Dramatic Monologue:"My Last Duchess"
I missed the in class conversation about this, so if anyone has any key points they wish to share, please comment.
I read the poem and I thought the author was almost trying to hint that the Duchess was "easy" with his remarks that she was "too soon made glad, too easily impressed." Since the voice seemed to be coming from the painter, who was hired by the duchess's family, it seems odd that he would talk negatively of those who had paid him for his work.
I also don't understand what the speaker means when he says, "Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt, Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together." Any explinations??
- Charlotte
I read the poem and I thought the author was almost trying to hint that the Duchess was "easy" with his remarks that she was "too soon made glad, too easily impressed." Since the voice seemed to be coming from the painter, who was hired by the duchess's family, it seems odd that he would talk negatively of those who had paid him for his work.
I also don't understand what the speaker means when he says, "Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt, Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together." Any explinations??
- Charlotte
posted by L Lazarow | 4:57 PM
3 Comments:
Hey Char -
In class, Laz talked about how her easy smiles showed how easily she was pleased - both with her husband and with things more mundane (like the cherries frmo the orchard). These easy-pleasing nature was what made the Ferrarra angry - he felt it was immature of her to be so easily pleased and wanted to be one of her only sources of pleasure.
We also talked about how the line "then all smiles stopped together" hinted towards the fact that he had his wife killed. Pretty much this poem is how the Duke of Ferrara is looking for a new wife who will be exactly what he is looking for (someone who will obey me and let me have complete control over) because my last wife was killed by me. I had to have her killed because she doesn't see any distinction between me and everyone else, and because I couldn't have complete control over her. One of the nastier parts is the irony that now in her death, the Duke can have complete control over her. He admits that "none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I." In fact the Duke's desire to be in control is demonstrated throughout the poem as he commands his vistor constantly.
"--E'en then would be some stooping, and I choose / Never to stoop." --> This line pretty much sums up the Duke's attitude.
I hadn't gotten the sense that the Duke hated her so. It seemed a mild commentary, not a complete oration of his killing her for the need to have superiority. I felt the tone was much lighter than that, but I guess that's a personal opinion.
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