Another characteristic of the Duke’s character is his arrogance. He could not stand his last Duchess appreciating anyone but him. This can be seen in, “some-how I know not how as if she ranked/ My gift of a nine-hundred-year old name/ With anybody’s gift.” The Duke feels that the Duchess valued his gift in the same way as she appreciated others. He, in fact, ranked his nine-hundred year-old name, his nobility and especially status above everything. Therefore he felt, his gift could not be bettered by anyone. This quote also suggests that the Duke was obsessive and proud about his status.
The Duke is also obsessively possessive. This can be seen in “That’s my Last Duchess painted on the wall.” This quote shows how the Duke regarded the Duchess as one of objects. Also within this quote, the possessive pronoun “my” is used. This highlights his possessive qualities. Later on in the poem, we see that he treats every woman in such a manner. This can be seen in “Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed/ At starting, is my object.” He describes the Count’s daughter as being an item. This also shows that the Duke is after the money he is going to receive as dowry after he marries the Count’s daughter. Therefore we can see that the Duke is greedy and powerful.
All of these characteristics of the Duke, especially his power, might suggest that the Duke is involved in the murder of the Duchess. This is evident in “I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together.” This quote might suggest that the Duke gave commands to kill the Duchess because of her flirtatious nature. This is because the smiles, which stopped were probably the same smiles she gave to everyone. However, it is not clear whether the Duke carried out the murder himself, but it seems to be a cold and calculated move. This is because of the broken syntax leading up to the Duchess’s murder. This can be seen in “How shall I say?” and “In speech—(which I have not)—to make your will.” Throughout, the poem we can see that the Duke has an adequate amount of words to express himself but just before the murder of the Duchess he is lost for words. Finally, it seems that the Duke wanted to exert his ultimate power on the Duchess. In doing so, the Duchess was murdered.
The character in “Porphyria’s Lover” is revealed in a similar way to the Duke’s character in “My Last Duchess.” The poem “Porphyria’s Lover” builds up to the murder of Porphyria in a similar fashion to the murder of the Duchess.
Firstly, the lover, like the Duke, wants to control and own his love. This can be seen in “Give herself to me forever.” This suggests that he wants Porphyria above everything else and he would go to any extent to fulfil his desires. This also suggests that he is self-centred.
We can see that the Lover has similar characteristics to that of the Duke in being obsessive. However, the Duke is obsessive about his possessions and gaining status. In the case of the lover, he is obsessive in being loved. The language used in the beginning of “Porphyria’s Lover” shows that the mood is grim. This can be seen in “The rain set early in to-night, / The sullen wind was soon awake.” This shows that the atmosphere is very gloomy, miserable and wicked. This image could possibly reflect the mood of Porphyria’s lover. We can also see that the Lover is annoyed because the verb “vex” is used. He is possibly annoyed because Porphyria is not present.
However, after Porphyria enters the cottage, the atmosphere becomes joyful. All the worries within the Lover are over now. This can be seen in “When glided in Porphyria; straight She shut the cold out and the storm And kneeled and made the cheerless grate.” We can see the atmosphere liven and therefore it is possible to say that Porphyria has a positive effect on her Lover. It also seems that without Porphyria, the lover miserable.
As the poem progresses, Porphyria seduces her lover. However, it seems that Porphyria will not always be with him. This can be seen in “Too weak, for all her heart’s endeavour, / To set its struggling passion free.” This quote suggests that Porphyria’s pride and status could not let her associate with him because of his lower status. Therefore the lover wants to freeze the moment of love which is “perfectly pure and good.” This is why he resorts to kill Porphyria. By killing Porphyria, it shows that the lover, like the Duke, was an envious man who wanted Porphyria exclusively for himself. However, after realising that Porphyria, may never be his, his jealously makes him kill her. This can be seen in “She was mine, mine, fair/ Perfectly pure and good: I found/ A thing to do, and all her hair/ In one long yellow string I wound/ Three times her little throat around/ And strangled her. No pain felt she;” This shows how, like the Duke, the lover was possessive and greedy as he could not contemplate to see Porphyria with anyone else. The tone after the murder is very calm. The language suggests that the murder carried out by the Lover was done lovingly and caringly. By contrast, the murder of the Duchess was cold and calculated.
In fact after the murder, the Lover accomplishes his task of making Porphyria his own and carries on living as usual. This can be seen in “I propped her head up as before,/ Only, this time my shoulder bore/ Her head, which droops upon it still:” and “And thus we sit together now,/ And all night long we have not stirred,/ And yet God has not said a word!” We can see from these quotes that Porphyria, now completely belongs to the Lover. Finally, the language used here can help us establish something about the metal state of the lover. We can see that, unlike the Duke, he has psychiatric problems. His looking up to God could suggest he was trying to justify his actions by gaining God’s support or he felt no guilt over what he had done.
In conclusion, both characters in the poem have similar elements about them. They also have their differences. Both poems are dramatic monologues. This is when one speaker relates the entire poem as if it was another speaker presenting the speaker. They both carry a question of ambiguity. For example we are not certain whether the Duchess was flirtatious or whether Porphyria was proud. We are not told what exactly happens in both poems. Therefore, it is up to us to interpret what is happening in the two poems. Finally, any information, which we are given, comes from the narrator and this may not reliable.
