Robert Browning’s “My Last Duches” as a dramatic monologue

Question: What is dramatic Monologue? Describe Robert Browning’s “My Last Duches” as a dramatic monologue.

Answer:

A dramatic monologue is type of loyric poem. It is the speech of a single person who is not the poet but some other character. In a dramatic monologue a single person speaks to silent listener. In a dtamatie monologue the speaker reveals his character and temperament to his readers as he speaks. It is essential study of character. It is a study of mental stragles and moral crisis. A dramatic monologue is predominently, psychological, analytical, meditative and argumantative. The ideal aim of a dramatic monologue is self-portrayal. In a dramatic monologue the other character remains silent all along. A poet uses their type of poem to express hiss own philosophy direclty or indirectly.

“My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning is a famous dramatic monologue. The poem is marked with some major festuers of a dramatic monologues we find a single speaker in this poem. The duke of Ferrara is the speaker in this poem. The listener is the envoy of a count who has come with a proposal of marriage. The Duke is occupied with himself. He is speaking of himself directly. The duke is also speaking of his ‘My Last Duchess’. By speaking of the last duchess, the duke is actually revealing his own character and the character of his last duchess. In this poem, the Duke is describing the traits, personality and character of his wife in a derogatory way.

This poem is actually a character study. The poet proves into the soul of the character.The vanity authoritative air mood arrogance, supercilious dignity and narrow-mindness of the duke have projected in a vivid way. Of course, it is ironial. Like wise the character and personality of his last duchess such as, frankness, liberal-mindness, innocence and courtesy are revealed in a befitting manner. The presence of the listener is easily understood when the duke uses the world “You”. The presence of the listener is more clear when the duke says–

“Will’t please you sit and look at her?”

This movements and dialogues make it clear that the listener is present and listening to the duke attentively. The presence of a silent listener is an important trait of a dramatic monologue. The movement of the listener is best understood when he says–

“Nay we’ll go together down, sir.”

The poem has a dramatic opening. Robert Browning begins the poem dramatically. He manages several dramatic turns in the development of the poem. The duke draws back the certain on his especially freezed possession the portrait of his wife. Then he invites the envoy to sit down and to look at it. The duke, like a sincer, man invites the envoy to contemplate over the beauty of the painting. He requests the envoy to look at the ‘earness glance’ and the beauty spct, of the duchess. At this point a dramatic change takes place. By saying this, the Duke unfolds his mentality about the actual nature of the lovely lady whose portrait they look at. He suggests that he suffers much in his life, because of the negligence of the duchess. His social dignity was marred and scandalized for the careless and callous behaviours of the duchess. She had the habit of smiling. It is true that she offered him a smile when ever she called him her hasband. But it was painful to him to see that she offered the same smile to everyone who came infront of her. The duke was unhappy with this kind of generosity. He expected that she would treat him differently and maintain a distance from the ordinary people. He took this habit of duchess as a disgrace to his social dignity. That is why, he killed her.

“This grew; I gave commands;

Then all smiles stopped together.”

The main principal controlling the form of dramatic monotogue is what the lyric speaker says to reveal his soul. In “My Last Duchess” the Duke while talking anout the duchess reveals his own mind. We understand that he is a possessive husband, a cruel person, a provd aristocrat, a greedy bridg room but a worshipper of art works. He also reveals that duchess was an innocent, easy going lady. These analyses of Duke’s temperament are the essence of this dramatic monologue.

In the conclusion it can be said that “My Last Duchess” is a fine example of a dramatic monologue. It has all the elements which are necessary and essential for a dramatic monologue.