Critical Appreciation of My Last Duchess
Introduction
Robert Browning was a great Victorian poet. He is well known for his dramatic monologues. His poetry presents the typical Victorian society. His poem ‘My Last Duchess’ was first published in 1842 in Dramatic Lyrics, a volume in his Bells and Pomegranates series. This poem has presented male dominance during the Victorian society.
Central Idea
The main male character of the poem ‘duke of ferrara’ is showing picture of his last duchess to the representative of his future wedding prospect and indirectly conveys his stance for his upcoming wife by narrating what happened to his last duchess. Poem reflects Victorian society’s attitude of male dominance. The last duchess of the duke was a jovial character who passes smile to everyone who greets her and she used to pass same smile to the Duke too. It was not liked by the Duke and he most probably got her killed as assumed by the line –
‘This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together.
In this way poem reflects idea of satisfaction of ego of the Duke who wanted a special treatment from the Duchess which she failed to understand. It also conveys thought of boasting of parental lineage and superiority of males/husbands against their wives who must be kept happy in every way.
Themes
- Satisfaction of male ego – Poem has its central character in the form of Duke who through a monologue explains his concerns about his previous duchess to a representative of next wedding proposal. Duke had a beautiful wife indicated by the picture he showed to the listener of his monologue. But Duke was unhappy due to not receiving special treatment from the duchess. He had given her ‘gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name’ of his family by marrying her. This prestigious place in the society given by Duke to the duchess shouldn’t be compared to anyone else. Due to personal ego he didn’t correct the so called wrong behaviour of the duchess as he says ‘Who’d stoop to blame /This sort of trifling? This non-fulfilment of ego of the Duke is prime reason of banishment or death of the duchess.
- Jealousy – Another important theme in the poem is of Jealousy. As the Duchess indiscriminately passes smile to everyone including the Duke was not liked by the Duke itself. As he felt jealousy on equal treatment being given by the duchess to other people too. He even mentioned about the blushing or a glance in the painting shown to the representative of next wedding proposal who is also the listener in this monologue. That glance in the painting is not liked by the duke as – ‘twas not / Her husband’s presence only, called that spot / Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek. Duke was jealous that the Duchess was giving that glance due to the painter ‘Fra Pandolf’ said her something not due to the presence of the Duke.
- Power – Poem reflects power elements too. Power in terms of male chauvinism. Duke considers himself superior to the Duchess hence endowed with more power in his own opinion. When he didn’t get the requisite respect and superior treatment from the Duchess he “gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together”. This line itself is a testimony of such power. It is a tragedy too in single line that Duke might have got rid of the Duchess by getting her killed.
Figure of Speech
- Alliteration – Notice Neptune, Her husband’s has repetition of consonant sounds /n/ and /h/ at the starting of words hence it’s a case of alliteration.
- Assonance – ‘smiles stopped’, ‘As if alive’ has repetition of vowel sounds /e/ and /a/ hence its assonance.
- Synecdoche – ‘All smiles stopped together’ has synecdoche as smile is used for human being.
- Hyperbole – In line ‘She looked on, and her looks went everywhere’ has hyperbole as it’s an exaggerated statement.
- Euphemism – ‘I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together’. This line has euphemism as ‘smiles stopped together’ is a polite way of saying the harsh reality.
Critical Note
Margaret Atwood in her short story ‘My Last Duchess’ shown another side of Duke. She through the character ‘Nell’ shown that Duchess was a ‘dumb bunny’ and she was like those “girls at school who smiled at everyone in the same earnest, humorless way”. She even interpreted the line ‘I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together’ in different manner. She writes Duke might have banished the Duchess rather than killing.
Features of Victorian Age in the Poem
First and foremost Victorian age demanded woman as pure and submissive which the Duke wanted from her last duchess. Secondly patriarchy was among stark features of Victorian society. Duke was totally self-concerned and wanted to satisfy his own ego. Women were powerless, men controlled lives of women. For a women marriage was extremely significant in Victorian age and she had to live according whims and fancies of her husband. Duchess became prey of that on not able to understand and follow the patriarchal norms of the Duke. Women had very few or negligible rights during Victorian age which are quite visible in the poem as the Duke makes aware the listener about his expectations in future wife by mentioning about the last duchess.
Psychoanalysis in the My Last Duchess
Poem should be looked into from the psychoanalytic study of the Duke who is suffering from a kind of personality disorder. He has narcissism personality disorder. He straightaway in the poem tells the listener about reasons of him not liking his previous duchess. In narcissism a person wants admiration and ego satisfaction for himself. The person doesn’t care about other’s emotions and feelings and is totally focused on itself. Duke has similar narcissistic attitude and that wasn’t fulfilled by the duchess which resulted into banishment or death of her.
Anti-Feministic poem
Poem belongs to the Victorian age which was anti-feministic. This was the time when women had least rights. In the poem the duchess doesn’t have even right to smile on her own choice towards people. But contrary to the wish of the Duke when she did it, it did not go well with the Duke.
Dramatic Monologue
My Last Duchess is a dramatic monologue. It is well known monologue of the Robert Browning. Monologue is a speech in the play or poem where a speaker brings out his thoughts while dramatic monologue is a form of speech or narrative in which a speaker himself do the two sided conversation despite presence of a listener and reveals the character of himself and others. Hence ‘My Last Duchess’ is a dramatic monologue in which the Duke do the talking for himself and the listener who is a representative of his master came to the Duke for marriage proposal. During this single speaker conversation Duke reveals his and duchess character. He even reveals intentions of the listener.
Structure and Rhyme Scheme
Poem is a monologue written without any stanzas. It is written in rhymed couplets.
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