My Last Duchess Essay

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My Last Duchess by Robert Browning is about how the Duke of Ferrara is trying to marry the higher up’s daughter by convincing a servant. One way the duke does this is by taking him to his own personal art gallery, showing him some of the objects there. The object that he talks about the most is a portrait of the former duchess.
What is interesting about this poem is the symbol of the portrait of the former Duchess. The Duke talks about how the portrait is very lifelike and that it captures her emotions like her smile and the constant blush she had on her face. The Duke describes the challenging work that went into the painting. It seems like the duke cares more about the art quality than the fact that this a painting of his late wife. The person who drew the painting, Fra Pandolf, described as more as a tool then a person as all readers read about is about how his skills were not who he is as a …show more content…
This may have caused some jealousy form in the duke as he might have felt like she should only smile and blush for him not for other people. He has even accused her of being too flirtatious “Such stuff was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough for calling up that spot of joy” (Line 19-21) This gave the impression to the duke that the duchess was smiling and blushing on purpose when she received compliments and gifts. If the duchess gets any attention from anyone the duke gets unreasonable jealous, even though she is unintentionally doing it to hurt him just being polite and nice to people. This could of lead to why he never talks to her about her behavior because of his accusations where so irrational. This jealous may lead readers to think that the duke’s behavior was not because he was in love with her so much and wanted all her attention but more that he wanted her to know that he had the power and he was the one that has control of
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