👸🏻 my last duchess Flashcards
Who is the poet of My Last Duchess?
Robert Browning
Summary of My Last Duchess
Duke is showing a painting of his dead wife to a visitor. Has it hidden behind a curtain and makes the person sit down to admire it and he praises the artist who painted it. He points out the duchess’ blush - suggesting she was flirting and being complimented. He then claims that he was not eloquent enough to tell her to stop flirting so he has her ordered to be killed. Then he discusses with the visitor arrangements for his next marriage. Points out a statue before leaving.
5 key quotes in My Last Duchess
1) ‘Will’t please you sit and look at her?’
- IRONIC: Didn’t let me look when she was still alive because he was jealous. But now he is less jealous because they are only looking at a painting and from a distance
- Rhetorical question which implied that the Duke is in sole control of who sees her. The opening immediately sets up a sinister tone for the piece, as the phrase ‘as if she were alive’ shows that the duchess has died
2) ‘(since none puts by / The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)’
- VISUAL SYMBOL OF HIS POWER: Object that he controls but only gets to control the smiles of his wife just for himself
3) ‘her looks went everywhere’
- She was probably not a flirt or promiscuous - he was just disgusted, which is IRONIC, as the qualities of a duchess are humble, grateful, pleased by simple things -> child-like innocence -> but this may not be seen as a positive quality in the 19th century as children should be innocent, but if the epithet is applied to men or women, it may be a civil term for weakness. So the duchess is presented by the duke as weak and undeserving of such an amazing husband, which shows how controlling he is. The duke’s desire to control his wife’s behavior can be read as a metaphor for Victorian society’s obsession with the behavior and reputation of males. And as we never hear the wife’s side of the story, the silenced voice reflects the absolute control and how women’s opinions were silenced in the Victorian era.
- The duke’s insecurity and paranoia is seen as a weakness as well. The Victorian era read it as a message that Victorian men are weakened by their dependency on the power that they have over women. Reflection on how Victorian men saw their wives as a reflection of themselves and this disempowered them, as he should be seen as his own person.
4) ‘She thanked men, - good! but thanked / Somehow - I know not how - as if she ranked / My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name / With anybody’s gift’
- He’s happy that she behaves like that because that’s what he expects (good manners) but he’s not happy with it so there is an objection.
- ENJAMBMENT: We expect to know why but he stutters. Even he doesn’t know why he’s behaving in that way. He’s so out of touch with the life that he cannot even understand his own impulses
- Complete attack on the aristocracy and the whole idea of having a noble class
- ‘name’ = status. His wife married him so inherited his surname, which he thinks that she should be delighted about. Duke’s hypocrisy - what he values most is his surname, power handed down generations, unable to appreciate the wider things in life.
5) ‘Notice Neptune, though, / Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity’
- METAPHOR: Roman God of the sea - domineering and taming a wild creature -> what he feels like his role is over women - in this domain and male dominated society
- He thinks himself as god-like, and that men are gods and must tame their wives -> shows the excessive hubris and pride of the Duke. Shows that the Duke is extremely materialistic, as he condemns her finding nature beautiful but places a lot of value.
- He believes that his status and wealth should be seen as more valuable than anything available to the common man
Context for My Last Duchess
DUKE OF FERRARA
- Inspiration of the poem
- His first wife died under suspicious circumstances, and the duke was believed to have been a murder. He went on to have other wives later.
WOMEN IN THE VICTORIAN ERA
- Starting to see social mobility in terms of class as well as gender, as women were starting to demand equality and saw the beginning of the suffrage movement
- Before, women were the property of their husbands upon marriage. They had no legal rights, no access to divorce
Form and structure of My Last Duchess
DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE
- Single person giving speech to someone else
IAMBIC PENTAMETER
RHYMING COUPLETS
- Tight control of the duke
ONE LONG STANZA
- Speech never breaks or pauses significantly -> reflects how the duke never stops. the immensity of the poem makes readers overwhelmed and breathless
ENJAMBMENT
- reflects how the duke doesn’t have complete control and is wild in his anger. So although he does everything he can to control others which is reflected in the tightly controlled rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter, the fact is that he can’t control himself seeing throughout the environment he can’t stop blurting out of his emotion and he shouldn’t be telling this to someone connected to his future wife
Key themes in My Last Duchess
- The duke’s power is undermined by his paranoia and fear of female sexuality
- Despotic control of others
- Attack on aristocracy
Poems to compare with My Last Duchess
OZYMANDIAS
- S: Loss of power, the origin of pride is love for oneself and one’s power
- D: Subjects of oppression are diff
