Irony and Voice in Browning's "My Last Duchess"
             In the poem "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning, the author conveys his message by cleverly incorporating literary techniques. Browning's development of voice and use of irony dramatically influences the understanding of the theme. At the end of the monologue, the reader clearly understands the theme that money and power cannot buy love and that marriages between the upper class citizens of the Renaissance era were predominately business transactions.
             Browning's development of voice tremendously influences the reader's perception of the poem "My Last Duchess" The use of dramatic dialogue separates the speaker from the poet, therefore encouraging the reader to read in between the lines in order to fully understand what the poem is saying. The voice of the author presents the character of the Duke without an actual comment by the poet. By reading how the Duke thought and felt about his wife, the reader gains insight about the true character of the speaker. The Duke is extremely manipulative, has an extreme sense of family pride, and feels a sense of ownership to the memory of his deceased wife. The speaker feels that his wife should have been more grateful to him for marrying her, as if she were the luckiest woman on earth for him to have chosen her. Therefore, it enrages him that she reacts in the same manner to the sunset, cherries a man brings to her, and even the mule she rides on. "All and each would draw from her alike the approving speech, or blush at least" It seems that the Duke is extremely egotistical to act this way to his wife, the person that is supposed to be his life partner, not ego booster. The development of voice created in the poem "The Last Duchess" instills within the reader the theme of money and stature does not create love or adoration, or that arranged marriages among high-class R...