Poetry Analysis Essay on My Last Duchess: The Persona's Characters

Introduction

The essay seeks to expound and examine the persona of the poem My Last Duchess, which got written by Robert Browning. The author displayed several characters that are analytical and relevant for the essay as a center of discussion. Each stanza of the poem displays a specific character for the persona. In this case, the essay expounds on the characters of the persona and how it relates to the poem.

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The first stanza of the poem displays that a persona is a man with a superior rank in his location. In this case, the writer of the poem centered it in Italy, which means the persona is an Italian (Wang 1035).He also brags at the beginning of the poem, where he wanted to show off his unusual paint to an anonymous guest. The persona, in this case, has the character of swanking when it comes to precious things. The persona of the poem speaks of his deceased wife but displays her as alive in the painting. It is seen in the second line where he stated that "looking as if she were alive," that highly suggests that the wife was dead. He further shows that he cared for the late wife because of her beauty, which made him admire the picture (Wang 1035). In addition to this, he named the painting my last duchess, as shown in the first line of the poem. The persona stresses on by asking if the paint is pleasing and if a person can sit and look at her as written in the fifth line.

The persona displays that he is a man of power in his location, which suggests that he might be a Duke, according to Italian superiors. In this case, the poem suggests that the persona is the only individual with authority over the curtain of the painting (Wang 1036). Moreover, it also implies that he is in full control and ownership over the duchess, even in demises.Despite that, he also addresses the emissary as sir, which shows he is under someone else's command. The other character that can describe the persona is jealousness. It is widely displayed when the personasaid that he could have been the only one who made the duchess blush, as suggested in the poem (Wang 1036). In other cases, the poem also suggests that the persona was envious when he tried to persuade the emissary from the truth by inferring that the artist's work aimed at making the duchess blush. According to the persona, jealousy is also displayed in his hypercritical perception when he clearly pointed out if the wife could have bought the artist's politeness.

The poem further suggests that the persona is a judgmental character of him towards the wife. In this case, he despises the wife as easily impressed, which shows that she was superficial, frolicsome, and incapable of decerning between the significant and the unimportant (Wang 1036).Also, the character is visible when the persona shows that he is displeased by the act of the duchess of treating everything in a light-touch manner. The persona is too selective, as shown in the poem, based on his preference for a wife. He states that he would prefer a subservient or dour as a wife and not a blushing woman (Wang 1037). He prefers not to have a lady with little truck of traditions and ensnaring of wealth.

The persona is an arrogant individual who is widely seen on his act of looking down upon the duchess. The poem highlights that he would not debate nor denounce the duchess' behavior because it is a minor thing in life and would never stoop so low. It is seen in the poem where he stated that "Who'd stoop to blame...." which supports the pride action of the persona (Wang 1037). In this case, the persona had to boast to the emissary who seeks to take the report to the boss concerning his appropriateness in espousing of a second noble female. The poem also helps to describe the other character of the persona as someone who is highly destructed. He loses focus as suggest in the poem where he gets destructed by wealth and expects a decent dowry. In this case, the thoughts of the persona sink deep on the count's daughter (Wang 1037). It also leads to the other character of the persona as a greedy individual. It is supported by the fact that he mentioned the name of Claus of Innsbruck, which displayed that the persona is really in it form money and prestige. In this case, it shows the avariciousness of the persona in the poem.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, the persona is an Italian who brags at the beginning of the poem, where he wanted to show off his unusual paint to an anonymous guest. The persona of the poem spoke of his deceased wife but displayed her as alive in the painting. It is seen in the second line where he stated that "looking as if she were alive," that highly suggests that the wife was dead. Notably, the paper concludes by highlighting that the poem mainly focused and the personality of the persona as a crucial factor for discussion. In this case, the characters essentially displayed the importance of the persona to create sense in the poem. Therefore, it aided in the description of the persona based on the analysis. Based on the poem, the analysis covered every essential line of the poem for the examination of the persona.

Work Cited

Wang, Yue. "Cavafy as a Reader of Browning: The Role of Art in Their Poems." Journal of English Language and Literature 10.3 (2018): 1034-1038.