My Last Duchess Flashcards
What is MLD about?
Duke of Ferrera talking to a emissary about the painting of his ex-wife. Suggested that he killed his wife as she didn’t only give her attention to the Duke.
What is the structure of MLD?
Dramatic monologue - one speaker reveals thoughts
One stanza - self obsession/dominance/controlling
Rhyming couplets - restrained and controlled.
Enjambment - mimics natural speech - builds up the Duke’s frustration.
Caesura.
What are the key quotes in MLD?
“If they durst”
“‘‘Twas not her husband’s presence only”
“Half-flush that dies along her throat”
“Too soon made glad”
“My gift of a nine-hundred years old name”
“I choose never to stoop”
“I have commands; Then all smiles stopped together”.
“There she stands as if alive”
“Object”
“Taming a sea-horse” (image of the Duke taking the Duchess or Duke and new wife).
What does the parentheses show in MLD?
(since none puts by The curtain i have drawn for you) - offering extra information, trying to reassure himself
(which i have not).
“half-flush that dies along her throat”
painter is flirting - accusations.
“too soon made glad. too easily impressed. she liked whate’er she looked on”
MLD
caesura, anger, short sentence, frustration, jealous.
“i gave commands; then all smiles stopped together”
MLD
dead
