I read a critical article on Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess.” I confess it was harder to find something in the NCLC’s than I would ” ve thought. There was a considerable accumulation of critiques on Browning’s work, but very little on “My Last Duchess.” The article I found concentrated mostly on the Duke in the poem, and our reactions to him, stating that “[t]he utter outrageousness of the Duke’s behavior makes condemnation the least interesting response… .” The title of the article was “Sympathy versus Judgment.” Some of its points are that the Duke controls the entire poem, that it being a monologue was significant, and that he is almost easy to sympathize with and like. The article discusses Ferarra’s nature and his self-involvement which allows the goodness of the Duchess to “shine through the Duke’s utterance.” It goes on to speak about sympathy in general and how Browning “delighted in making a case for the apparently immoral position”, how he found dramatic monologues the best form to do so, and how he went about it. It keeps going for a couple more pages on things which I will not go into because they have little relevance to any interpretation of “My Last Duchess.” The article as it pertained to my poem was fine; I wish I could have found one which went into more depth as opposed to just discussing immoral characters and our empathy for them.
The Essay on First Wife Duke Duchess Poem
My Last Duchess My Last Duchess by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue about a duke who is showing the portrait of his first wife, the duchess, to a servant of his future father-in-law, the Count. In a dramatic monologue, the speaker addresses a distinct but silent audience. Through his speech, the speaker unintentionally reveals his own personality. As such, in reading this poem, the reader ...
I didn’t particularly care for the lawyerly torrent of words that were used, either. I am not ignorant and appreciate the need for words of longer than two syllables when discussing literature (or anything more serious than an episode of “Friends”, in fact), but I found it more difficult than usual to get through this article. I found it unconscionably wordy and it felt at times as though he was just stringing fancy words together because they looked all important lined up. However, that’s just my opinion.
I was gratified to see that this critic agreed with my interpretation of the Duchess’s demise, viz. , the Duke had her murdered. The theory advanced by my brilliant and magnificent Professor had been that the Duke gave her so many orders and restrictions that she pined away. I had been looking at his famous line “And I choose / never to stoop.” He married her for her beauty but would never lower himself to tell her when she angered him. It seemed to me that the only “commands” he would have bothered to give about her would be to have her inconvenient existence remedied. I found his thoughts about our involuntary liking for the Duke to be enlightening.
Via his monologue we see the Duke for what he is: not just egotistical, but insanely so. Yet we cannot help but admire him. I hadn’t thought about it, but it is a good point. His manner, impeccable taste and command of the situation, even after his matter-of-fact statement of elimination, all combine to dazzle both the envoy and us. By the time we have gotten to nearly the end of the poem, we want to rethink things and give him the benefit of the doubt. But at the last line we are struck again by his malevolence masquerading as gentility.
I liked the critic’s idea that “We suspend moral judgment because we prefer to participate in the Duke’s power and freedom, in his hard core of character fiercely loyal to itself.” It is a bold idea, though not really new. It is true that I found Ferrara’s hypocrisy and egotism partly amusing. I could wish the article had been a bit more concise at times, but I agreed with his views for the most part. I don’t agree with his disregard of the message within the poem, the subtle bite at the arrogance of nobility.
I also think he assumes too much of the reader in stating that we are so in awe of the Duke that we are willing “to take up the Duke’s view of events purely for understanding him… .” and go no farther than that. Perhaps we are, or not. The immediate emotion the poem evokes is one of antipathy to the Duke, and pity for his poor simple wife.
The Essay on Analysis of the Poem “Variations on the Word Love”
The writer of the poem Margaret Atwood was born in November 18, 1939 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She is not only a poet, but also a novelist, a literary critic, an essayist and an environmental activist. And she is an excellent writer, a winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Prince of Asturias award for Literature. Her genres of writing include historical fiction, speculative fiction, science ...
One of the reasons the poem is good is that with simple, light conversation and implication it gives us that “creepy” feeling. We may be attracted to the Duke’s wickedness, but our fascination doesn’t mean we don’t judge him.
