My Last Duchess

             Marriage can often be difficult let alone when violence is involved. In Robert Browning's poem, "My Last Duchess" an Italian Duke is describing to a count his last duchess while looking at a portrait of her. Using the elements of a dramatic monologue, the duke reveals his situation and much more than he intends to. We the readers see the duke as controlling, jealous, and paranoid. Having these characteristics often means something bad can come out of a person like this.
             To control something gives a person a feeling of possession. The duke's desire for control is made evident by the structure of the poem, through his appreciation of art, and his response to the trivial incidences that led to the death of his wife. Although the duke was unable to control the duchess when she was alive, after her death he has complete control of her. The duke says, "none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I," (10) revealing that now he is able to control both the duchess and who views the portrait by a curtain covering the portrait. The duke wants to appear as a hurt and abused husband whose disrespectful wife left him no alternative but to kill her. However his appreciation of art reveals that he values things that he can control.
             Jealousy is something people encounter but when it goes too far then it becomes a problem. The duke's vengeful crime was committed out of pure jealousy. For example, he seems jealous that he was not able to monopolize his former duchess' smiles for himself which makes him mad being that he says she would smile at anyone else. Throughout the poem, the duke is presenting his best side, but through his speech the reader sees how he is very jealous which leads one to believe that he may
             have many dishonorable qualities. It is also ironic because a duke is suppose to be someone one looks up to rather then being looked down upon because of bad qualities.
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My Last Duchess. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 17:22, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/9516.html