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My Last Duchess
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My Last Duchess
Introduction
Literature is used as an ideal medium through which artists and writers inform the society about various attributes. In a society that is compounded by increased dynamism, literature provides a viable mode through which the respective cultural aspects are preserved. These multiple intentions usually influence the presentation of the pieces of literature in different ways. Regardless of the underlying purposes, authors of literary works are still faced with the challenge of ensuring that the audience is informed about the intended conception. In his My Last Duchess, Browning provides a classic literary presentation that succeeds in evoking relevant feelings in the audience for effective response. In this, the duke’s speculative hatred, possessiveness and jealousy have far reaching implications on the wellbeing of the duchess. It is certain that the unfounded hatred and suspicion influenced him to commit murder.
The extreme jealousy is manifested when the Duke places the portrait of his late wife behind the curtain. The main reason for this is to prevent other men from admiring the face of the last duchess who was admittedly beautiful. This is also indicative of the extreme control that the duke had on his late wife. By hiding the portrait, it shows that the duke has the capacity to stop the duchess from interacting with the public, had she have been alive. Hiding the portrait behind the curtain was in a bit to regulate the number of men that could have a chance to gaze at the duchess’ beautiful face.
Also worth mentioning is the blush that the duke notices on the face of the duchess’ portrait. He posits that “perhaps Fra Pandolf chanced to say/ Her mantle laps Over my Lady’s wrist too much.” He believed that this could have prompted the last duchess to acknowledge the compliment. Further, he speculates that the duchess could have felt impressed and perhaps this could have made her to be attracted to the person that painted her portrait. In this regard, it should be noted that all this is mere speculation as opposed to facts that could be affirmed. It is a clear portrayal of possessiveness as the duchess could not even stand his wife’s beauty being admired by other men.
That the duke expected the duchess to entirely focus on him is a fact that cannot be disputed. In essence, he despised the duchess’ close relationships with other men and thought that she had a secret affair with them. This is manifested when he doubts whether his wife smiled at him in the same manner as she did to other men whom she interacted with. This is a clear indication of selfishness as well as self centeredness. The duke was also uncomfortable with the courteous nature of his late wife. He cites that this was a weakness that could have encouraged the last duchess to accept favors and gifts from other men. According to the duke, the last duchess “thanked men, good, but thanked, somehow…I know not how”. In this respect, it can be argued that extreme courtesy was a sign of adultery, a vice that was shunned by the society. From a historical point of view, women were expected to be reserved as opposed to being overly interactive. Nevertheless, the fact that the adulterous prepositions were unfounded did not guarantee that duke to kill his wife. At this juncture, it can be ascertained that the suspicion was driven by excessive jealousy.
The duke also manifests jealousy and discontent when he assumes that the kindness that the last duchess extended to other men during their interaction was an indication that she did not regard him with utmost respect. In particular, he duke argues that she held him in similar regard with other men. This infuriated him, especially considering the fact that he gave her expensive gifts and was her husband. This turned the love he had for her in hatred as he believed she was flirting with other men and therefore unfaithful to him.
Critical studies argue that the duchess actually disregarded her husband by being overly courteous and kind to other men. Considering the fact that they were living in a society that placed great emphasis on cultural ideals, she would have been more reserved and exhibited more love and respect for his husband. However, it is worth noting that one of the traditional roles that the duchess was expected by the society to play pertained to interacting with persons from different backgrounds. Thus the inherent gaps could have been bridged to enhance harmonic living.
Conclusion
From the preceding analysis, it is certain that literature provides an ideal platform for explicit evaluation of societal values. Indeed, it can be considered a credible source of historical information. As it has come out from the study, the duke is jealous, possessive and hates the last duchess. This is because he believes that she disregards him by flirting with other men. However, it is notable that these accusations are unfounded and cannot be proven. The inherent hatred and suspicion makes the duke to kill his wife without proving his accusations against her.
The flood narrative in Gilgamesh compares very closely
Floods
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Floods
The flood narrative in Gilgamesh compares very closely to the flood narrative in the bible book of genesis whereby god decides to reshape the earth due to the many things which were happening and he was not pleased. Just in the same way Utnapishtim is given immortality by gods through the floods and the only way possible to do that was through the floods. Therefore he is the only person who is immortal and no one else can be granted immortality because of the rare circumstances through which he is given his immortality (Tigay, 2002). In the history of floods there are many different types of floods mentioned in different mythologies and in other historical records and even in our current day society. However very few floods mentioned anywhere have specific important effects whether in real or in fiction. The two most comparable cases of floods is the Gilgamesh case of immortality and the bible story of Noah being the first man in the new world made possible by God.
