My Last Duchess
My last Duchess techniques:
First person narrative- this way we can see the possessive nature of the duke and his clouded opinion on his late wife. When he speaks of her, the reader is able to understand the Duke’s personality and values better. E.g. “As if she ranked my gift of a nine hundred year old name with anybody’s gift”, shows the duke’s materialistic values and judges objects by worth and status.
Conversational tone: the duke mimics voices, “just this or that in you disgusts me”, false modesty “Even had you skill In speech—(which I have not), in order to make the horrific events that have taken place seem merely interesting and unavoidable.
Vocabulary choice- this shows the reader how the Duke felt about things and people, for example, he mentions that his late wife needed to be “disciplined” and “lessoned” which makes us relate her to a dog or other untrained creature.
Symbolism- The duke uses the symbolism of Neptune and a Sea horse to reflect how he feels about himself and his wife. He shows he feels he has godlike qualities, which is arrogant in itself, and compares his wife to an animal, as shown previously (though slightly more subtle). This shows the reader the lack of respect he has for women and how highly he values himself.
Enjambment- makes the reader feel as if the Duke is building himself up and driving himself further into these compulsive revelations, e.g., “Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt, Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together. There she stands As if alive.
Meter and rhyming- The speech is written in iambic pentameter and uses an “AA, BB, CC” rhyming pattern, which, due to the strong formality, gives the reader a sense of how controlling and arrogant the Duke is.
First person narrative- this way we can see the possessive nature of the duke and his clouded opinion on his late wife. When he speaks of her, the reader is able to understand the Duke’s personality and values better. E.g. “As if she ranked my gift of a nine hundred year old name with anybody’s gift”, shows the duke’s materialistic values and judges objects by worth and status.
Conversational tone: the duke mimics voices, “just this or that in you disgusts me”, false modesty “Even had you skill In speech—(which I have not), in order to make the horrific events that have taken place seem merely interesting and unavoidable.
Vocabulary choice- this shows the reader how the Duke felt about things and people, for example, he mentions that his late wife needed to be “disciplined” and “lessoned” which makes us relate her to a dog or other untrained creature.
Symbolism- The duke uses the symbolism of Neptune and a Sea horse to reflect how he feels about himself and his wife. He shows he feels he has godlike qualities, which is arrogant in itself, and compares his wife to an animal, as shown previously (though slightly more subtle). This shows the reader the lack of respect he has for women and how highly he values himself.
Enjambment- makes the reader feel as if the Duke is building himself up and driving himself further into these compulsive revelations, e.g., “Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt, Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together. There she stands As if alive.
Meter and rhyming- The speech is written in iambic pentameter and uses an “AA, BB, CC” rhyming pattern, which, due to the strong formality, gives the reader a sense of how controlling and arrogant the Duke is.