Duke University

Beowulf’s Bravery Beowulf, in the famous medieval poem of the same name, is the courageous and mighty protagonist in the story. He is a fierce warrior that is much beloved by his people and followers, as well as those he has helped through the years with vanquishing monsters and such. With every challenge that comes his way and through every battle he partakes in, he shows a tremendous amount of bravery, something that is most admired knowing the danger he constantly places himself in. There are 2 kinds of courage that Beowulf demonstrates throughout the poem; these include both passive and active courage. Active courage is exactly how it sounds, its the act of displaying and being courageous while actually doing an impressive feat like slaying a dragon that is terrorizing a kingdom. Passive courage is when someone takes part in the impressive feat, but also knows there will be hardship and suffering tied to it and accepting that. Beowulf is persistently displaying active courage throughout the poems entirety. When the horrible, terrifying monster Grendel comes on the scene, Beowulf is not phased by the threat in the slightest of ways. He goes so far as to give his armor and sword to his advisor and boasts; “when it comes to fighting, I count myself as dangerous anyday as Grendel. So it won't be a cutting edge i’ll wield to mow him down, easily as I might”(Heaney, lines 677-680, Beowulf). He feels completely and entirely at ease and capable to fight this beast wholly…

functions. In “My Last Duchess”(1842) by Robert Browning the Duke of introduces a silent emissary to his former wife by showing her a picture he has of her, hidden by curtains. The Dukes explains the characteristics of his wife, saying that she…

Poems happen to be words that mean more than they look. May they express a message, describe someone’s point of view of his/her life or anything, poems are able to do so much with so little. Such is how famous poet of the 19th century Robert Browning managed to do with his writings. Through his writings of My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover, we will look upon the way that he believes men would become alongside women. Replaced for stronger than interesting To start it off, let’s discuss…

“Checking Out Me History” both express anger through a first person perspective, in the form of a dramatic monologue, although the poems offer two different portrayals of anger. In Browning’s poem, the reader is introduced to a seemingly expressive and biased rant from the Duke about his past Duchess, speaking to an envoy. ‘My’, the possessive pronoun, implies he sees women as possessions. The Duke thinks the world revolves around him because he owns "a nine-hundred-years-old name”, the reader…

and Christina Rossetti illustrate women’s oppression by men in Victorian society within their poems, “My Last Duchess” and “Goblin Market.” The Duchess, Laura, and Lizzie all act against the expectations set for them with varying ramifications. The poets use different narrative perspectives and careful word choice in order to depict the subjugation of these women, their rebellion against it, and the punishment they face for rebelling, calling public attention to the mistreatment of women. In…

Robert Browning was a genius when it came to his poetry, many thought him brilliant, yet they were also skeptical of his work because of how dark and disturbing some found it to be. Browning’s work was found to earry and sketchy by many because the treatment of women in multiple of his poems. Some of these poems include “My Last Duchess,” “Life in a Love,” and “Porphyria’s Lover.” Browning’s “My Last Duchess” is found disturbing because of the finale statements made by the speaker and even more…

With a further manifestation of the dukes possessiveness seen throughout the structure of the poem in which the numerous uses of caesura illustrates the duke’s control over the conversation and compliments the Duke’s own arrogance. Throughout the conversation the Duke is, in effect, manipulating his guest as if he were a puppet- sit down, stand up, look at this, notice that- a representation of just what his free-spirited wife would have resented to do. With this the impression is created that…

Duchess” the author describes a teenage girl who is in transition of becoming an adult. She feels anxious about her future but finds comfort and an understandable nature of the character the Duke, and defines herself through his independence in comparison to the unmistakably joyful Duchess. Atwood’s “My Last Duchess” involves Browning’s “My Last Duchess” by exploring the nature of the Duke, looking at the young girls perspective on authority and relationships. While reading the poem “My Last…

In line 45-47 of My Last Duchess the author revealed to use that the Duke is crazy, jealous, and selfish. Firstly, the author shows us that the Duke is crazy because he said “Then all smiles stopped together.” The author could have been inferring to us that base on the words of the Duke that he could have possibly kill or send the Duchess to a mental facility because in this era it was common for this like that to happen and by doing that he won’t have to see her smile towards anyone else ever…

is unable to bear with any act of agency performed by women. In the poem, even the smile of the Duchess makes the Duke obsessive and aggressive. This leads to her murder through which Duke believes he has controlled all her smiles and locked them in a picture. His act of murdering proves him to be a tyrant misogynist.…