Theme Of Femininity In My Last Duchess

“I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together” (Browning 45-45). The dominating theme shaped by The Duke in Robert Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess” is power. Browning put an emphasis on power from the very beginning of the poem. The Duke in the poem is the speaker; He is entertaining an emissary who is visiting on the business of arranging another marriage for the duke. As they are walking through the Kingdom, they stop and pull the curtains off of a painting, which the Duke is the only one allowed to do this. The painting is of his late Duchess, he talks of her disgraceful behaviour: Claiming she flirted with any man who laid eyes on her, and how she did not appreciate his “nine-hundred-years-old name” (Browning 33). As he continues

This becomes evident in a lack of information about the type of society, and the reader therefore lacks a complete understanding of how the women are oppressed. As a whole, this poem sets forth the idea that female gender is fluid, and asks its readers to questions what it means to be a woman in a male dominant

Conflict arises from the moral, ethical and ideological differences within our world and have constructive and destructive consequences for the individual as well as society. Entrenched power structures and hierarchies within our society come into conflict with individual values as explored in The Bank which focuses on the effect of growing capitalism on modern Australia, and My Last Duchess which is concerned with women within a patriarchal society as well as the role men are expected to fulfil in such a society. Ideological differences within a society can also create conflict between individuals and groups however while The Bank examines the destructive effects on society through Simon as a character, The lady’s not for turning, is a representation

Although it is a slight motion, it registers in the viewer’s eye. This depicts him as an active, rather than passive, court member. By this miniature’s account, Charles the Bold practices to become the Duke of Burgundy by engaging in court life, even though he is only twelve years of age in this image. In case the miniature too subtly depicts Charles’ involvement in Burgundian politics, the heraldry on the borders clarifies any doubts.

No ingress, neither egress that is the great exponent of arrogance, the external world does not matter for the Prince and his friends; only their pleasures and happiness is important for them. Secondly, the Prince´s strange tastes are linked with the gloom and darkness of the death. “The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colors and effects […]” (Poe E. A. year of publication?

The nature of womanhood, or what we perceive as the inherent proclivities that govern only those born as a woman, is often the base argument for the unequal treatment of the female sex. Women are weak, natural-born mothers, unfit to do much else beyond simple household chores and rearing children. This portrait of women seems almost comical in its antiquity; however, we cannot disregard the past, as it shapes the present. The question of the nature of womanhood is rarely allowed nuance, which is a shame, because womanhood can be many, often contradictory things. Instead, the traits we often associate with womanhood stem from society’s projection of what women should be, not necessarily what they are.

In comparison to the rigid patriarchal society portrayed in “My Last Duchess”, Keats’ “La Belle Dame sans Merci” illustrates how the freedom of individual expression in the romantic period affects people’s perspective on love. While the narrative persona in “My Last Duchess” demands his wife to devote her love to him, the protagonist of “La Belle Dame sans Merci” devotes to the woman he loves even though the love is unrequited. This is evident through the repetition of the line “On the cold hill side.” throughout the poem. The noun phrase “cold hill” suggests that the knight is lonely and depressed when he waits for the woman solely, however unlike the narrative persona of “My Last Duchess”, he would not demand the woman to love him instead he would wait patiently until the day his affection towards her is accepted. Subsequently, through the knight’s patience in waiting for the woman he favours, Keats highlights the strong affection she has for the woman.

Two of the poems in this book are “Porphyria’s Lover” and “My Last Duchess”. In “Porphyria’s Lover”, Browning presents an understanding to the irrational mind of a selfish man, while “My Last Duchess” tells a story about the Duke of Ferrara telling a guest that his wife was murdered and what the motive was. The two speakers share similar qualities, both being greedy and unashamed. The difference between the narrators is how they show their love for the women. Using dramatic monologue, the author lets the reader explore the strange thinking of the

This represents the idea of how people saw McCandless was, but Krakauer contradicts that by saying what McCandless was not that or this. This is noble because all the traits Krakauer listed are negative and insults, and by saying that McCandless did not have or exhibits these traits, it is implied that McCandless had more noble and positive traits. Smiling in the picture: This portrays noble because Krakauer uses this phrase to demonstrate the strength that McCandless had even when he knew his time of death was coming soon. In the face of death, many people are afraid and scared, however, Krakauer, shares with the readers that McCandless was smiling. This shows how Krakauer, saw the bravery and courage that McCandless had even up to his inevitable end.

Throughout history, women have had to fight against stigma and stereotypes in society. In every era, from the ancient world to present day, females have been persecuted and taken advantage of due to their gender. In our previous set of readings, the female protagonists were strong characters who defied weak stereotypes, but were still viewed as lesser beings than men. In our second group of readings, where were written more recently, women saw a slight increase in their sovereignty. All depict women as powerful figures who use their wits to make a better life for themselves.

Foucault’s development of these discourses made it very hard for the Repressive Hypothesis to stand. Associating the change in discourse solely with the rise of the bourgeoisie, there was no explanation for the appearance of the other discourses. Foucault relates this appearance to the increase of knowledge at the time connecting it to power. Restating what is now a popular saying, “Knowledge is Power.” (Francis

-I will be concentrating on the different, even contradictory, ways people invoked the discourse of civilization to construct what it meant to be a man.” (p. 25) She argues that the specific aspects of discourse of civilizations are race, gender and power. The author uses different people to prove her thesis. She does this to illustrate different views of manhood in different times and also genders.

He believed in the whole modern society, diffuse power has been immersed in all aspects of life. It can be captured in the small places. This diffuse power is not necessarily rely on the unified state machine, but in various specific areas. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the mechanisms of discipline gradually extended throughout the entire society. As we can see, modern factories, schools, military barracks, hospitals and prisons are to some extent similar to each other; this is what Foucault calls “the advent of disciplinary society”.

“Born in 1806, Elizabeth Browning spent most of her adult life as an invalid, ruled over by a tyrannical father who forbade any of his sons and daughters to marry. She married Robert Browning in 1846 after a courtship that had to be kept secret.” Thus, the passion in the poem represents the exact kind that motivated Elizabeth Browning to abandon her family tradition to marry Robert Browning. Furthermore, the transformative power of the love described corresponds to the way Elizabeth Browning often credited her husband for saving her life. As the power couple of English poetry, the Brownings are remarkable for their ability to love with words.

This novel is also autobiographical. Throughout history, women have been locked in a struggle to free themselves from the borderline that separates and differentiate themselves from men. In many circles, it is agreed that the battleground for this struggle and fight exists in literature. In a