'Women Portrayed In My Last Duchess'

The title “My Last Duchess” starts with a possessive pronoun “my”, it shows men domination. Robert in this poem wants to draw the attention to women struggling at the Victorian era. Where the society was a patriarchy domination. Men play the major role while women only stay at home to offer what her husband and children need. women at that time were treated as an object. The speaker is the Duke of Ferrara, a powerful man who his family run Ferrara for many years. The poem started when the duke shows a person his last duchess painting in the wall. “THAT’S my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. “ line(1) he describes the portrait in the wall as if she still alive. I notice that the Duke did not call her my last wife but he is speaking about her in very formal way. It seems that the Duke is ashamed by saying this. He treats …show more content…
Their lack of education appears when the Duke says “ too easily impressed”, he talks about her as if he is taking about a child. They could not obtain their rights in social activities which is represented in the poem, “ she thanked men” . The Duchess loves to interact with people which made the Duke insecure and unpleasant. Women at the Victorian era could not inherit a property, so they must married to get money and live a good life. The Duchess seems to be different, she does not care about the wealth of her husband everything is the same for her. Her attitudes make the Duke afraid of losing his power. he feels that she does not need him that is why he killed her to prove to himself, and the women he still the leader and the ruler. Browning succeeded in express in his poem Feminism at that time. He was neutral and objective, he did not biased to men in his society. He clearly explain women problems and difficulties in his period. Browning supports Feminism in his poem. He shows how men ignorant and prejudice was in the Victorian