anthology: my last duchess.

Question 1

what is the purpose and meaning of the text?

Answer 1

• dramatic monologue, powerful 1 voice.
• lack of power.
• secretly revels things about themselves.
• last line shows that he thinks about her as another possession.

Question 2

what is the context of the text?

Answer 2

• Italian renaissance.
• written in the victorian era.
• criticism of society.
• role of women.
• browning eloped to italy because dad to controlling.
• buying and selling women.
• linked to romantic poets.

Question 3

language and structure: explanation and quotes.

Answer 3

• written iambic pentameter.
• rhyming couplets.
• enjambment- one long stanza- can’t control himself.
• ‘that’s my last duchess painted on the wall.’- sees her as his object.
• ‘her looks went everywhere.’ - interested in other people? , negative/ criticism, implies her looks should only be for him.
  ‘notice Neptune though.’- powerful ruler, taming to follow instructions.

Question 4

what is the explanation of the text?

Answer 4

• duke is very proud of his possessions and status.
• enjoys his power over her painting as he had no power over her when she was alive.
• misused his power to control her.

Question 5

key quotes.

Answer 5

-‘ this grew; i gave commands; then all smiles stopped together.’
- ‘notice Neptune though, taming a sea horse, thought a rarity, which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me.’
- ‘her looks went everywhere.’
- ‘that’s my last duchess painted on the wall.’
- the curtain i have drawn for you.’

Question 6

what does it pair well with?

Answer 6

• Ozymandias.
• extract from the prelude.
• kamikaze.
• tissue.