In My Last Duchess, the Duke has power, importance, prominence, wealth and control over his life. We know this as he is a “duke” and has many possessions. He is also looking for more status by marrying into an even more powerful family than his own, thus gaining more power and possibly more wealth. In this poem there is a silent listener who is the servant of the Count of Tyrol.
In Ulysses the speaker also has power, wealth, importance and prominence. Ulysses has not gained his power through inheritance like the Duke, but rather by his own exploits on the battlefield. He is not looking for a new wife, but instead is trying to return to his current wife. Ulysses is also trying to lose his power, the opposite of the Duke, and will do this by standing down from power and passing the “sceptre and the isle” to his “son” who he introduces to his kingdom in advance.
The worlds of both speakers are evoked by the presence of silent listeners, a feature of the dramatic monologue. In the case of My Last Duchess the silent listener is a servant of the Count of Tyrol who has come for marriage negotiations with the Duke and to see if he would be a suitable husband for the Count’s daughter. The Duke has control over the servant through veiled commands; for example, “Will it please you to sit” is actually a command to sit. In Ulysses the silent listener changes throughout the poem. Some examples of the silent listeners in this poem are his kingdom and his fellow mariners.
Robert Browning presents the power of the Duke through his attitude to others. At the beginning of the poem he refers to the “hands” of a monk from the early Tuscan Renaissance, “Fra Pandolf”. By referring to only his hands, the duke demotes the monk to the only things that are useful to him, to create the painting of his Duchess. The painting is a possession which he can control, unlike the living Duchess, and he keeps a “curtain” drawn in front of it so that no one but he can see the Duchess. The Duke also mentions “Claus of Innsbruck” who cast “Neptune” “taming a sea-horse” for “me”. The emphasis on the word “me” shows that the Duke thinks he has power over famous craftsmen and how he can get them to do what he wants and can control them from all over the world. He also likens himself to the gods and puts himself above them. The idea that Neptune is “taming a sea-horse”, demonstrates power that the Duke invests in himself, over his Duchesses both past and future.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson demonstrates Ulysses’ power and character through his possessions. He likens Ulysses to his sword, a sign of power and wealth. He demonstrates how he likes to live and to fight in battles. We know this as he talks about how it is dull to “rust unburnished, not to shine in use”. This means that he would rather die in battle than to grow old not having experienced the thrill of a battle. The sword would only remain shiny if it was used, since the sword would be cleaned after every battle or kill. Ulysses also says how he will “drink life to the lees” meaning that he will drink life to the final dregs, or that he will try to get the most out of life as possible, and keep trying to until his death. Ulysses is also a driven person as he talks about “roaming with a hungry heart”, showing that it is adventure and discovery that keeps him alive and that he is driven by this.
Overall, I think that the poem My Last Duchess was the more successful poem. By successful I mean that it was a more engaging poem and a more satisfying poem to read than Ulysses. My Last Duchess also forms a more successful historical setting and reflects the time period when it was written better than Ulysses. Ulysses, however, has a more interesting plot than My Last Duchess and actually moves, whereas My Last Duchess has a circular plot as the end ties into the beginning of the poem and can, almost, be read without the middle and still make sense. All in all, poetry is not my favorite form of literature, but if I had to pick a poem that I liked best, it would be My Last Duchess due to the fact that it was a more satisfying and engaging poem to read, with many hidden meanings.
