Collateral Damage

October 2015. Poetry analysis of "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning

What a danger it is to be given power.  In carrying out its purpose, power reluctantly disciplines, and its intensity changes the views of others, convincing the receivers of the logic in acting with jealousy.  However, the danger in the effects of power does not lie in the ones that know no differences, it lies in oneself, and the in constant battle for control over the thinking of others, the person within will not survive.  In the dramatic monologue “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning, literary devices are used to lament the recklessness of having a powerful position.

             The charm of an opulent lifestyle has the kind magic that dances for years around the minds of the ones that strive to achieve it, but the charm disintegrates  before the demons in the ones that upkeep it.   The ones with control and glory are the most flawed in their thinking.  They are inconsistent with their claims as shown when the Dutch ridicules himself, “Even had you skill in speech �" (which I have not)”, a paradoxical contradiction that exudes arrogance and indifference that separates him from the classiness of his image as he continues to speak eloquently and dramatically, lowering the formalness of his diction, “such stuff was courtesy”, for example, when describing the thoughts of his passed Duchess, contrasting his maturity to her lack of throughout the poem.  In this subtle attempt to establish the height of his social status, the Dutch reveals the jealous motives that breed his insecurities.

It is now evident that the depth in the lust for consuming power is the only depth in him who reveals too many details but has long ago abandoned his conscience.  The commandment to have to Duchess killed is reasoned with shallow, unimportant actions such as existing in a flirtatiously charismatic way and having different views originating from a perceptive mind.  However, these reasons prove to be important because they are the very freedoms that only an innocent person can maintain, and his tainted vision creates a relentless psychopath that only accepts what will hold together his family name.  All that is left is a painting, a symbol and trophy of an epic horror story.  The painting tells a story of a dead woman, but the one that she is physically survived by is actually the one that has died in a reckless attempt to manifest his reputation.