I am contrasting the poems, "My Last Duchess" and "On the Departure Platform". Both poems, although are written in very much contrasting styles, share a central theme of loss and separation of a women

ENGLISH COURSEWORK:

These poems present contrasting attitudes towards women and relationships. Explore these attitudes and the ways in which each poet portrays them.

      I am contrasting the poems, “My Last Duchess” and “On the Departure Platform”. Both poems, although are written in very much contrasting styles, share a central theme of loss and separation of a women. It must be taken into consideration that these poems would have been written in the 19th Century when society may still have been very patriarchal. The attitudes towards relationships would have been very much centred on the male being the decision making partner emphasising this feeling of a patriarchal society. However these themes in themselves, contrast also.

     “My Last Duchess”, by Robert Browning is written in the style of what’s known as a dramatic monologue. It is called that because it consists entirely of the words of a single speaker who reveals in his speech his own nature and the dramatic situation in which he finds himself. The dramatic monologue reveals its own place and time as it proceeds to uncover the psychology of the speaker at a significant moment in his or her life. The use of this dramatic monologue allows the reader to get into the mind of the character which is vital for understanding this poem.

     In this dramatic monologue, the subject is the Duke’s last Duchess who he is talking about and not portraying her too kindly. The obvious observation to be made from the title and from the opening couple of lines, is that the Duchess is dead, “My Last Duchess”. A very important observation is also in the word ‘my’, implying that there was a sense of ownership on the side of the Duke towards the Duchess. This purely amplifies the sense of living in a patriarchal society. The Dukes attitude towards the Duchess is very hostile. “The depth and passion of its earnest glance.” This tells the reader that the Duke was jealous of the Duchess and she must have had many admirers. We also hear of how the Duke was very suspicious of his wife, “Her husbands presence only, called that spot.” This means he may have been suspecting her of cheating on him. The reader gets the idea that the Duke did not believe his wife loved him enough to deserve him. He treats her almost as an object, a possession of his, of which he decides what happens to. He describes a lack of respect, “as if she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred years old name, with anybodies gift.” This portrays the Duchess as the kind of woman who doesn’t judge people on their name, or on their rank in society, but on the kind of people they actually are. This would make the reader feel that the Duke’s complaints against the Duchess are very unfair. She was obviously a kind, gentle and emotional woman who had many admirers. This, if anything helps the reader gather an accurate idea of the Duke as being a lonely, selfish and arrogant man. He was in fact so out of touch with himself that he had his wife killed, “I gave commands”. This continues the theme of loss and separation seen in both poems, but here, the example is about ruthlessness of the Duke in ordering the death of his wife. This shows his lack of love for women and respect for the opposite sex, portraying a poor attitude. However one could argue that the Duke does have a really strong love for his wife. His choice of getting his wife painted by Fra Pandolf (a renaissance artist) must be considered a signal that he found his wife beautiful and must have loved her deep. His decision to keep the painting hung up in his place of residence is an indication that he is not ashamed of her and what she did, showing he does not detest her, although she wounded him deeply. Perhaps, killing her was a bit too extreme but I believe the Duke’s belief was that his wife was either his, or no-ones which is quite harsh but is a true reflection on the society in which the poem is set.