Posts
BA English Literature
[2nd Year, 3rd Semester]
British Literature
MY LAST DUCHESS
By Robert Browning
About Poet:
Robert Browning major
English poet of the Victorian age, noted for his mastery of dramatic monologue
and psychological portraiture. He was born in South London on 7th May 1812.
Browning’s first published
work, Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession (1833). In 1835 he published
Paracelsus and in 1840 Sordello.
Between 1841 and 1846, in a
series of pamphlets under the general title of “Bells and Pomegranates”, he
published seven more plays in verse, including Pippa Passes (1841), A Blot in
the ’Scutcheon (produced in 1843), and Luria (1846).
In 1845 he met Elizabeth
Barrett and married secretly in September 1846.
His most noted work was The Ring and the Book (1868–69), the story of a
Roman murder trial in 12 books.
Browning died in 1889 and is buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.
About Poem:
"My Last Duchess"
is the dramatic monologue poem by Robert Browning. It first appeared in 1842 in
Browning's Dramatic Lyrics. The poem is composed in 28 rhyming couplets of
iambic pentameter.
Dramatic monologue is a poem written in the form of a speech conversation of an individual character in a dramatic manner. It compresses into a single narrative sense of the speaker's history and psychological insight into his character. Three types of Dramatic Monologue are Romantic monologue, Philosophical and psychological monologue, Conversational monologue.
Historical
Background of the Poem:
My Last Duchess poem is based on a true story in 16th Century: the Duke of Ferrara, Alfonso II d’Este at the age of twenty-five, married to the fourteen-year-old Lucrezia de’ Medici, but abandoned her two years before she died at the age of seventeen. After her death, the duke got married to the niece of the Count of Tyrol. Browning has exposed the duke’s cruel state of mind through this poem "My Last Duchess."
Poem Line by Line
Explanation:
LINES: 1-5
In the opening lines of the poem, the speaker talks about “his last duchess”. It gives the idea that the speaker is a Duke and he is addressing an unknown or silent listener. The Duke points towards the painting of his Duchess on the wall who is dead now. The picture of the Duchess is so beautifully painted that the speaker says it seems that she is standing alive in front of him.
The Duke praises the painting and calls it a masterpiece. He also tells the mysterious listener about the artist or the painter who produced this amazing piece of wonder. He says that Fra Pandolf worked hard and it took him an entire day to complete it and give it a realist effect. The Duke then says ” there she stands” it gives the idea that the painting is not just a close up of the Duchess but her full body is visible in it, so it seems as if the Duchess is alive and standing in front of the Duke.
The Duke then invites the listener to
sit down and focus on the beauty of the painting. He asks him to examine the
painting and admire its art.
LINES: 5-13
The Duke tells the listener that he told him the name of the painter deliberately because everyone who looks at this painting, wants to know about the person who produced this piece of art. The people or the strangers who see this painting, also want to question how the painter portrayed so much depth and passion on the face of the Duchess and gave her the expressions that look absolutely real.
The Duke also tells the listener that only he is allowed to draw the curtain back that hangs over the painting. It means that only Duke can see this painting or show it to anyone else if he wants. It also gives the idea that the painting hangs on a wall in the Duke’s private gallery where no one can enter without his permission.
He further tells the listener that he is not the first one who is surprised to see this beautiful art. Everyone who looks at it, turns to Duke as if they want to ask him how the painting of the Duchess looks so real but they never dare to ask it actually. As the Duke can read their face and he knows what they want to ask so he replies to everyone before they ask.
LINES: 13-21
The Duke keeps on addressing his silent listener and this time he calls him “Sir”. He explains the expressions of the Duchess in the painting and tells the listener that the smile and the blush that he can see on her cheeks was not because of her husband’s presence. The Duchess was not happy because the Duke was around. It gives the idea that something else was the reason behind the Duchess’ joy and the Duke seems jealous of this thing because he always wanted her to have these expressions of joy on her face just for her husband.
In the next lines, the Duke starts guessing the reason behind the Duchess’ happiness or blush. He suggests that maybe she smiled because Fra Pandolf praised her beauty or he told her that the mantle or shawl is covering too much of her wrist or he complimented her by saying that he could never be able to paint the beauty of her faint half_blush that fades on her throat.
The Duke criticizes his Duchess saying that she thought that the courtesy or the polite comments like these are enough to make her happy. It shows that the Duke didn’t want her to be happy or blush on trivial compliments of everyone. He only wanted her to be happy in her husband’s presence or on his compliments.
LINES: 21-24
The Duke further explains the nature of his late Duchess to the listener. He says that the Duchess had a gentle heart that could easily be made happy anytime. The Duchess liked and praised everything that she looked at. In short, it was very easy for everyone to make her happy or to impress her by anything.
