my last duchess Essay -- essays research papers

Poets often use literary techniques to clearly beat the personalities of their loudspeakers. InMy Last Duchess, Robert Browning uses point of view, diction, and imagery to achievea tidy effect, underlining the attitude and personality of the Duke. In a dramatic monologue, character instruction is based on what the speakersays, and how he says it. In My Last Duchess, the speaker of the monologue addressesa fictional audience, and the reader is seen as an unnoticed trey party. It is because of thisviewpoint that the reader is able to analyze the words and actions of the Duke, gaininginsight into his brio and personality that he is not aware of giving. While the poet uses hiswords to convey his intended meaning, it is up to the reader to draw his own conclusion, by dint of the witnessed events and conversation. His unequivocal and possessive nature mustinessbe inferred of the Dukes character from the elan he speaks, just as the details of thesetting and situation must be infer red from his own words. Although the reader is notdirectly spoken to in the poem, evaluation of the Dukes showy attitude can be inferredthrough his concern with the artwork and his nonchalant description of his wife, which isnoticed by the uninvolved reader. The Duke wants to present himself as a powerful and sophisticated man, and hedoes so in the beginning. However, as he ...