Paper Summary:

The paper examines the poem "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning, specifically looking at the relationship of the narrator, the Duke Ferrara, to his previous wife. The paper describes how the Duke is discussing a painting of his wife and her faults and misdemeanors that led to him putting her to death. The paper discusses that the Duke makes his expectations of his next wife as a beautiful, thankful object clear to the listener.

From the Paper:

"In the poem "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning, the author ostensibly depicts a man discussing a painting with another observer. While this may appear to be the case on the surface level, there is much more going on in this poem. In discussing the painting, the narrator, Ferrara, provides the reader with a much more gruesome portrait than just that of his previous wife. From various details in the poem, we will see that the narrator provides evidence that he thinks of women as merely objects and that his previous wife died by the narrator's command. The elements in the text that will be discussed are the "spot of joy" captured in the painting, the last Duchess' smile, the gifts her husband mentions and the statue of Neptune the Duke points out at the end of the poem."

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