Dean 1 Whitney Dean Dr. Karen C. Holt English 333 21 Feb 2013 Robert Browning s My Last Duchess : A Sociopathic Study Introduction As humans, we love beauty and ostracize that which is ugly and not pleasing. We especially find that it is the ugly in ourselves that scares us the most. We see the ugly and twisted tendencies in another human being and are repulsed when the individual loses his or her humane nature. Literature has used these instances to create a plethora of villains. However, authors have been able to pose these seemingly twisted characters and have audiences question the inner workings of the inhumane individuals mind as well. Robert Browning s poem, My Last Duchess is the perfect piece in which audiences may analyze the seemingly evil Duke who murdered his late Duchess over trivial and possessive matters. The dramatic monologue in which the poem is told, characteristic of Browning, allows readers to delve into the Dukes head and to recognize that his very matter of fact and emotionless story is in fact a troubling and warped one. A psychoanalytic analysis of My Last Duchess allows for light to be shed on the Dukes abnormal and inhumane behavior; an analysis of the poem through this critical lens reveals the true sociopathic behavior of the Duke. Biography Robert Browning was born in 1812 in a small suburb outside of England. His bank clerk father provided a luxurious life for Browning and his mother. He grew up with an extensive education, through which he acquired a store of knowledge on which to draw for the
Dean 2 background of his poems ("Robert Browning 1275-6). His well provided for lifestyle and encouragement to learn created a romantic and enthusiastic Browning. His attraction to his future wife, the poet Elizabeth Barrett was an extremely romantic notion on Browning s behalf. Part invalid and oppressed by her father, Elizabeth Barrett eloped with Browning; their romantic elopement was even drawn parallel to Browning s favorite tale where St. George conquers the dragon and saves the maiden (1276). Once married, Browning s work had not yet gained popularity. He was even referred to as Mrs. Browning s husband in his early career (1275). Struggling, Browning turned to the theatre for success; unfortunately he was not successful on the stage, but his experience there inspired his dramatic monologue style of writing for which he is well known for today (1276). His love for the dramatic and the romantic is also evident through Browning s fascination with the Italian Renascence. Multiple poems of Browning are set in this romantic era. Even more fascinating is Browning s use of dramatic monologue which separates the speaker from the poet in such a way that the reader must work through the words of the speaker to discover the meanings of the poet as well as to force the readers into a more insightful analysis of the character telling the story, as is crucial in a poem such as (1275). Setting Browning s literature was without a doubt unique for its time. My Last Duchess reflected the tendencies Browning had to write about the Italian Renaissance. There is solid speculation as well that Browning s Duke in My Last Duchess is based off of the real historical character. Alphonso II of Ferrara. Alphonso was born into an extravagant and wealthy family who satisfied their obsession for luxury and money by borrowing and by arranging substantial marriage dowries (Allingham). There is also a curious and relatable
Dean 3 speculation behind Alphonso II of Ferrara and the death of his first wife (Krén). Browning has taken this curious historical life and dramatized it. Browning s use of dramatic monologue gives this historical story life. In most of his poetry Browning also possesses the skill to choose some moment of crisis, some period when great issues hang in the balance (Groom 117). Although My Last Duchess is based off of a historical character, it still resonated with Victorian society. When we look back in time we tend to forget the domestic problems and harsh realities of human life and therefore, we have a tendency to romanticize the time. The Victorian era had its issues as well. Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that those poems which focus on domestic conflict are both the most visceral and the most famous of Browning's oeuvre (Gregory). Critic Melissa Valiska Gregory explores this connection further. Not only did Browning's fascination with sexual violence resonate in the Victorian social scene, a culture in which the power dynamics of married life were fiercely scrutinized and debated, but also, in so many of his dramatic monologues, sexual violence becomes a particularly extreme version of longing to dominate and define oneself through domination (87-88). Literary Analysis As mentioned above, Browning uses a dramatic monologue in My Last Duchess ; The story is told from the point of view of a possessive duke with sociopathic tendencies. Thanks to Browning, critics are able to read from the Duke s perspective. According to The Norton Anthology of English Literature, the use of the dramatic monologue in this story reveals: From his one-sided conversation we piece together the situation, both past and present, and we infer what sort of woman the duchess really was and what sort of man the duke
