At the start of ‘My Last Duchess’ it is difficult to decide this mans intentions or thoughts. The man describes the woman in the painting as ‘Looking as if she were alive’, this could show to us that the painting was life like but having discovered this mans greed and jealousy, I believe this means something much more significant. I think that, ‘Looking as if she was alive’ could mean that the painting makes her look perfect or possibly even because he would prefer to see her. I sense that this may possibly reflect that this man thinks that his wife almost was putting on a mask to cover something up from him.
The Duke in ‘My Last Duchess’ begins to mention the name of the artist of the painting. In most cases the name of the artist would not be really significant; this man obviously thinks little of his dead wife except that she was a possession. We get the same idea that he thought of her as an object from ‘My’, in the title. This man continues to talk to his guest about the painting and the artist. ‘Fra Pandolf’s hands’ gives the proposal that the painting of his dead wife may be expensive. The word ‘hands’ shows that this man is amazed that this famous painter has even touched this painting never mind painted it. The duke did not value his wife in a way that he should and still finds other things of a bigger importance than feelings. I get the impression that this man is a show off because the duke does not mind if his thoughts of his wife’s death are not kept private, in fact, he highlights this.
I think this because the duke is challenging towards his guest and approaches him very forwardly and encourages this man to observe the painting, ‘Will`t please you sit and look at her?’ He is obviously used to giving commands and ordering people around. It is unusual for someone to be so direct to someone that they describe as a ‘Stranger’ even if they are of a high status. The Duke gets carried away and involved with talking about the painting and the artist, this gives other clues about this mans need to be in control. I think the Duke also reacted in such away with his wife, he always has to be in be in command of the people, their feelings and the possessions around him. The duke seems oblivious to the things that should matter to him. He is cold hearted and arrogant.
Next, the poem contains brackets with extra points. This information did not need to be included; these comments may just be extra points at which he reveals more than he intends to the audience. I think the information in these brackets is reasonably significant information and may perhaps give us clue to what the Dukes attitude toward his wife while she was alive and while she is dead. ‘The curtain I have drawn for you’ indicates to me that the Duke still feels he has the power to manage his wife. He indirectly still has power over her by means of the painting. If he doesn’t want to look at her, the Duke can just draw the curtain to block her out. I believe this is similar by the way he behaved with her while she was alive. This curtain that the Duke speaks of could also be an emotional curtain. He may use this to not feel guilt and to block out memories so he can easily move on and carry on in his unique way. For his wife, the duke shows no sorrow, love or care and shows no respect for he death.
Just like the woman in ‘The Laboratory’, the duke shows jealousy and the desire for power. The duke was angered by his wife’s attitude, ‘Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek’. He found her kind nature and her personality that attracted people disrespectful and rude towards him. As he has a high status, he believes her attitude is not sufficiently appreciative of his reputation and name.
During the next section of the poem the punctuation changes. I think dashes are used to indicate broken thoughts, ‘A heart—how….’, perhaps because the Duke is influenced by his strong emotions, as in ‘The Laboratory’. This gives me the idea that the Duke has something to hide because before now, the Duke has been incredibly strong and certain of what he wants to say; as soon as he directly insults his dead wife, he stutters and pauses. This may be because he is affected by guilt but he has shown himself to be so strong and powerful that he seems to be impassive by emotion. The woman in ‘The Laboratory’ uses much more descriptive flashy language, ‘. This could be because Browning is creating the effect of being in the room with the woman. The use of sensory detail, metaphors and alliteration add to the depth in which the woman’s action are described and give the indication of a female’s characteristic.
Having a high status has led the Duke to believe that he it superior. He sees his name as a gift, ‘My gift of nine-hundred-years-old-name With anybody’s gift’ or as a prize that should be appreciated. The Duke believes that his wife had no respect for his fine family. His wife’s crime was little more than enjoying life. The Duke can’t abide her failure to recognise his special gifts which should be more important than all else to her. To tell his wife that her behaviour was unacceptable to him, ‘you disgusts me’, it would mean that he would have to lower himself and he is not prepared to do this. ‘Stooping’ is repeated on three different occasions, this emphasises that the Duke thinks of himself as someone who is better than everyone else. The Duke is not even prepared to talk to his wife to save his marriage and for love all because he feels that its not his duty to, he does not even indicate any love towards his dead wife though. This demonstrates how obsessed with himself he is. He is so insensitive that he is prepared to take the life of his wife. Indirectly, the Duke killed his wife himself, ‘I gave commands’, this tells me that with his high status, he organised someone else to kill his wife. He may well have done it himself. In a very Catholic renaissance Italy, the only way to get rid of his wife would be to kill her because divorce was not acceptable, ‘Then all smiles stopped together’. I think that it is ironic that the Duke will order his visitors around, ‘Will’t you please rise?’, but he would not give commands to his wife. He shows no love or empathy to his dead wife, he is arrogant and by killing he shows his true brutality and cold-hearted disregard for others. The duke’s wife was essentially meant to be like an investment.
