The Judgments And Moral Lessons Of Robert Browning�s Poetry

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a final judgment of the speaker.
In his dramatic monologues, Browning expresses his own convictions through the use of grotesque art. As the term implies, vile, rebuked, heartless, and failing human beings are presented in Browning�s glaring poems. �He often selects the eccentric, the morally deformed, the man with a grudge, a guilt, a secret or a crime to his credit. He chooses them for effect.�(Schmidt 380) Although these incongruous subjects seem abominable to the reader, their selection by Browning proves legitimate. �Browning is challenging the reader to appraise the value of the first-person narrative and to pronounce it and the speaker to be defective in some way.�(Drew 361) By exposing a corrupt individual to the reader, one recognizes how one ought not to be and concludes how to be; therefore, a distorted image brings to mind the picture of intended perfection. Through the dramatic monologue �My Last Duchess,� Browning displays a wicked and arrogant duke who murders ...

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wife, the duke cares only about himself and proceeds to rid his life of the duchess. �I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together.�(Browning 95) The duke spitefully murders his wife and shows no regret or pity whatsoever. Moral convictions never cross his mind, reguarding the hideous act which he commits. After this dreadful incident, the duke desires to acquire another beautiful wife. Flattery must be shown to an envoy of the lady�s father so that the duke�s own wishes will be fulfilled. At the end of the poem, the duke gloats over his bronze sculpture of Neptune taming a sea-horse. Not only is the sculpture similar to the duke�s action of suppressing his late duchess, ...

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