Write a critical appreciation of Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess”.
The beginning note is supposed to elucidate that the speaker
of the poem is that the Duke of Ferrara. This imparts the reader with location
and class environment. At the opening lines, Browning sets the scene for the
poem, focusing the reader's imagination on the painting on the wall. The
central premise of the poem is put in place presenting the dead wife will
appear to come back to life only through the artistry of the picture.
Using a painting of that former duchess as a center, he
describes what he saw as her unfaithfulness, frivolity, and stubbornness, and
implies that he prefers her as a painting rather than as a living woman.
Throughout the poem, the duke reveals his belief that ladies are objects to be
controlled, possessed, and discarded. In many ways, this reflects the thinking
of his era, when Victorian social norms denied women the right to be fully
independent human beings. Through this kind of portrayal of the duke, Browning
critiques such a viewpoint, presenting sexism and objectification as
dehumanizing processes that rob women of their full humanity.
Ultimately, the poem heavily implies that the duke was so
vexed by the idea that his former wife had an inner life of her own that he had
the "last duchess" killed. Of course, the duke avoids explicitly
confessing to assassinating his wife, and Browning himself allegedly once said
that the duke may have simply had her sent to a convent.
Thus, the poem underscores how objectifying women ultimately
silences them, robbing them of their voices and autonomy.
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