Comparing Love And Hate And My Last Duchess

In this comparative analysis of two poems, I am going to be comparing “Love and Hate” by Elizabeth Siddal and “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning; both of which share the same theme which is human experiences. Dark vibes arise from both poems as you go through them which, in some cases can be attributed to real life characters like in the case of “My Last Duchess”. What was great about the Elizabeth Siddals’ poem, was the fact that the hatred and spite that is portrayed within the poem can be really felt rather than read.
Starting out with “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning. As innocent as it may seem, as portrayed in the first couple of lines; that feeling essentially fades away as we come to know the dark vibes and relations that this
To start off, the title of the poem gives off a rather creepy message as it’s looked upon for the first time. From the title “My Last Duchess”, it can be taken in two ways. The first one being ‘The Last Duchess he will ever have’, or ‘His Previous Duchess’ which has been proven to be the case by the portrait that was hanging in front of him which is also when questions start to arise. It begins with the Duke showing a masterpiece, to a stranger (MAYBE?), completed by Fra Pandolf which ended up being his previous wife. Here he says, “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive” directly implying that she is dead after noticing the subtle hints by saying ‘as if she were alive’. Moreover, we notice that he is the only one, this Duke, who has the ability to look at the painting since it is tucked away given by the lines, “But to myself they turned (since none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I)”. In the next two lines it reads, “And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst, How such a glance came there;” meaning when people look at this painting they would ask, “How could such glance come to be?” and following that is a phrase
Why wouldn’t he just tell her? Maybe he is just looking for an excuse, or maybe he is rich and that is the personality that was built up within him over the years. He wanted her to pay attention to the hierarchy, that he is better than others, and value that and if she wasn’t going to do that he wasn’t going to teach her. This was the case for him and he got sick of it and so, “I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together.” It sounds like listening to an elegant murderer who doesn’t care about the consequences even though he is talking to the person from the family he is going to marry new. In other words, he is compelled to explain his power/his desire/what he can do. He uses Juxtaposition in the line, “There she stands As if alive.” The Duke, in my opinion is portrayed as a dark horse here in those next few lines because we start to really know the context of this meeting they are having, because all we have seen in the poem is the talk about the painting but as he “negotiates” the financial exchange/the dowry for this wedding he is about to have, it