My Last Duchess by Robert Browning

[JPsSuperStairway]

i think the man has a good voice, but the video just has the wrong setting.

[hamsolo474]

this was a good video but i defiantly think that this duke couldn't quiet convey the sinster tone of brownings duke across. this man seemed more like he had a compulsion to fill the silence, and would continue to do so untill the guest spoke

[x5pyd3rx]

@hamsolo474 But in the poem he had a "non- chalant" attitude. about it. notice in the poem how he goes into the next peice of art like he was not talking about the murder of his wife at all. (however the acting is pretty bad)

[inoxxshika]

this is my favourite poem in th eprose, the video is great too, its scary the way he acts though towards her death [and his previous duchess' death]

im awaiting the english exam tomorrow- i'll be using my last duchess [last minute revidion time ^o^ hehe]

[husslecozimhere]

i cant understand this

[MusicIsMyLife39]

This is a poem I'm studying for my English class, it's beautiful. The story is so eerie, how to talks about her death so casually. Although I need some help...

I get the story behind it, but I honestly can't figure out a theme statement! Can anyone help?

[DV02459]

Well, I'd definitely include narcissism in your theme statement (and how it destroys the duke's humanity)...

[MusicIsMyLife39]

Right, good idea.

Thanks a lot ^.^

[xxCHANIQUA93xx]

I am also studying this poem, the themes i covered in class were: resentment, passage of time, murder/death and outsider. i hope this helps.

[JPsSuperStairway]

@MusicIsMyLife39 The Dukes previous wife (the title is ambiguous) was always happy, smiling at everyone, treating servant like lord etc. The Duke assumes this is only because she is cheating, which is odd as he is angry that sunsets, and white mules make her happy. He orders her be killed, and then has a picture done. He hides it behind a curtain so she only smiles 4 him. This is all spoken to a messenger, whose masters daughter is going to marry the Duke. Its a warning basically.

[karinandrino]

@JPsSuperStairway He doesn't think she's cheating. It's even worse than that. He's such an egomaniac that he can't bear the fact that she smiles at everyone and not just him thereby insulting his honor.

[JPsSuperStairway]

@MusicIsMyLife39 oh ps, i have no idea what a theme statement is, but in my country, for our GCSEs we just had to analysis the language, imagery and irony of the monologue

[comedytragedybaby]

I think this does quite well to show that the duke might have underlying insecurities which might be the cause of his actions rather than just his jealousy. The duke initially sounds quite tyrannical, but this reading almost makes me feel sympathy towards him.

[deepam08]

nice poem my favourite ,well in this the envoy looks so dumb.

[Pippinsky94]

ive done an essay on this too! comparing this to To His Coy Mistress. it slightly scares me. :}

[mixy997]

this psycho analytic approach zat was hold by Browning and tennyson they were amazing

[wrestling183]

i am also doing an essay project on this but in comparison with Porphyria's lover (another famous dramatic monologue by Browning) The actor portrays the dukes character quite well i think. His emphasis of the convuluted syntax in excellent.

[netsachls]

how can I get this video?

[markismac]

second?

[54spiritedwill54]

I am also doing a project about this.

[rizikm]

This "Duke" is very mid-20th century scholar, trepid and stuttering and critically thoughtful.

But Browning's Duke speaks like a late Romantic: reflective, with brooding and menacing undertones, yet effortless and graceful in his presentation. There should be very little halting and jerky changes of facial expressions. If that would sound pre-deliberated, that's because most Romantic poetry sounded pre-deliberated.

I imagine Anthony Hopkins would handle it well, given a wig and a cloak.

[Bubdylan524]

Rizikm, I agree that what you describe would be better (I can't actually see this duke having the hangy-downs to dispose of his duchess as Browning's did) but I also like this interpretation for some reason. It's at least got an eerie quality that's not completely unlike what I felt reading the poem.

[DV02459]

Bubdylan, Rizikm, I appreciate your thoughtful comments. The 'halting' approach I did hope would be somewhat creepy, as unconventional as it otherwise was.

[vergeharget]

One of the great poems of the English language.

Itzik Basman

[mustlovejazz]

i personally did not like the duke. he smiles to much and his body language just did not suit the duke i had in mind when i read the poem.

[fifiesponja07]

Interesting...I am doing a project about this.

[trolllover05]

We have to study this poem in school...personally i thought the duke smiled a bit too much and there really is no 'passionate' glance in that painting.

[revelation1229]

well i fink dat the duke suspected dat the dutchess was havin a fling wid da artist, as she was blushin, but of course she wud blush as da artist had 2 paint her consider that

[revelation1229]

yh but the duke did state that there was a "blush" in the dutchess' face