The narrative suddenly changes here, the Duke jumps from talking ominously about his ‘Last Duchess’ to talking about how much he expects his new wife to bring into his life, ‘Of mine for the dowry’, ‘At starting, is my object’, this marriage is clearly for money and business not love. This adds to the audience’s dislike of the duke because we get the idea of his bitter, callous personality. He has been unemotional to have his wife killed and is now ready to have another wife.
The Duke, once again changes subject and talks about another incredibly expensive piece of art work, ‘Notice Neptune’, the Duke all the way through the poem has concentrated important issues that score high in his life style, money, status, possessiveness and power. By making a point of the artwork, the duke gives us the impression of his life style and accentuates several points about his personality. We get the idea of his rich life style by the way he values the artwork. We understand his taste for control, ‘Taming a sea horse’, he demonstrates his passion for power, he believes he can even defeat natures natural powers. By the name of the artist, ‘Claus of Innshruck’ gives the impression of his refined and superior taste because it gives us the idea of his cultured style of living.
‘My Last Duchess’ ends as abruptly as it began. The poem began in a fashion as it the reader knew everything that proceeded that moment. As the audience, we learn a lot from the way the poem ends, ‘me’ shows the focus and the Dukes priority; himself. I also think that ‘me’ is used as an echo from the first line, ‘my’, this choice of language accentuates the idea that this man cares mainly about the materialistic things in life, and himself.
In ‘My Last Duchess’, the Duke says in a straight forward manner what he wants to say. He does not use metaphors or similes to add affect to his emotions but he uses language that is simple that symbolises himself so it is more like a conversation. We get the idea that the poem is more like a conversation from the way it is written, there are no verses and only one person, the Duke speaks, this also shows his domination. All lines in ‘My Last Duchess’ have a ten beat rhythm to give the poem a flowing and a racing pace. Through out the poem there are rhyming couplets ‘wall’ and ‘call’. I believe this gives the poem an artistic image that suits the status of the Duke. The use of enjambment put less emphasis on the rhyme scheme making the poems feel sound more like prose, like the narrator would is actually telling the story directly in a natural flow of speech. Where as ‘The Laboratory’ has a more obvious rhyme, ‘tightly’ ‘whitely’ which reflects the woman’s madness because her rhythm of speech is unnatural and irregular. The short verses add to the audience’s effect of her impatient and jumpy character because it is as if she repeatedly interrupts herself as she becomes more excited about the apothecary’s actions.
‘The Laboratory’ has a female narrator who has powerful murderous ideas and makes her motives clear with the repetition of ‘poison’. In the first stanza of ‘The Laboratory’ we get the idea the woman has troubled thoughts from the way her surroundings are described as a ‘devils-smithy’. This gives the idea that acts of evil are about to happen. We assume that the man she has feelings for has another girlfriend. We assume he is her ex-partner because of the narrators great feelings, however, we gradually realise there is no evidence of any relationship. This man has become her obsession and her fantasy is to have what she wants, she assumes that if she gets her rival out of the way, her fixation will be drawn closer to her.
The narrators approach towards getting this woman out of the way is seriously drastic and typically would be unanticipated. Her eccentric method displays her madness. Personal pronouns are used excessively by the narrator, ‘he’, ‘her’, and ‘they’ and ‘I’ show the complexity of her confusion. It is like a story that has been passed on but progressively it has been changed. It is as if the narrator is convincing herself into believing what she wants.
At the time ‘The Laboratory’ was written, life was based around your religion and the bible. Going to church on a Sunday was the done thing and was part of a weekly routine, unlike today when not as many of us, take time out in the week to go to church. If we had our problems at the time ‘The Laboratory’ was written, we would have gone to church to pray to find solutions and would turn to religion to console us. This woman describes the church as ‘drear’ and ‘Empty’, she finds no comfort in her religion, and this may be because she understands her immorality is wrong, but feels no remorse so chooses not to turn to the church to obtain help. This is ironic in that it by killing, the narrator is being unchristian even though she has been brought up an era that believed religion was of great importance.
Sensual pleasure is communicated to the reader as the creation of the poison is described. The short phrases and exclamation marks display her anticipation and eagerness. In the third stanza, a list of actions, ‘Grind’, ‘moisten’, ‘mash’ are used to create pace and to demonstrate the apothecary’s movement and his actions. All these verbs add to the reality of the poison being created through sound and movement. Onomatopoeia is applied, ‘Grind’ to accentuate the performance of the apothecary’s actions and to produce an effect for the reader that will make them feel as if they are observing the process of the poison being made. The repetition of ‘p’, ‘Pound’ and ‘powder’ puts emphasis on movement and this adds to our understanding of the excitement of the narrator. The dashes also influence the audience’s impression of the woman’s excitement. The dashes represent broken thoughts that add to the audience’s idea of the woman’s jumpy distracted state of mind and strong emotions. Also, the writer shows her enthusiasm by using questions. The narrator questions the apothecary and demonstrates great interest in the poison and the procedure in which it is made. She is impatient to know more ‘you call it a gum?’, her eagerness to have an involvement in the poison’s production gives us a better understanding of how keen she is to kill the woman, usually people are only concerned in things that interest them, as is this woman.
