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Emissary In My Last Duchess

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My last duchess is written by Robert Browning which first appeared in 1842, after the Renaissance period. The poem “My last duchess” is set in 16th Century Renaissance Italy. A Duke which holds a nine hundred years old name shows an emissary through his palace. The emissary came to negotiate the Duke’s marriage to a daughter of a powerful family. The Duke later stops before a painting of his last Duchess which was painted directly on the wall. The Duke orders the emissary to sit down and enjoy the painting as he begins to describe the characteristics and personalities of the Duchess. The Duchess was easily pleased, she smiled at everything and also blushed easily. He also suggests that she flirted with everyone and did not appreciate his gift of a nine hundred years old name. However, the Duke never decided to correct her as he would not lower his position to change her. Which is why when her personality soon escalated it drove the Duke into hatred and jealousy which he later decided to murder her. Having told his story, the Duke quickly returns back to arranging the marriage with the emissary and continues to walk him through his gallery. …show more content…

This phrase tells us that he referred his last wife as a piece of artwork. Furthermore, while the Duke spoke with the emissary, we are hinted that he might have treated all his wives as objects or possessions shown in the phrase “At starting, is my object”. The Duke referred the Count’s daughter as an object which suggests that he is probably going to treat her in the same way as he did with his last wife and may also end up the same like his last Duchess. These ideas help present the way the Duke treats his wives as objects as well as us wondering what could have happened to his past

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