In these lines, the Duke is not praising
the Duchess but in reality, he is criticizing her. The above lines give the
idea that the Duchess was very kind and down to earth but she was not the kind
of person that the Duke wanted his wife to be.
LINES: 25-31
In these lines, the Duke again calls his listener by saying “Sir” and tells him further about the behaviour of his Duchess. He tells him that her behaviour was the same towards everyone and everything made her equally happy. If he brought her any present, brooch or jewellery that she could wear on her chest, she used to smile or thanked him for the present but she became equally happy on the trivial things like watching the sun setting in the West, the branch of cherries that some random fool brings for her from the orchard or the white mule on which she rode around the terrace.
He further tells him that she praised all these things equally or blushed in a similar way each time. It shows that though the Duke expected special response from his wife yet the Duchess treated everything equally. Now it is clear that the Duke wanted his Duchess to pay special attention to him but she treated him equally and always responded to him just as she used to respond to any other common person or thing.
LINES: 31-35
The Duke then says that she used to thank men. The Duke admits that it is good to thank someone if they present you any gift or do any favour to you. He had no problem with the Duchess thanking everyone but he didn’t like her way to do that. The Duke gave her his nine hundred years old family name and the prestige. He gave her a status by making her his Duchess that she never had before marrying the Duke but she didn’t even value this gift of his superior to any other minor thing done for her by any common person.
The Duke then asks his listener who
would lower himself to ask her about this strange behaviour or to have an
argument with her over this matter? The Duke knows that the answer is “no one”.
It also suggests that there was a communication gap in the relationship between
the Duke and the Duchess, that is the reason he never told her anything about
her behaviour.
LINES: 35-43
Now the Duke explains the obstacles that stopped him from complaining about the behaviour of his Duchess to her. He thinks she could make excuses or resist him, showing her stubbornness to change for him.
He says that though he doesn’t have the skill in speech yet if he had and he tried to talk to her telling her about “the behaviour that disgusted him or where she did little or too much for him”, there was a possibility that she could have tried to change herself and made herself as he wanted but still the Duke says he would never try to talk to her.
The Duke didn’t want to talk to her because talking to her and explaining what was wrong, he considered it equivalent to stooping. As he is a Duke, so he considers it his insult to explain something to anyone even to his own Duchess. He didn’t want to bend but he wanted his wife to understand what he wanted, without saying anything.
LINES: 43-47
The Duke tells the listener that he admits his Duchess was always nice to him. She treated him well and she always did smile whenever she saw him or he passed by her. Then the Duke again asks the question who passed her without receiving the same smile? There was nothing special in her smile for the Duke.
The Duke then tells the listener that “this grew”. He talks about her behaviour and her kindness towards everyone. He tells him that her kindness and love for everyone became more intense and she didn’t stop. The Duke admits that he couldn’t bear it more so he gave commands against his own Duchess and as a result, all her smiles stopped. It gives the idea that he gave the commands to end her life so that she could no longer be able to smile.
The Duke then ends his story and again
points towards the beautiful portrait saying that now there she stands and it
looks like she is alive. The Duke then asks the listener in a gentle way to
stand up.
LINES: 47-53
Duke asks him to stand up and follow him so that they can go and meet other guests who are present downstairs. The Duke then starts talking about the listener’s master “Count”. It gives the idea that the silent listener is actually the servant of the Count.
He says to the servant that everyone knows about the generosity of his master so the Duke expects him to give the dowry of her daughter as much as he demands. It suggests that the Duke is now getting married again to the daughter of the Count and he talks to the servant to him about the matter of dowry. Here the greed of Duke is also shown.
Moreover, he tells the servant that he is not worried about the dowry knowing the generous nature of the Count but instead of money, the fair nature of the Count’s daughter will be his utmost priority as he mentioned earlier at the beginning of their discussion.
LINES: 53-56
The Duke ends his discussion and they
start going down. While on their way, the Duke draws the attention of the
servant towards another beautiful piece of art in his gallery. He points
towards the statue of God Neptune who is shown taming his sea-horse. The Duke
also tells the servant about the artist who made it. He tells him that Claus of
Innsbruck made this statue with bronze especially for him.
The Duke was so controlling he had his first wife murdered because she didn't behave how he wanted her to. However, “Neptune taming a sea-horse"; shows the Duke's desire for taming and controlling everything around him, especially things such as the rare sea-horse. The Duke bragged how he is able to tame the beauty of his first wife. Then he mentions how he had it "cast in bronze" if the sea-horse is cast in bronze, it is trapped forever, just like all his other possessions. For example, his first wife, who is forever trapped, with her engaging pose, behind the curtain.
Click this link: 👉 Saipedia
0 comments:
Post a Comment
If you need summary for any topic. Just send it in comment.
Don't Forgot to follow me in Our Youtube Channel : Saipedia