Dean 4 is The pleasure of the poem results from our reconstruction of a story quite different from the one the duke thinks he is telling ("Robert Browning 1275). From a psychoanalytic vantage point, it is clear the Duke is not a normal sympathetic human. Upon deep analysis, a main diagnosis would label the Duke as a sociopath. Expert Doctor Michael J Gerson defines a sociopath as someone who is regarded as lacking a conscience and operating without guilt or empathy. This is a focal point in an analysis of the Duke, the fact that he seems to have no conscious about his killing his last wife. Gerson goes on to emphasize sociopaths manifest a diffuse lack of impulse control that results in frequent irresponsible and thoughtless behaviors which, at the time of performance (and possibly afterward as well), are ego-syntonic (Gerson). The Duke s main act of ordering his wife to be killed, suggested by, I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together. (45-46) optimized his lack of feeling and a need for control. The late Duchess committed no crime to the reader s knowledge. Her biggest offense was She had / A heart how shall I say? too soon made glad (21-22). Critic Robert Langbaum suggests that the duke is so involved with his own standard of judgment and so oblivious of the world s ; therefore, further suggesting the Duke is mentally on a different plane from the rest of the world (Langbaum 135). A psychoanalytic analysis also reveals a possessive and power hungry Duke. Gerson explains that sociopaths have tendencies to use charm to essentially manipulate those around them. Gerson also emphasizes the absence of conscience and the need to exploit the conscience of others. When the poem opens, we become aware the Duke is bragging about his art. The Duke saw his Duchess as a possession, and at any sign of free-spirit outside his control was unacceptable to him. As critic Robert Langbaum suggests, by taking such pride in the portrait, the Duchess takes her place as one of a line of objects in an art collection (136). The
Dean 5 duke believed he could not control the Duchess, nor make her give him the respect he believed she owed him; as if she ranked / My gift of a nine-hundred- years old name / With anybody s gift (34). The Duke also reserves the right to be the only one to draw the curtain from the last Duchess s portrait. This displays a further sense of the Dukes eagerness to stifle her will and to take supreme power over her actions. Critics agree that this curtain represents how the Duke, encloses his Duchess in a tomb or convent and imaginatively encloses himself in an icon of possession ( Allingham). Attention should also be drawn to the Duke s mention of his Neptune statue. Notice Neptune, though, / Taming a sea horse, thought a rarity (54-55). Critic Philip V. Allingham argues that this comment reflects that Neptune is seen in an attitude of doing what the Duke cannot do : taming the wild creature. The Duke admires the ability with which this earth-shaker can bend even the most free souls to his power (Allingham). The structure of the poem itself works to display an abnormal mindset. Since My Last Duchess is coming from the mind and mouth of the Duke, the very format can be analyzed in a way to enhance his peculiar character. The consistent AABBCC rhyme scheme suggests supreme order and structure, which reflects the Dukes need for control over all in his life. Browning also employs enjambment in many of his lines making the reader linger and continue on in a suspenseful manner; It suggests that the Duke is fragmented and inco mplete in a sense. Conclusion Robert Browning s poem, My Last Duchess was a very intriguing piece written in its age. The dramatic monologue Browning is so well known for, creates a passage way into the Duke s mind and allows readers to question the humanity of his character. A psychoanalytic lens opens the reader s eyes further, explaining multiple possible psychological reasoning s to the Dukes peculiar and controlling nature.
Dean 6 Works Cited Allingham, Philip V., ed. "Browning's Portrait of a Renaissance Man: Alphonso II D' este, Duke of Ferrara, in 'My Last Duchess' (1842)." The Victorian Web. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. Browning, Robert. "My Last Duchess." 1842. The Victorian Age. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. Ninth ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2012. 1282-83. Print. Vol. E of The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Gerson, Michael J. "Psychoanalytic Theories of Personality." psychstudies. Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2013. Gregory, Melissa Valiska. "Melissa Valiska Gregory (essay date winter 2000)." Poetry Criticism. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 61. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005. 86-93. Print. Groom, Bernard. "Bernard Groom (essay date 1939)." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Janet Mullane and Robert Thomas Wilson. Vol. 19. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1988. 114-19. Print. Krén, Emil, and Dániel Marx. "Este, Alfonso II d' Duke of Ferrara 1559-97 (b. 1533)." Web Gallery of Art. T Systems, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2013. Langbaum, Robert. "Robert Langbaum (essay date 1957)." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Janet Mullane and Robert Thomas Wilson. Vol. 19. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1988. 135-38. Print. "Robert Browning." The Victorian Age. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. Ninth ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2012. 1275-78. Print. Vol. E of The Norton Anthology of English Literature.