My Last Duchess 1

My last Duchess

My last Duchess is a poem written by Robert Browning. It talks about a widower, and about to marriage Duke, who has his new father-in-law in his palace. while the Duke is showing him the palace, they stop before a very beautiful portrait for a charming woman. The Duke tells him that this is my ex-wife , whom I killed, just for looking at other men and smiling for everyone, then he goes on and justifies his murder by saying," how it comes that my wife smiles to others like she smiles to me, I am the Duke and I must be different from others . By telling this , he wants to convey a message to his new wife , that is , when you are with me , the only thing in this world you have to care about is me and nothing else , also you are not permitted to do any action without referring to me . The poem and the murder have a lot of interpretations, that might be taken from many sides according to the social rank of the persona, the era in which the poem was written, and the psychological structure of man in general. The social rank of the persona: The persona is the character that tells the poem, which is the Duke. To him the word Duke means so many things such as, power, superiority, and nobility, so he believes that he has the right to do anything he likes, even if this thing is harmful to others .He has no doubt that everything belongs to him, for that reason, killing his wife for a trivial reason is something normal, because his wife is a part of his property like anything else. The title itself contains the possessive pronoun (My), which indicates that the persona is talking about something he owns. The era in which the poem was written The Victorian era is the frame that surrounds the poem, it is the frame that was diminishing the role of woman and at the same time aggrandizing the role of man as he was ranked on the top of the human's pyramid, consequently, and from this social background the murder of the Duke is logically justified. Regardless to his social rank, he is a man, and a man in that age is better than a woman, therefore, he has the right to control her completely. That is; she is not permitted to smile, cry, love, or hate without asking him.

The woman that keeps smiling and flirting others is committing a sin for a man of that age, so the murder is predicted. He couldn't stand seeing her doing that. The psychological structure of man in general Ten thousand years ago, and after ten thousand years, man will stay man. From the beginning of the universe and the first sin on earth, when Cane killed his brother Able, just for a woman. Man was and still attracted to woman and may do anything just to win her heart. What happened with the Duke is natural. He thought that after all things that he did for her, and all love he bestowed her, she simply betrayed him, so he decided to have a portrait drawn for her, and then kill her. He did so believing that, his wife as a portrait will be more beautiful as she won't grow up and at the same time she will not betray him anymore. Any man on earth, a part from his nationality or religion, feels that the woman he loves is just for him and only for him, so he may do anything just to keep her beside him, even if this thing is murdering someone. .