What this narrative says about the story of flood is that flood in fiction can be used to represent very important changes not only to the whole world but also at individual level. The whole world is affected in the case of both floods of Noah and Gilgamesh (Ginzberg, 1988). Individuals are also greatly affected in both. In the Gilgamesh case, Utnapishtim becomes immortal while in the Noah story they become the first parents to the world whereby new people have been brought into existence after God destroys the other world due to anger for what was happening then.
References
Ginzberg, L. (1988). Noah and the Flood in Jewish Legend. In The Flood Myth (pp. 319-335). University of California Press Berkeley.
Tigay, J. H. (2002). The evolution of the Gilgamesh epic. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers.
Hamlet is an enigmatic character who is predominantly melancholic due to the injustices he experiences in his society
Topic: Character analysis
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Thesis statement
Hamlet is an enigmatic character who is predominantly melancholic due to the injustices he experiences in his society. He therefore exhibits a great number of qualities that enable him to cope with the situation.
Discussion
The discussion focuses on the characterization of Hamlet who is the main character in the play. He exhibits different kinds of qualities in order to help him overcome all the conflicting issues that he has repressed in his mind. He appears to have a melancholic personality that makes his a rather dull character in the play. Generally, he is not happy with the kind of life that he leads and all that he observes happening in the society.
Hamlet can be said to be vengeful. This is actually one of the most dominant themes in the play. He is vengeful in the sense that he is seeking to kill his uncle Claudius who apparently was responsible for the death of his father. It is said that he was poisoned in the ears resulting to his death. His ghost appears to Hamlet several times telling him that he has to avenge for him by killing his own uncle.
At first he seems reluctant as he does not believe the ghost. He thinks it is a dream. The fact that he has to commit this kind of evil puts him in a state of dilemma. This can be demonstrated when he says, ‘in my heart there was a kind of fighting that would not let me sleep.’ (5.5.123). This shows that the more he delayed in the execution of the revenge, the more disturbed he became. He knew that at one time he will have to do it otherwise he was never going to have a happy life.
Hamlet further demonstrates the need for vengeance when he declares that, “my thoughts be bloody, or nothing worth.’(4.4.9-56). He seems to have made up his mind finally and he is ready to carry out his revenge. The thought had been disturbing him for sometime but now he seems not to relent anymore because the more he does so the more his conscience disturbs him.
The whole act is made into reality when he finally succeeds in avenging for his father. ‘Here, you, incestuous, murderous…drink of this portion…follow my mother.’(5.2.251). he drives the poisoned spear through his uncle’s body who dies instantly. The king had plotted to kill him with that poisonous spear but instead it turned out to be him. The fact that he killed him for the sake of his father who was already dead is a good indicator that he was vengeful.
The other character that he exhibits in the play is that he is existentialist. This is because he beliefs in the existence of supernatural powers, emotions and the power of reasoning. The soliloquy ‘to be or not to be, that is the question; whether tis good for the mind to suffer, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune…” (3.1.58-61) shows that Hamlet is reasoning with himself. He doubts whether it is worth for him to go through all the kinds of the struggles for the sake of fulfilling the wishes of another person. He believes in the existence of God for the reason that as he was contemplating committing suicide, he reasoned that he will be punished in hell. Initially, he believed that the only thing that mattered in life was logicality and that there was nothing like the emotions but after reasoning, he gets to understand that the world is controlled by supernatural powers.
He demonstrates this character again when he fails to kill his uncle after he found him praying. He reasoned that by killing him in this state, he will be taken to heaven to heaven and he will not have achieved his main objective of sending him to hell, ‘Now might I do it pat, now he is praying; And now I’ll do’t. And so he goes to heaven; and so am I revenged.’ (3.3.173). He therefore lets him survive for that moment but waits for the best opportunity to take away his life especially when he is having his incestuous act in bed. The fact that he has fear and respect for the matters of religion is a support that he is an existentialist who believes that social phenomena are spiritual in nature.
Hamlet can also be described as enigmatic character. This is owing to the fact that he cannot be compared with any other character in the play in terms of intelligence and decision making. This is particularly demonstrated by his kind of reasoning in his decision making process. His soliloquies are outstanding and they indicate high levels of cognitive power employed by this particular character in passing his repressed feelings to the audience. He plays with the minds of other characters in the play when he makes comments that bring doubt about his mental status. For instance, when he was asked where Polonius body was after he murdered him, he replied that he had compounded it with dust. He does this many times when he is conversing with his colleagues for the purpose of hiding his real character and leaving everyone confused about who he really is.
