The Robert Browning's Dramatic Monologue

The Robert Browning's Dramatic Monologue

Name:杨晨姣
Instructor’s Name: Professor Yang
Class:13010701
Course name:British Literature
Date: 2009-11-24

Analysis of Robert Browning’s Dramatic Monologue
When considering the famous 19th century (Victorian) British poets, Robert Browning comes into our minds.As for one of his great contibutions to british literature, in my point of view, it’s his creationary dramatic monologue which ,usually written in blank verse, is the speech of a single character in some dramatic significance. And "My Last Duchess” is a well-known representative of his early monologues . In this essay, I’m going to briefly analyse Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue through our text "My Last Duchess”.
The assumed speaker of "My Last Duchess” is the Duke of Ferrara. He is giving a tour of his art collections to the emissary of his prospective second wife . The whole poem is his monologue to the emissary. Through reasoning, readers may sense that the Duke is associated with his wife’s death from his soliloquy, but no evidence is shown .Because Browning dislikes to reveal his thoughts directly to his readers.The use of dramatic monologue forces readers to find the meaning behind the words. Noteworthily ,there are three indispensable elements of Browning’s dramatic monologue which are speaker, silent listener and dramatic setting.Next, I am going to anaylse "My Last Duchess” based on these three elements.

The most significant element is speaker, because the speaker’s soliloquy reveals the plot, the characters and the setting.But in my opinion, "My Last Duchess” also reveals the Duke’s own motive which is dowry and his personality--- autocracy, hypocrisy and obduracy. We can find the evidence in the text .As they look at the portrait of his last Duchess, the Duke describes, “the depth and passion of its earnest glsnce”, “She had a heart -- how shall I say? -- too soon made glad...” and“she smiled,no doubt, whenever I passed her; but who passed without...

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