One of Robert Browning’s best piece of work was published in 1842. It was called ‘My Last Duchess’. My Last Duchess is portrayed as a jealous arrogant man who is very controlling over his wife. The Duke was made jealous by everything that his wife did.
The Duke was a Renaissance nobleman. He was only concerned with material things, wealth and power (Has a portrait of his wife). The Duke is a very possessive man. The Duke only wanted to keep his wife to himself and use her like a fashion accessory. He did want his wife to see anyone but she had a mind of her own and liked other peoples company. Having her as a portrait means that he can let whoever he wants to look at her. This way he feels he has more command over her now
The poem is about a Count that wants to get his daughter married off to the Duke. The count knows exactly what the Duke is like. The count sent a social inferior; in this case we learn at the end it is the representative of the count.
The Duke is showing the representative of the count a portrait of his last wife that was painted by Fra Pandolf. He was really proud of this. The painting is covered by a curtain, which no one is allowed to open except the Duke:
“But to myself they turned (since none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I”
The duke goes on to tell the representative a list of his complaints about his former duchess. He believed that his wife “had a heart– how shall I say? – Too soon made glad,”
The Duchess blushed very easily and this gave the Duke displeasure. He felt that he could not make her blush but some how on the painting; Fra Pandolf was able to catch her blush.
“Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: Perhaps Fra Pandolf chanced to say ‘Her mantle laps over my lady’s wrist too much,’ or ‘Paint must never reproduce the faint half-flush that dies along her throat”
The duke was made angry when some officious fool broke in the orchard for her,”
The duke was also jealous of “The white mule she rode around the terrace.” He was very frustrated at the fact she was made happy from such simple and small things and he couldn’t make her happy.
Also to being equally nice to everyone, the Duke (in his opinion) felt that his late wife failed to recognize the true worth of her husband. For example he felt that being married into a prestigious family meant that she should be honoured. But the Duke also felt that she was just as nice toward the Duke as toward everyone else.
“Oh sir, she smiled, not doubt, whene’er I passed her; but who passed out without much the same smile?”
He hated that, the duke wanted her all for herself. He wanted her to show him the most respect but she couldn’t do that because she was just a nice person and she respected everyone. Just shows how possessive the Duke really is.
Just one thing, we dont know if the Duke did kill the Duchess. Also it is obvious that the Duke would rather like to admire his Duckess as a painting, and to be able to control the people who view that painting. Browning made the poem so open-ended that we dont know what happened to the Duchess, all we do know is that something happened to her:
“I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together"
The Duke did not show any sympathy doing whatever he had done with his wife. Instead he is only interested in his dowry, which the two go downstairs to negotiate the dowry. As the pair is going downstairs, he says to the representative:
“Notice Neptune, though, taming a sea-horse, through rarity, which Claus Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!”
The poem is written in heroic couplets with the rhythm ABABAB because the Duke is an important and powerful man and his speech reflects this. The clever use of punctuation by Browning, creative, rhymes and patterns of speech. Browning also uses alliteration to put an image into out mind e.g.: “The Dropping of daylight,” He puts an image of the sun setting, into our heads. Browning also uses elision. An example of the elision is the word “whate’er.”
Porphyria’s lover was also published in 1842 in dramatic lyrics. Porphyria’s lover was a fantasy made up by Browing which was not met kindly by the Victorian public.But in the present, Porphyria’s lover is classed as excellent poem.The scene is set in the opening lines: Porphyria’s lover describes the wild weather in the evening. Porphyria’s lover was a poetic fantasy but it has now become more of a reality. Some people do kill their loved ones ova affairs because they loved them so much and they can not take this. Robert Browning uses personification during the start of the poem.
“The rain set early in tonight,
The sullen wind was soon awake,
It tore the elm tops down for spite,
And did its worst to vex the lake”
Here it tells us that the wind is awakened suddenly and tears down the elm-tops and washes away the lake. This gives us a feeling of a person in a very bad tempered mood and this reflects the mood of the lover.
The similarities of the two poems are that they are both dramatic monologues, the poems are both spoken from a male point of view. The two poems talk about murder within a relationships and jealousy. In Porphoryia’s lover, the lover is jealous because Porphoryia is not able giver herself to him forever.
The Duke is jealous because he thinks his wife had an affair with some one and that she flirted with other men and also thinks she gave her heart away too quickly.
The differences in the two poems are the rhyme schemes. Porphoryia is written in a verse of ABABB and in “my last duchess” it is written in heroic couplets ABABAB.
The emotions in the poems are different. In My last duchess it sounds if the Duke was happy to get rid of he wife and in Porphoryia’s lover it sounds if the lover was really sad in killing her, but he just wanted to preserve there love.
The killings were different. In My last duchess had got different people to kill his wife whereas in Porphoryia’s Lover, the lover murdered Porphoryia with his own hands.
I had an easier time reading Porphoryia’s Lover more than My last duchess because if you read line by line Porphoryia’s lover you have an easier time. But I feel that I had understood “my last duchess” more than Porphoryia’s lover because I understood why the duke wanted to get rid of his wife but in Porphoryia’s lover, I was not as sure why the lover did get rid of Porphoryia and it was also an unusual way to kill some one.