Sensory detail is used, ‘soft’, ‘exquisite blue’, ‘soft’ and ‘gold’ to make the poison seem to be unimaginably beautiful, vibrant and attractive. This makes us also feel the extent of this woman’s exhilaration because she uses luxurious words to show her high expectations, delight, her curiosity and almost physical pleasure.
In the fifth stanza of ‘The Laboratory’, the narrator fantasises about how she would desire the apothecary’s poisons and she describes them as something special that is valued, ‘treasures’. Her values are reversed and twisted though, as she starts fantasising about small feminine items, ‘earring’, ‘casket’, ‘signet’, that the poison could be hidden in. I think that these petite, delicate and feminine items are used as a disguise for the poisons but also to demonstrate the woman’s passion for the strength and power of the poisons, only a modest amount is necessary to kill! Her torturing logic continues and goes on to visualize about killing real people as she frets about killing the woman who is causing her obsessive jealousy.
The woman’s madness is emphasised further as her evil temperament and greed take over. Fantasies turn to the power of the poison and what her actions would be if she had a vast quantity. The narrator mentions in this stanza, two female names, ‘Pauline’ and ‘Elise’ and she speaks of how she would be satisfied with both of their deaths, ‘just thirty minutes to live’. This strengthens the idea for the audience of her distracted and uncertain mixed up mind. As there are both ‘Pauline’ and ‘Elise’ this makes us feel no trust in the narrator because she is either uncertain of who her fantasy is with or she is jealous of people around her, its as if she does not know herself. Her jealousy lies in looks. She mentions Pauline and Elise’s ‘breast’, ‘arms’ and ‘hands’, all attractive feminine body part of the time. Again, this emphasises her madness and obsessive jealousy.
Browning connects love with hate in, ‘The Laboratory’. He shows one woman’s love and fantasy through her hate towards others. This woman never directly displays love, but her passion for death reflects her eagerness to get what she wants. In ‘My Last Duchess’, details are not described with the same level of impact as in ‘The Laboratory’. The Duke seems emotionless but the woman’s emotion in ‘The Laboratory’ seem to be all for the wrong reasons.
Her excitement grows along with greed in ‘The Laboratory’ as do her expectations of what she wants the poison to do and of its appearance, ‘The colours too grim’. She also becomes overly excited and becomes edgy with anticipation of when the poison will be ‘finished’. ‘Let it brighten her drink’ shows to me that the woman wants to form a camouflage to trick the woman she hates in a similar way to that which she believes she was deceived.
The narrator is infatuated with power, greed and to have what suits herself. She is surprised by the amount, ‘What a drop!’ of the poison. This may be because she is shocked and mesmerised by the power of the poison but it may be because she is disappointed with the measly amount there is, after all her aim is have full control.
The ninth stanza sees the narrator trying to justify her reasons to kill, ‘last night as they whispered’, she witnessed the man with a woman. This adds to our impression of her madness as she has shown no evidence of having a relationship with this man, but she treats him as a possession as if he has an involvement physically in her life. It is as if the witnessing of the couple is a pivotal point for her behaviour changes, you can tell this by her choice of words. The thought of the girl has made her blood boil and she starts to think about the actual effects the poison will have on her rival. Her thoughts are sick minded as she visualises and enjoys the thought of the girls painful death. Her use of alliteration, ‘Brand’, ‘burn’ and ‘bite’ cause the effect on the audience. ‘B’ is a very harsh sound and is intense, giving the effect of the rival writhing, reflecting her pain. I think she believes that while her ‘dying face’ and the ugliness of death stays in this man’s mind, stays with him, he will see her no longer beautiful. The narrator is blinded by evil and is looking forward to another’s suffering. She shows no logic or thought and is just driven by her desire for revenge.
I believe it is in the eleventh and twelfth stanzas where we discover her true desperation and labours. ‘My whole fortunes fee’ and ‘take all my jewels’ show us her madness and the extreme she is willing to go to. She has given her all; all her money and jewels, everything that is of value, to get the satisfaction of witnessing the death of her rival. She goes to such great lengths that she effectively sells herself too, ‘kiss me’ to say thank you to the apothecary. She is so excited and eager, she is willing to sell herself to the old man sexually, ‘on my mouth if you will’. She is totally thrilled with the power and potential of the poison.
‘The Laboratory’ finishes with a massive contrast of her intention and social status, ‘I dance at the Kings!’ This hints of the corruption in the highest institutions in the country. Although she has money and a high status, she is still willing to lower herself to get her own way, as if its for her own entertainment to ruin someone else’s life, unlike the Duke in ‘My Last Duchess’ to whom, social status and appearances are everything.
In both the poems, Browning approaches the idea of love in an unexpected manner. Browning explores the idea of love not as something that should make you feel good and happy, he doesn’t explore the warm side of love but explores the dark side. Both characters in the poems show two situations of people that don’t respect love. The narrators both kill in order to get their own way that would not be expected of a typical love poem.