across one work to which the Duke draws back the curtain covering it and states “that’s my last Duchess painted on the wall”. The Duke then goes on to describe his former wife’s demeanor stating in a displeasing tone to his visitor “Sir, ‘twas not Her husband’s presence only, called that spot Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek”. The reader then begins to understand from the statement that; not only was the Duchess was not completely faithful in her marriage to the Duke, but the Duke himself has

Porphyria's Lover and My Last Duchess are alike and different in the reasoning behind why the women were killed. Both women were murdered but for two completely different reasons. In My Last Duchess Browning explains, “cause enough For calling up to that spot of joy. She had a heart - how shall I say? - too soon made glad,” (lines 20-22). The reasoning behind this women being killed is that she smiled too much at other men. She was too easily made happy and that made the narrator jealous. This jealousy sparked hatred for a woman he once loved. Therapist, Kim Olver explains, “One form of jealousy come from believing your partner belongs to you.” This is the main way these two poems are different. Porphyria’s Lover did not murder because of jealousy, but because that is what he thought she wanted. The thought that the woman would only want him, devote the rest of her life to him and loved him endlessly led him to make the decision to kill her. An extreme action such as this would take take and extreme motive, but all the narrator wanted was to be able to spend the rest of his and her life with each other. Jealousy also has a small part in that. Not wanting anyone else to be able to have to woman shows that he gets jealous easily. Porphyria’s Lover and My Last Duchess

In ‘My last duchess’, the duke has too much power and he can do whatever he pleases to. In ‘Punishment’, anyone who tries to defend the girl would be seen as a victim too and will get same punishments, so no one dares to make a word. Staring with ‘my last duchess’, the Duke is a serious psychopath. He only married his duchess for her beauty, not anything else like her personality. He simply wants her to become one of his collection, which he did by making her into a piece of art. ‘That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, looking as if she were alive. I call’. He is a cold-blooded monster, who sees himself as if he is God who can take away anyone’s life and make it into his own entertainment, ‘Notice Neptune, though, Taming a sea-horse’. Every servant who lives in the palace was happy and smiling when the duchess was around, as she is such a nice person and she cared for everyone. But after the duke ‘gave commands’, ‘Then all smiles stopped together.’ Everyone knew what had happened but they are helpless as the duke has too much power. But what makes the duke more horrifying is that he could talk in such a gentleman manner, he could explain what a terrible thing he did to the servant with such civilized and polite language, ‘Will’t please’, ‘how shall’. Which makes him even more terrifying in contrast. This is similar to ‘Punishment’ as Heaney felt sorry for the woman, ‘My poor scapegoat’. He felt that she should not have got