Analysis of My Last Duchess by Robert Browning Essay -- Last Duchess R

Analysis of My Last Duchess by Robert Browning Murder mystery intrigue. All describe Robert Browning's poem, 'My Last Duchess'. From the speaker's 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 consists entirely of the words of a single speaker who reveals in his speech his own nature and the dramatic situation in which he finds himself. This format suits this poem particularly well because the speaker, taken to be the Duke of Ferrara, comes across as being very controlling, especially in conversation. For example, he seems jealous that he was not able to monopolize his former duchess' smile for himself. He also seems to direct the actions of the person he is addressing with comments such as "Will't please you rise?" The title of the poem evidently refers to a wall painting that Ferrarareveals to someone yet unidentified in the first fourteen words of the poem. "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall." He says. The line suggests self-satisfaction. The emphasis in the title is on last, as the ending of the poem makes clear; the Duke is now negotiating for his next Duchess. Fra Pandolf and Claus of Innsbruck are artists of Browning's own invention. Emphasizing the word Last as the ending of the poem implies; the Duke, identified as "Ferrara" in the poem's speech prefix, is negotiating for his next Duchess. Finding ourselves being given a tour of a grand home for the first time, by the owner himself, and be... ...ssiveness of the prospective son-in-law. I think that another positive aspect of the poem was the fact that Browning allows the reader to asses the Duke for themselves. I as the reader could see that such powerful Renaissance rulers were ruthless and greedy. I also saw how jealousy and possessiveness can destroy things that we love the most. I think that framing his former wife is a way for the Duke to prevent the count's daughter from misinterpreting him. His absolute rule will allow him to prescribe her behavior, but he depends on the count's representative to convey his indelicate hints about propriety better than he could verbally respond to the last duchess's miscues. I feel that in the poem there is pain, jealousy, rejection and happiness. The majority of the spectrum of emotions associated with love and marriage is contained by this piece.