English Literature-Relationship Essay.
English Literature-Relationship Essay. ‘My last Duchess’ is based on real historical figures; the narrator is Duke Alfonso II who ruled a place in northern Italy between 1559 and 1597. The Duchess that he speaks of is his first wife, Lucrezia de' Medici who died in 1561 aged 17, only two years after he married her. In real life, Lucrezia died under suspicious circumstances, she may possibly have been poisoned. The poem is set in 1564, three years after the death of the Duchess. An emissary has been sent to see the Duke from the Count of Tyro, father of the Duke's next wife; while he is there the Duke shows him a picture of his late wife and then begins to slyly remark on her character, suggesting to him that she was unfaithful to him - and hinting that he might have killed her because of it.
There are lots of personal pronouns in this poem, some of which are particularly significant as one of the themes is the narrator's high opinion of himself and his selfishness. However many of the words also relate to his love of possessions, including his former wife. The narrator, in a moment of modesty, says he is not very good with words "Even had you skill in speech- which I have not" and, in a sense, he's right. Throughout the poem you can see that the Duke thinks the world revolves around him simply because he has "a nine-hundred-years-old name" in which he states his last duchess did not respect this and valued his priceless gift amongst everybody else’s. In criticising the character of his late wife, he reveals the unpleasant side of his nature.
The relationship between the Duke and the Duchess, like that between the Duke and his art objects, is portrayed as that of a collector, who values both art and the Duchess as possessions, reflecting on his own status. The Duke believes strongly that his late wife was an adulterer “Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er She looked on, and her looks went everywhere” He portrays the relationship of Duchess and painter as
There are lots of personal pronouns in this poem, some of which are particularly significant as one of the themes is the narrator's high opinion of himself and his selfishness. However many of the words also relate to his love of possessions, including his former wife. The narrator, in a moment of modesty, says he is not very good with words "Even had you skill in speech- which I have not" and, in a sense, he's right. Throughout the poem you can see that the Duke thinks the world revolves around him simply because he has "a nine-hundred-years-old name" in which he states his last duchess did not respect this and valued his priceless gift amongst everybody else’s. In criticising the character of his late wife, he reveals the unpleasant side of his nature.
The relationship between the Duke and the Duchess, like that between the Duke and his art objects, is portrayed as that of a collector, who values both art and the Duchess as possessions, reflecting on his own status. The Duke believes strongly that his late wife was an adulterer “Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er She looked on, and her looks went everywhere” He portrays the relationship of Duchess and painter as