my last duchess Flashcards
(25 cards)
my last duchess
last is ambiguous as we don’t know if he’s had a string of wives and she’s his most recent or that she’s died?
uses possesive pronouns ‘my’ suggests he’s quite a possessive character
uses ferrara (italian city) almost as a subheading which alludes to Alfonso ii who was a duke in 1500s and his second wife died, no one knew if he killed her or not, my last duchess could be a representation of what happened
poem criticises the treatment of women
thats my last duchess
pronouns ‘that’ suggests the duke objectifies his duchess, he refers to her as an object (that instead of she)
last suggests he sees his duchesses as a collectable, (like one collects art)
looking as if she were alive
either suggests painting is so life like it looks as if she is alive
or
does it mean that shes dead
i call that piece a wonder now
repetition of pronoun that referring to his wife as a ‘piece’ rather than a human
later we can see that he didn’t treat her like a human at all
he only considers the piece of art ‘now’ a wonder, suggests he didn’t regard her highly when she was alive.
fra pandolf
fra is Italian term for monk and directly translates to ‘brother’ later on the duke will hint that theres something going on between them but fra makes his claim unbelievable as a monk is expected to be celibate
repitions of ‘fra pandolf’ almost as if he is name dropping/ bragging he had a famous artist paint it for him (although the artists int real irl)
sit and look at her
objectifying her as he indicates shes just something to look at
(since none puts by The curtain i have drawn for you, but i)
parenthesis. he’s saying the only people who have been able to view this painting have been with him as he has the painting hidden behind curtains- controlling
if they durst
highlights many people fear the duke- negativity
‘twas not her husband presence only called the spot’
it wasnt just him that caused her to blush
refers to blushing (something quite endearing and beautiful) as ‘spot’ which presents it more as a blemish or an imperfection
her mantle laps over my ladys wrist to much or aint must never hope ro reproduce the faint half flush that dies along her throat
he’s imagining what fra pandolf must be saying to her to cause her to blush
-sleeves covers wrist too much show skin
-how will i be able to reproduce the blush you have
spot of joy
spot of joy emphasises how annoyed he would get at seeing this
‘a heart…too soon made glad, too easily impressed, liked whate’er she looked on, and her looks went everywhere….the dropping of daylight in the west the bough of cherries some officious fool…., the white mule she rode…., thanked men’
‘and her looks went everywhere’, contrasts now to the painting where he can control where she looks (curtain)
list of all the things that annoyed him that his wife did but the list of things is a list of great qualities, the list encourages the reader to like the duchess. exposes the duke to be irrational and jealous
‘my gift of a nine-hundred-year-old name with anybody’s gift.
he’s annoyed that she treats people like equals, she treats people who things her cherries the same as her husband who gave her his name.
the duke is proud and pretentious. hes mad he she isnt as pretentious as he is as she treats people the same.
‘stoop’
repeated 3 times, concerned of lessening himself to other, if he complained about this it would be below him- pretentious and aware of hierarchy in social status
‘(which i have not)’
saying he’s not a skilled speaker, ironic as he is speaking in iambic pentameter and its a dramatic monologue showing that he’s skilled in speech. we learn that he’s dishonest and we shouldnt believe anything else that he hints at (his wifes affair)
just this or that in you disgust me; here you miss, or there exceed the mark
dialogue reveals how the duke feels about his wife his disgusts her- hes irrational. it makes us feel sorry for her as shes a nice woman. antitthesis of the duchesssss
lessonded
he wants her to be taught by him, he sees her as a child or beneath him but why would he because he should have to stoop to her level
‘she smiled no doubts whenever i passed her but who passed without much the same smile’
encpiutaged the reader to feel sorry for her as shes a nice person. his issue is she smiles the same for everyone else. this highlights how insecure/jealous the duke is. he wants to feel special and different but she treats everyone euqally
this grew; i gave commands; then all smiles stopped together.
short clauses- sinister tone and ambiguous
-what commands did he give, juxtaposed to all smiles stopped together
as if alive. will’t please you rise
juxtaposistion, changes his tune quickly and moves onto somthing else- emphasises sinister tone
at starting is my object
word choice- possessiveness, reffered to her as his object- prossesive pronoun. just seens women as a possesion
nay we’ll go… notice nepture, thouhg, taming a sea horse
as we go down the hallways, it juxtaposed to him pointing at another piece of art, highlights how he sees his wife as another object/collectible
dosent think any higher of his wife, than neptune taming a sea horse
taming a sea horse draws parallels to own behaviour as he likes to tame women
claus of innsbruck
name dropping another name emphasises his bragging
structure and form
dramatic monologue-self important/narcissism-
uses personal pronouns all the way through title starts with my and end with me (self obsessed)
Iambic pentameter in rhyming couplets= tightly controlled poem reflects how tightly controlling he is over his wives
enjambment helps create a conversational tone makes it more sinister as he sounds ike he dosent care about what hes saying. Chilling feel
