My Last Duchess

An In-Depth Look at My Last Duchess In the poem “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning, the main character, the Count speaks about his deceased wife and a painting of her to a mysterious listener at his private party. The Duchess’s story revolves around the internal conflicts between her and the Count. The main threads include the jealousy and self-importance of the Count, as well as the compassion of the Duchess. He subtly insinuates to the party-goer that his wife’s early death was caused by him, and asks them to share some time with him to explain his problems with his prior Duchess, and his intent to find a new partner. On the surface, “My Last Duchess” is a simple poem about a saddened widow speaking about his late wife. The Count shows…

Browning’s poem, “My Last Duchess” is about a powerful Duke and his late wife. He is showing a portrait painted on the wall of his duchess and describing her to someone. The portrait seems to be full-length and highly realistic because the duke remarks that “there she stands” (4). The duke immediately seems somewhat sinister. He even speaks of the duchess as if she were a possession referring to her as “[his] last duchess” throughout the poem. The poem both begins and ends with the Duke…

of the majority, especially when a topic is considered too controversial to challenge. In Margaret Atwood’s “My Last Duchess”, this happens to be the case for her female protagonist when her class studies a poem by Robert Browning that is also titled “My Last Duchess”, in which a Duke had his Duchess killed for his own selfish reasons. Unexpectedly, the young girl’s interpretation of the Duke is vastly different from the rest of her class, thereby leading her to struggle with having a…

“My Last Duchess,” Browning’s dramatic monologue centers thematically on a Renaissance Duke’s obsession with overpowering his Duchess. His desire to dominate reached ta an extent where he reduced her to nothingness, captured in a painting. The poem, though about a Renaissance man, reflects completely a Victorian masculine attitude toward women. The main character of the poem that indulges into the monologue is a misogynist man who is unable to bear with any act of agency performed by women. In…

Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Lost Love or Obsession There are dark emotions explicitly seen in “My last Duchess” throughout. Glancing across the sea to the American poet Edgar Allan Poe, one discovers much of the same ghoulish obsession with obscurity observed in Browning's poetry. However, Poe's work seems to be deficient in the mockery found in Browning's work. Poe’s poem frequently disparate and is often admired as one of the most beautiful love poems of the English language. It may not…

delight in simple pleasures, and courtesy to those who served her” (“Overview: ‘My Last…” np). This made the father of the future wife begin to assume that the Duke had killed his late wife due to the behaviors she exhibited. Since the Duke had been so strict towards his wife, the father expected that he would be the same towards his future wife. This did come across as alarming to the father as he had already suspected that the Duke had murdered his wife. The Duke felt that he should be able to…

In Margaret Atwood’s short story “My Last 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…

Has anyone ever prevented you from doing something you wanted to do? If yes, you are not alone as it happens to a number of people, and if not, it’s likely an acquaintance has. In Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” the Duke disliked the duchess’s behavior and eventually ended her life because he was extremely displeased and dissatisfied with not only her actions, but also with her nature. Browning exemplifies the Duke’s obsession for power in his marriage through his reaction to the last…

analyze Robert Browning’s poem My Last Duchess along with the WWI poetry Break of Day in the Trenches by Isaac Rosenberg and The Soldier by Rupert Brooke as a way to show that historical poems have a way of presenting direct messages to and about the British nation as opposed to the events in which they are referring. Before looking into the possibly deeper political meanings that Robert Browning’s poem My Last Duchess might hold, an analyzation…

Robert Browning who although born in England in 1812, has had his name and poetry revered throughout the centuries. Renowned for his unprecedented, grotesque comments on the more sinister side of human nature with his added mastery of the dramatic monologue used to give an in-depth look into the mind of the insane; has created a distinct tone characteristically his. This unique style paved way for the iconic poems, ‘Porphyria’s lover’ and ‘My last Duchess’ in which Browning defied traditional…