An Analysis of My Last Duchess by Robert Browning Essay -- My Last Duc

An Analysis of My Last Duchess by Robert BrowningMy Last Duchess is written as a dramatic monologue, which is a poemthat is read as if on stage, talking to an audience or character in aplay. This method of writing has been used because the poem wants to apply wizard perspective, the Dukes, in an effective manner. By usingthis technique, Browning is also silencing the antagonist, theDuchess, and becoming the protagonist. The rhyme scheme consists ofrhyming couplets, which give the poem a awareness of order, and make thespeaker, the Duke in this case, seem well educated and in control oftheir emotions and actions.These methods of writing help show the character of the protagonistand the way he viewed the traditions during the prim times.There are two different views in which this poem can be interpreted,the Marxist, and the feminist. The Marxist view interprets the poem asif the Duke thinks of everything as his object, and the feminist stall makes the Duke look as if he doesnt trea t the Duchess as heshould.The Dukes personality is revealed by different aspects in the poem,for example the rhyming scheme, rhyming couplets, makes the poem flowmore easily, which leaves no gaps for interruption. This shows theDukes love of being the centre of attention and being in control. The Duke also shows this keenness of control when he says the blushing mushroomingis of my last Duchess, showing he treated her as just anotherarticle in his collection of art. The Duke also mentions Fr Pandolphin his dialogue with the counts servant, showing he is proud ofthe painting he has of the Duchess and he is showing off about havinga great artist to paint this picture that he calls a wonder. How... ...round theabuses and unhealthy attainment of material goods in the Victoriansociety. The Duke is shown to be a very materialistic person in theway he speaks of the Duchess as if she were an object he had acquiredinstead of a loving wife.I saidFr Pandolph by designThis shows the Dukes ma terialism, because he is showing off abouthaving such a good artist paint a picture of his last Duchess. TheDuke also takes innocent, worthless things, to us, like hisnine-hundred-years-old come across, which she, according to the Duke, tookfrom him like it was anything else she had been given before by a man.Near the end of the poem, the Dukes love of control and materialismis summed up in one passage, in which he thinks himself as a powerfulGod taming a beautiful, excitable animalNotice Neptune, though,Taming a seahorse, thought a rarity.