length: 488 words 1.4 double spaced pages rating: red free a dramatic monologue is defined as a poem in which a single character is speaking to a person or persons usually about an important topic. The purpose of most dramatic monologues is to provide the reader with an overall or intimate view of the characters personality. A great poet can use punctuation and rhythm to make the poem appear as if it were an actual conversation. Does this in his poem, my last duchess.' the duke of ferrara, the speaker in my last duchess,' is portrayed as a jealous, arrogant man who is very controlling over his wife.

The duke of ferrara was made jealous by everything the duchess did, no matter how unimportant it was. He was especially jealous of fra pandolf, the man who painted the duchess in the poem. A woman should be pleased only by her husband, as was not the case with the duchess and fra pandolf.

How to Write a Critical Analysis Essay of a Film

Everyone who passed the duchess received much the same smile' as the duke line 44. Another aspect of the dukes character addressed in the poem is his condescending attitude. Two times in the poem the duke needlessly told the names of the artists who created the masterpieces that he owned lines 3 56. He felt superiority over the emissary he was speaking to by dropping these names.

Not only was it patronizing for the duke to call him a stranger, but he called him unintelligent too. In lines nine and ten he told the emissary that no one puts by the curtain' that he had drawn for him but the duke himself. The line reads, then all smiles stopped together.' the line is ambiguous, but the most likely interpretation is that the duke had his wife killed. The poem can be interpreted in several different ways, but in all cases the duke is a very controlling man.

Although my last duchess' was set centuries in the past, lessons can be learned from it and used in todays society. No single moral lies beneath the poem but if one had to be found, it would be the golden rule. Nothing but kindness gets a person ahead, no matter what society that person is from.

23 feb 2016 robert browning the drama that this poem represents is set in lsquo ferrara rsquo , the capital of a province in italy that was famous for its lsquo high rsquo culture during the renaissance. This setting also hints at the fact that the poem rsquo s story is historical: a real incident of this kind had happened. A duke had murdered his seventeen year old wife after three years of marriage, and married another girl. The other person listening to him his addressee is the envoy marriage agent sent by the count of another place called tyrol.

The duke is talking about the painting on the wall while preparing to go down to meet the tyrol, the father of the proposed girl, and other people who have come to finalize the new marriage proposal. The poem looks like a piece of small talk, but it is meant to reveal a story of oppression, jealousy, pride, corruption, murder and the greed for dowry. And the true story behind the episode of the duke rsquo s boasting, which the readers infer themselves is the theme of the poem. The theme of this poem is the wide gap between the so called high culture and lsquo low rsquo personal behavior in the upper and the ruling class of renaissance italy. The purpose of the poet is to expose the real character of the duke and satirize the culture that he represents, in general. The monologue is designed in such a way that it reveals the true character of the duke who is having a small talk with a visitor the readers need to explore the story behind his boasting.

As the duke is preparing to go downstairs, probably putting on his clothes, he sees that the messenger is looking at the paintings on the wall. The way he repeats the name and uses lsquo fra rsquo or lsquo brother rsquo before the artist rsquo s name suggests that the duke is trying to impress the visitor with his intimacy with artists. Similarly we see that he is trying to give the impression of being an art lover aesthete when he describes the painting with the words of an art critic ndash ldquo the depth and passion in the earnest glance hellip hellip reproduce the faint half flush that fades along the throat hellip rdquo then he boasts about his art of speaking by indirectly saying that he doesn rsquo t have the skill of saying small things in the proper manner. He claims that he is such a powerful man that no one has dared to ask him about the red spot on the cheek of the duchess. But we see that he is such a mean, evil minded, jealous and cynical man who thinks that if his wife looks at or smiles at visitors and any other males, it is because of her sexual excitement with them: he guesses that the painter rsquo s small talk had caused the spot of joy rdquo to appear on her cheek! then he boasts about his lsquo nine hundred years old name, and complains that the duchess did not give special regards to that. With normal people, that doesn rsquo t count in a marital relationship, because everyone rsquo s husband is a husband first of all and it is not necessary to address him by his status name.

He says that she used to bring the red spot of joy on her cheek not only he gave a lsquo favorable rsquo look on her breast, but also when she saw any common person object or event. We know that some young girls rsquo cheeks become red due to the sun, due to shyness, anger, or even without any reason when they simply smile or talk. The duke is a shameless tyrant who cannot think of anything positive most probably because he is evil minded himself. He says that ldquo her looks went everywhere rdquo , that she would thank and appreciate anything or anyone, that she was too easily impressed, and that she used to smile at anyone who passed by her. We never find any hint that the duchess was morally guilty of the kinds of accusations he is making against her if she was actually bad, this shameless man would have said it no unclear words. No one will be ever convinced that to smile, to thank, to be interested, to be shy, or to talk to people is such a crime, or immorality. No one will believe that a wife should look only at her husband, except in societies that believe that all women are naturally evil! in fact, in societies which do injustice to women, men are usually corrupted, evil and unjust.

The duke is a symbol of tyranny and the demoniac male not only in renaissance italy but in all societies of all times and place. At the climax of the dramatic poem, the duke reveals that he had killed his previous wife, the duchess painted on the wall. Then he says, even without caring what he is saying, that he ldquo gave orders rdquo to stop all her smiles together. The murder of his own wife and the way he carelessly takes it is shocking and disgusting. The duke is a perfect collection of all devilish qualities, the misuse of power and the extreme oppression and injustice.

There are also some dramatic actions in the poem, in the beginning, the duke tells the other man to sit down and look at the picture. Towards the end of the poem, he tells him to stand up: ldquo will it please you rise? rdquo we also guess other things that the characters must be doing. As the duke is saying all the nasty things about his own wife, the other man seems to try to leave the place! but the doc tells him to wait: lsquo nay, we rsquo ll go down together, sir rdquo.

The next moment, we find that he is making the man wait just to give another piece of boasting! he points to a statue and tells his guest that it is his own statue in the form of god neptune training the sea horse. The poem ends with the duke still talking about himself as a great man and a lover of art. The real character of the duke is gradually lsquo unmasked rsquo in the process of his talk. The irony lies not only in that he is not what he thinks he is, but more in that he doesn rsquo t realize how he is unwittingly telling the truth. He reveals all the truths about his devilish character when he is trying to prove himself a great man. Browning takes up a moment and makes the character speak of something that reveals so much behind what is being said. The colloquial language, the rough rhythms like that of the ordinary language of conversation, the very ordinary situation and many such features make the poem realistic and memorable.