But then our impression of the duke begins to change, when the duke goes on to criticise his wife. He does not like the fact that other things apart from him make her happy “twas not her husbands presence only, called that spot of joy.” He does not understand his wife’s warm native, he struggles to find words to explain her personality “a heart-how shall I say? – too soon made glad.” The duchess is described as being friendly, pleasant, warm, affectionate and full of “joy”. He uses words such as “hand flush”, “glad” and “liked” to describe her but he is very jealous of her. He tells us that she is devoted to him “she smiled, no doubt”. He expects her to feel honoured to have the family name “my gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name”. Our views of the duke have changed; he says, “I choose never to stoop” – he is too proud to tell her he is displeased. The duke dislikes being disrespected and hates how the duchess is equal in her fairness towards everyone
“Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er
She looked on”.
The dramatic shock in this poem comes when he tells us “I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together”. We are shocked when we hear the duke has had his own wife murdered. It is even more dramatic when we hear that the visitor is a messenger to arrange his next marriage. From this point we have changed our feelings on the duke, from were we did feel for him at the beginning. We see him as cold, arrogant, egotistical and domineering. There is little emotion in this poem and we see the duke as being insensitive.
“Prophyria’s lover” is set in a cottage in the woods. We see Prophyria’s lover sitting in his cottage. His lover, Prophyria comes to the cottage in the middle of a storm and proceeds to light a fire to warm the mood and the cottage.
This poem already starts of dramatic at the beginning because of the tense atmosphere in the wild weather. The wind is personified @”and did its worst”. At the beginning we feel sorry for Prophyria’s lover and feel some sympathy towards him as he talks about his broken heart fit listened with heart fit to break”.
Once Prophyria’s arrives at the cottage we see that he loves her now, as the storm and the cold weather don’t seem to matter no more. He builds up a picture of her, it seems he can’t take his eyes of her. The lines are slow in the movement, which suggests she is moving slow. Our first impressions of Prophyria’s lover are that he is emotional humble man that’s very much so in love with Prophyria. I find it strange that he doesn’t speak to his lover. Prophyria wants to be close to him “sat down by my side”, she wants him to pay attention to her “she put my arm around her waste”. He sees every graceful movement and he doesn’t seem to take his eyes of her – he uses words such as “kneeled”, “rose”, “laid” and “withdrew” to describe Prophyria’s movement as smoothly and sensuously. The words “pride” and “vein” suggest that prophyria is wealthy and her lover is poor. He feels that she cannot love him the way that he wants her to love him. “A sudden thought of one so pale
for love of her, and all in vain” – suggests that there is somebody else that loves her.
Our impressions start to change when he starts to use words such as “worshipped”, debated and “mine, mine” – “worshipped” is such a strong word to use, what else could he want from her – total possession forever! He also uses the word “debated” which I find quite an extreme word to use; it is such a cold word! He has such a calculating attitude, which seems as if he is in control more than what he is in love. “That moment she was mine, mine” – he repeats the word that emphasizes his possessiveness. He recognises her innocence “perfectly pure and good”.
The real dramatic shock is when realising that she will eventually give into society’s pressures, and wanting to preserve the moment,
“In one long yellow string I would
Three times her little throat around
And strangle her” – his description of this erotic murder is very detailed, and it is almost as if, he has planned it out in his head. “No pain felt” – He does not make excuses for his actions. It seems he loved her so much he had to kill her. His behaviour is psychopathic. It is the first time he kisses her, which is described as quite passionate “burning kiss” now she is dead – he shows her love and treats her dead body tenderly. He doesn’t see her death as negative he describes her as if she is still alive. Now that she is dead he is now in control, when before, when she was alive he was being quite passive. He interprets her wish in his own evil way “she guessed not how”. He believes that she is pleased with him.
“And this we sit together now,
And all night long we have not stirred,
And yet God has not said a word” – we now know that he is telling us this hours after her death. He feels no guilt, he is so confident he has done the right thing – God “has not said a word” so he must approve!
Our final thoughts of Prophyria’s lover are that he is a mad, obsessed, psychopathic and a murderer who thought that by killing his lover he could preserve the moment and keep her with him always.
These two poems are similar in a way because they both contain a dramatic shock, which is a turning point, the shock being a death in each. In each poem we learn a lot about the main character, and are given the choice of what to think of them.
“Prophyria’s lover” is set in a cottage and “my last duchess” is set in his house. In “my last duchess” we are more aware of a listener but in “Prophyria’s lover” there is no indication of a listener. There is no emotion in “my last duchess”, when “Prophyria’s lover” is very emotional. Reading each poem is very much like watching a play.