Robert Browning was an English poet whose mastery of dramatic verse‚ especially dramatic monologues‚ made him one of the foremost Victorian poets. “My Last Duchess” is one of his best known dramatic monologues in which the speaker reveals his character to a silent listener. This poem is loosely based on historical events involving Alfonso‚ the Duke of Ferrara‚ who lived in the 16th century. The Duke is the speaker of the poem. He tells us he is entertaining a representative who has come to settle
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#1Reflection on "My Last Duchess"The speaker is notably a snobbish‚ childish‚ and indifferent Duke. He does not seem to have any remorse for his murder of his "Duchess" and remains arrogantly steadfast to his justification that his murder was for the cause of her (the Duchess’s) "too soon made glad" by other men‚ and her smiles to everyone who passed. He describes her as if she was just another distant thing in the past‚ and disregards the painting of her as just another piece of artwork. The poem
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I read a critical article on Robert Browning’s "My Last Duchess". I confess it was harder to find something in the NCLC’s than I would’ve thought. There was a considerable accumulation of critiques on Browning’s work‚ but very little on "My Last Duchess". The article I found concentrated mostly on the Duke in the poem‚ and our reactions to him‚ stating that "[t]he utter outrageousness of the Duke’s behavior makes condemnation the least interesting response " The title of the article was "Sympathy
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all together. He Victorian audience would be able sympathize with this situation because during those times the males had an ownership over females. This shows that the husband had more power and was superior in this relationship. Like ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ the husband seemed to be more powerful than the
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In the Merchant of Venice‚ Shakespeare illustrates his feelings towards Jews in 17th century England through the use of a commonly known stereotype during the time‚ the racial tension between Jews and Christians. Shylock is the focal point of the play‚ and acts as the traditional stereotype of the Jew in Elizabethan times. The merchant of venice is often seen as an anti-semitic work due to the stereotypical portrayal of the jewish character shylock. Some would argue that the most inevitable interpretation
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Week Three Assignment: Compare and Contrast Jacqueline Stephens ENG 125 Introduction to Literature Instructor Annemarie Hamlin September 20‚ 2012 Week Three Assignment: Compare and Contrast I have chosen to compare and contrast the literary works‚ “Country Lovers” by Nadine Gordimer and “The Welcome Table” by Alice Walker‚ the theme being race / ethnicity. I want to explore the differences in how each of the black women portrayed their selves and how the narrator made me feel when reading
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The Last Song‚ written by Nicholas Sparks‚ is the story of 18 year old Veronica “Ronnie” Miller’s reconnection with love and trust. Ronnie‚ a former piano prodigy who is angry at the world (and even angrier at her parents) after a divorce breaks up her family and sends her musician father packing to a small beach town. Years later‚ she remains distant from her parents‚ particularly Steve. She is so angry that she has abandoned the one thing that she and her father used to share in common‚ the piano
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“A Rose For Emily”‚ “Tell Tale Heart”‚ and “My Last Duchess”‚ are all narratives with the theme of madness and murder. Each narrator’s point of view shapes their story. “A Rose For Emily” is told from an outside point of view while‚ in contrast‚ “Tell Tale Heart” and “My Last Duchess” are both told by a participant in the story. The point of view a story is told from can greatly impact what the reader believes. In each narrative‚ the narrator’s motivation to tell the tale influences how the tale
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Compare the ways poets present relationships in ‘Les Grands Seigneurs’ and in one other poem from Character and Voice In this essay I will be commenting on the presentation of relationships in two poems. The first poem is ‘Les Grands Seigneurs’‚ in which the speaker remarks on her life before marriage‚ where she was adored and worshiped by men‚ and how it has changed after marriage. ‘My Last Duchess’ is a dramatic monologue in which the speaker comments on his late wife and her character‚ suggesting
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scale. By analyzing the stories: ?The Yellow Wallpaper? written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and ?My Last Duchess? by Robert Browning‚ one can take a look into the soul of mankind and attempt to define its ubiquitous desire for control and the backlash that ensues. ?Notice Neptune‚ though Taming a sea-horse‚ thought a rarity‚ Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!?(Browning‚ p. 53) The Duke?s desire for control is shown as he relates him self to a god attempting to capture the most extreme
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