Both St George and the Duke have an underlying urge to display their wealth, power and self-importance. St George wastes little time before informing the princess, to whom is monologue is directed, that he is an extremely well educated man who has the good fortune to possess the finest horse and armour that money can buy.
The Duke too feels that he must impress the messenger to whom he is speaking and this is illustrated early on when he states “Fra pandolfs hands worked busily a day” displaying very in a very unsubtle way that he has both the power and the money to have such a fine object as the painting of his wife created. The Duke wants to convey an impression of wealth, power, and that he is of noble family who have a long and illustrious history. In fact though the impression that he exhibits is one of arrogance and possessiveness coupled with the fact that he is very egotistical. His attitudes also highlight his opinion that he feels power is a worthwhile thing to try to obtain.
As Browning's poem continues another very crucial side of the Duke’s character is displayed. In line 10 where the Duke says “since none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you but I” this shows a very controlling and domineering side to his character. This impression of the Duke is backed up again in the next line where he states how people would question his power and authority “if they durst.” The reader has to wait slightly longer for St George to show this same crucial and underlying side to his character when in the final line he utters the words “what in any case does it matter what you want? You’re in my way.” This comment from St George highlights a more severe and worrying side in his character, that being his views and opinions on women.
Lines 12-14 highlight this point when St George tells the princess to “carry out the roles that sociology and myth have designed for her” this shows that St George evidently feels women are of little value and importance. The Duke in My Last Duchess shares the same view as once he begins to mention his wife, several things become obvious to the reader.
Firstly, that the Duke’s former Duchess is a simple girl of humble origins who is probably uneducated and is thus naive, susceptible and unsuspecting. The girl is clearly very beautiful as can be seen by the pride that the Duke takes when showing the messenger the painting. From this we, the reader can also deduce that the Duke sees women more as objet d’art than anything else. There is an irony in that he cared for the girl so much at one point and then due to her behaviour his pride for his beautiful wife turned to jealousy and it was this jealousy that sealed the duchesses fate.
The complete reverse is true of the character of the princess in Not My Best Side. She is obviously a girl who wants to be chased. Unlike the former Duchess in Browning's poem, the princess has always enjoyed a life of luxury and she sees St George as possibly the man who would enable her to continue enjoying this lifestyle as she values money and power immensely.
Browning makes the Duke’s speeches very natural. The writer is also very idiomatic when he says, “how shall I say?” Otherwise the poem is a very tight and structured piece that follows a well-defined pattern. Browning’s use of language is very clever. He influences the reader’s feelings and emotions at times very subtly, for example in line 47 the duke says how he is wife is dead “as if alive” and due to the rhyme in the same line it is very easy at first glance to miss this important fact and at other points browning is rather more brash. The writer has obviously chosen his words very carefully so as they can evoke different emotions and feelings for different readers. The language used in Not My Best Side is very much more modern and colourful. This makes the poem more accessible to a modern audience from all walks of life.
The language in My Last Duchess is not modern English like the Fanthorpe piece, yet it is still easy to understand and comprehend and even the more subtle points that one can only obtain through reading in between the lines can be picked up. This is testament to the skill of the language that Browning uses.
Browning’s skill in writing is also displayed in the fact that he chose to make the poem a dramatic monologue. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this style. It creates constant interplay with the reader although saying this, as the poem is entirely from the Duke’s perspective, only his opinions are conveyed. This changes the reader’s response to the Duke greatly. As a result there is no independent criticism and important areas are left unsolved. As Fanthorpe uses the same poetic technique so the same can also be said of her piece.
Later on in Browning’s poem, when the Duke talks about his former wife, it is clear to see that she frustrates him with her actions. Lines 30 to 33 illustrate this as the way that she is friendly, pleasant and courteous to everyone, whoever they might be, upsets him. A few lines later the Duke refers to his former wife as “such an one”. This comment is very derogatory and he does not refer to his wife by her first name. This implies that he views her not as a person who has feelings but instead as an object of beauty who is there for his pleasure. As the Duke’s wife is very undiscriminating, this makes the Duke very jealous as he feels that he should command more respect and should be made to feel special and important.
When it becomes clear that the Duke’s former wife is dead, the shock that this creates is palpable, as one would not expect such a rich and sophisticated man to do such a nasty, horrible and dirty thing. The Duke, however, feels that he can get away with such behaviour and a man in his position is immune from the sanctions that apply to other men.
The Duke is satisfied with the painting, as finally in his mind’s eye he owns his former wife.
These two poems are different in many ways the authors are of different genders and they are written at different times yet they share many similarities. They are both dramatic monologues and they both focus on the character of selfish, greedy egotistical men who hold women in a very low regard. However and most crucially both the Duke and St George feel that there is nothing wrong or abnormal with their way of living and their views and opinions.
Tristram Ford
CH