Hamlet can also be said to be impulsive. This is when he does certain acts without bearing in mind their repercussions. After he left Claudius praying, he went to the palace to talk to his mother. He was still very mad and looking for an opportunity to kill him. As they were conversing, it appeared as though there was a conflict between them prompting Polonius to get to there to know what was going on. He was the chief adviser of King Claudius. As he peeped to trying to assess the situation, Hamlet noticed though he did not know who the person was and neither did he care to do so. He rushed and dug his sword through the material and finally stabbed innocent Polonius to death. This was an act that demonstrated his impulsive nature. He also appeared to have not been sorry for what had happened. Rosencrantz asks him what he had done with the dead body but he replies that he had compounded it with dust. He does not realize that people are already hurt by his act of killing an innocent person, but he continues to add insult to the injury.
This kind of attitude is dominant in many parts of the play where he does not care about the consequences of his actions. The other one is demonstrated at the end of the play when he is confronted by Laertes who is seeking to avenge for his father Polonius whom Hamlet had murdered. The approach itself shows that he had no feeling for the whole act and he tends to assume that all was well. He only tells him that they should bury the hatchet and forget about the whole thing. However, they begin fighting and once again Hamlet kills another man.
He can also be said to be reflective and slow to act. Hamlet is one character who was very hesitant in executing his goal. The first thing he did when he received the news that it was his uncle who was responsible for his father’s death was to do thorough investigation so that he could have prove that was beyond any reasonable doubt. He did this manage to find all the information but still had to hold a little longer before taking any steps.
There are many instances that demonstrated interactions between the two of them but he did not want to execute him. First of all he feared doing such an act because he new that it was morally wrong. The main reason he had to delay was that he wanted to first of all make peace within himself so that whatever he did will not haunt him later. He was therefore grappling with the matters of rationality and moral issues. The rationality aspect told him that there was need to carry out the execution since this person killed his own father. He deserved to die because of the pain that he had caused him that he could not lead his life like any normal man. He says that there are times in his life when he could not find sleep because he was in a depressed situation especially after being haunted by his father’s ghost.
On the other hand, he had the matters of morality to contend with. He had been brought up in a society that believed in the existence of God as it can be noted when his uncle is praying. Apart from that, in his soliloquy of ‘to be or not to be’ he is quoted saying that he contemplated coming suicide (3.1.70) but he had fear that he will be punished because it was spiritually wrong. Therefore this was a demonstration that he actually cared about matters concerning morality.
The two could be seen as the main reasons why he did not want to carry out his goal until he had made peace within himself. This however is broken when he meets with a group of soldiers who were out to carry out an operation over a piece of land that had apparently been captured, ‘a little patch of land that has in it no profit but the name’ (4.4.98). These soldiers who were sailing to go and wage war, were ready to sacrifice the lives of about a thousand soldiers fighting for a land that was considered insignificant. Hamlet was at first perplexed by the thought of it, but later on this acted as a motivator that he really needed to execute his uncle for the sake of justice.
Hamlet can also be described as melancholic. This is first demonstrated by the fact that his mother marries his uncle immediately after the death of his father. According to him, he considers this incestuous and that is demonstrated in the final act when his repressed anger is brought out, ‘‘Here, you, incestuous, murderer…follow my mother’ (5.2.251). He harbors a lot of pain that controls most of erratic behavior. The death of his uncle was not just the revenge for the death of his father but for the fact that he hated the kind of relationship that the two had with his mother.
He seems to have lost it all including matters of love and affection, ‘you should not have believed me… I loved you not.’(3.1.67). Hamlet is said to have been in love with Ophelia as it can be observed in their conversation. In this particular line, he is confessing to her that he has all along been lying to her that he loved her while in the real sense he did not. He seems distant and detached from the real life. He is leaving in his own world and is not ready to invite anyone. Initially he had appreciated her beauty and assured her of his love but it appears that he has changed his mind. Nothing seems to lure him any more in life. He has become so cold even to people who are closest to his heart.
His general perception of the world was negative. He had become very pessimistic about his own life too to the extent that he contemplated committing suicide. The world had become a rough place for him and it offered no consolation. This was especially when he met the group of soldiers who were headed for war as it has been indicated above. He felt that this was so wrong since people were expected to live in harmony and solidarity. He did not find peace anywhere in the world and this is what made him a very depressed and sad character in the play.
Conclusion
People are different in their reasoning and the whole perception about life. This is because of their difference in personality. This is what brings about the whole difference about how people perceive the social phenomena and how they respond to it. Hamlet’s characters are as a result of his melancholic character.
Reference:
HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennard” o “John Lennard” Lennard, John. William Shakespeare: Hamlet. Literature Insights. Humanities E-books, 2007. HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/184760028X” ISBN 184760028X. 2007.
William Shakespeare: Hamlet.