Thesis Statement On Attitude Towards Women

The poem “My Last Duchess” is a historical event that involves the Duke of Ferrara and Alfonso who lived in the 16th century. Robert Browning "My Last Duchess" presents a narrative about a recently widowed Duke who talks with an emissary had come to an arranged marriage with another lady from a powerful and wealthy family. In the perspective of Duke, power and wealth were integral in marriage and was determined to be married to a wealthy lady from a famous family. As the Duke orients the emissary through the palace, he stops and shows a portrait of the late Duchess who was a lovely and young girl. The Duke then begins by stating information about the picture and then to the Duchess. Duke claims that the Duchess flirted with everyone and did not appreciate the history of the family: “gift of a nine hundred years old name.”(33) However, when an individual continues to read the poem, it is evident that the Duke played an important role in killing the lady. Duke states that “he gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together”(45-46) he used these words to define the death of his beloved Duchess. The aim of the essay is to analyze literary devices that emphasize the content of the poem, which includes rhetorical questions, exclamation mark, and em dash.

Read the following short essay, and then write a 3-5 page response (12-point font, double-spaced, normal margins, no cover page, no binders). Your response should do the following three things: (1) state what the main conclusion of the essay is; (2) state what the most important premises (including sub-conclusions) are—i.e., state which premises are most important if the argument is to rationally convince its audience; (3) evaluate the quality of the argument, giving detailed reasons to justify your evaluation. For purposes of evaluation, assume that the speaker is a contemporary Canadian philosopher and the audience is a group of students in Introduction to Philosophy.

In "My Last Duchess", by Robert Browning, the character of Duke is portrayed as having controlling, jealous, and arrogant traits. These traits are not all mentioned verbally, but mainly through his actions. In the beginning of the poem the painting of the Dukes wife is introduced to us: "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,/ looking as of she were still alive" (1-2). These lines leave us with the suspicion that the Duchess is no longer alive, but at this point were are not totally sure. In this essay I will discuss the Dukes controlling, jealous and arrogant traits he possesses through out the poem.

Indeed, it quickly becomes clear that the Duke disliked many things about his dead wife. The Duke dislikes how the Duchess liked everything that she saw, believing that she was “too easily impressed; she liked whate’er she looked on”. It disappoints him because he wanted to impress her with his marriage to her and also with his money and lifestyle. What annoyed the Duke most was that:

"My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone. I earnestly wish to point out in what true dignity and human happiness consists. I wish to persuade women to endeavor to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonymous with epithets of weakness, and that those beings who are only the objects of pity, and that kind of love which has been

Analysis of “To His Coy Mistress” Andrew Marvell’s poem, “To His Coy Mistress”, is about a nameless young man speaking to a nameless young woman. This man is attempting to persuade this woman to have sex with him. This analysis will discuss how Marvell used diction, tone, and figurative language to present his argument.

In the poem, “My Last Duchess”, Browning makes an interesting connection with sexuality and murder. The first connection we receive is that Duke kills his duchess, so that he can persevere and have her all to himself. His loves for the Duchess was strong, but sometimes lead to jealousy. The only way they can be together and no one would get in their way is by murdering her. The Duke thought it was okay to kill someone who he loves because it would be easier if no one else can have them, but that is what you call abnormal or someone portrayed as a psycho. Murder is too extreme in this situation and not always the answer. They could have talked it out or went to marriage counseling.

As a mental mechanism of self defense the speaker blamed the Duchess for the jealousy he had because of the way she thanked other men and in his mind the way she ranked his prestige to the gifts of others. In addition, by shifting the blame to her he was able to have her killed without having to feeling remorse and still maintain the jealousy he had towards anyone who views his beauty with eyes of desire. As the source of the speakers jealousy the woman was was used as a tool to convey the message of the poem, which was to show the reader how the innocent gratitude of Duchess woman was vied as a negative thing and converted to jealousy by the speakers own insecurities. In the end the use and significance of the painting was to symbolize the possessives the speaker had towards the woman's beauty and when he refers to another art work in the end of the poem this symbolizes how her beauty has become part of his

Like Porphyria's lover, the murderer in "My Last Duchess" also demands control in his relationship with the Duchess. The Duke begins his speech by exposing the exquisite portrait of his former wife to an initially unidentified guest. To him, this object is his wife. "The language he uses in relation to the portrait seems deliberately confused:

In My Last Duchess, the Duke takes a gander at the artistic creation of his last duchess and trails off to the past. He talks about the admirers of the Duchess excellence and the coy responses of the Duchess of them. At that point, he talks about how he closes this by executing the Duchess.

In Robert Browning’s poem, “My Last Duchess” he killed his last duchess for many specific reasons. The Duke explains to us about his wife in a bad way, but what he says about her is all good things and she sounds to be nice and fun to be around. The duke was upset and disappointed in his wife. He also had a picture of her on the wall. I think he killed her because he got sick and tired of her and just wanted another wife.

Journal 10: My Last Duchess In “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning is a dramatic poem about a duke who is showing the portrait of his first wife, the duchess. In the story the duke very self-centered, controlling, and a jealous man. When he would try to hide them in the sotry, the more they would show. Throughout the whole poem it is told in first person.

This poem is similar to the other, in many different ways. For example, both have main male characters that seem to be mentally disturbed. In addition, both of the men have relationships with strong women who, despite apparently loving them, they each end up killing. I think that there is an important observation that one should make after learning what both of these poems are about. First, of all, never date a man like Robert Browning, he seems to be quite misunderstood and scary. I mean he essentially wrote to works of literature about killing and objectifying women. Like the other poem, “My Last Duchess” initially focuses on the idea that the women have the power and not the men. This then leads to the men feeling threatened , so the way that they choose to take this power is to kill the women themselves. Murder is essentially the tool used to switch the power from the women to the men. An important observation of the main female character in this particular poem is that the craziness of the main character is a bit more subtle. What do I mean by this? I simply mean that although the Duke is also very suspicious and commits murder, his tone and the way that he describes his situation is the most interesting predictor of his lunacy. The way that he unintentionally reveals himself to both the reader and the marriage broker, his use of modesty, and the way that he contradicts himself is very strange. In conclusion, this poem focuses differently on the male character description than in “Porphyria’s

Dear Count, I have convened with the Duke and would like to report my verdict. The Duke pulled me aside to show the portrait of his last Duchess, and out of the many words he spoke, I do not recall a single positive thing. His words, full of jealousy and hatred, were certainly not words you would wish upon any woman, especially your own daughter. This man, although as refined and majestic as he may seem, is certainly not the sort you would want espousing your daughter. If she were to marry him, all that could be expected is a miserable life of most likely solitude and imprisonment. Rumors are rampant about the Duchess’ death that it was in a mysterious fashion. In speaking with the Duke, he led me to believe that he was the cause of her death.

The main argument of the two brothers in relation to the idea of the Duchess remarrying was the disgrace to the family name. Therefore, the justification of murdering the Duchess was to say that it was an honor killing. Although the question arises as to what honor are the brothers who murdered their own sister really protecting? However, we see courage, strength and dignity in the Duchess in asserting her humanity before she dies, in the face of oppression.