My Last Duchess and Othello: Striking Comparisons

In the salient form, be it monologue, dialogue or full theatrical scene, the author potbelly non step into the natural process to comment or interpret for us, as he can in a novel. We must draw our own conclusions from what we see and hear, and this makes for powerful effects, as a character reveals him- or herself to us by what he or she says or does. In the monologue My exist Duchess Browning misleads us with bang-up skill before we realize that we are listening to a shepherds crook lunatic.The dramatic force lies in the surprise we feel as the rectitude finally emerges. In Act IV, scene iii of Othello there is once more an agonizing irony for the viewer, who knows more than Desdemona and is of course impotent to help her. Shakespeare flora like a dentist without an anesthetic, and the pain for the audience derives from the unbearable pureness of the doomed Desdemona, who is surely just aboutthing like the Duchess in Brownings poem, confounded and bewildered in the org anisation of a murderous insanity in her husband.Brownings Duke reasoning(a)s so sane He is wonderfully gracious and voice Willt please you sit and human face at her? (5). As he tells his story he seems to weigh his words with spacious caution, as if he is rather free of the distorting power of anger or either other passion, and is keen to avoid any unfairness in his appraisal She had / A heart how shall I say? too soon do glad (21-2), yet thanked / Somehow I know non how as if she ranked (31-2). He never raises his voice, and speaks with a measured confidence that quite takes us in.At first we might be tempted to believe that his attitudes are just Sir, twas not / her husbands presence only, called that spot / Of joy into the Duchess look (13-15). His manner is restrained even as he hints at her infidelity. The puma flattered her about her appearance, as of course he would, being a metempsychosis artist totally dependent on patronage, but she was charmed by it f oolishly, the Duke suggests. She liked whateer / She looked on (23-24). She was delighted by the beauty of the sunset, and the runty tribute from the man who gave her the cherries, just as much as My esteem at her breast (25).What he seems to be objecting to is her failure to be the right way selective and aristocratic in her tastes. This is a rather extreme human body of snobbery, but perhaps not unprecedented we may not knock it attractive, but we may accept it as a feature of a proud man. In Brownings My Last Duchess, the murder is implied. It is not described in explicit damage as in Othello. In the lines, Paint/Must never hope to reproduce the faint /Half-flush that dies on her throat ,the speaker adores the faint half-flush on his married womans face that no paint could re-add and at the same time leaves a lithesome hint that she had been throttled to deathdies along her throat.The intelligent monologue is enough to make the sharpen overt and covert at the same time. s olely the time, Browning is luring us up the garden path. We fetch to detect the problem. The Duke is vastly proud, a man of great heritage, while she is free of snobbery, charmed by the delights of the world and human kindness, and truly innocent. (Infidelity does not now seem to be the Dukes concern.) Then we begin to see how his presumption is really pathological arrogance. Even had you skill / In speech (which I keep back not) (35-36), (he lies, of course) to explain your objection to her behavior which is clearly quite normal it would involve squating, and I choose / Never to stoep (42-3).So, rather than speak to her about his dissatisfaction, which would involve impossible condescension by him, he chose to solve the problem rather more radically This grew I gave commands / Then all smiles stopped altogether (45-6). It takes a moment for us to register what he did, so unbelievable is it and so evasively phrased. ..She thanked men, skillful but thanked /Somehow.I know not how .as if she ranked /My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name /With anybodys gift,- the finale part of the speech clearly brings forrard the envy rankling in the speakers heartThe unbending pride of the Duke comes out through the turns of phrases of this part of this long monologue, .and if she let/Herself be less wizd so, nor simply set/Her wits to yours ,forsooth and made excuse,/-Een then would be some stooping and I choose/Never to stoop.The Duke can only chose to stoopto give in to the childish demeanors of his beautiful wife.Again, jealousy seems to be prevalent in the tone of these words ..Oh ,Sir, she smiled no doubt,/Wheneer I passed her but who passed without /Much the same smile?Then having confessed to murder, or, rather, boasted of it, he continues his negotiations for his next Duchess, celebrating, incidentally, one of his favorite art full treatment, Neptune Taming a sea-horse (54-5), the actually image of the brutal get the hang that he has himself exe rted over his innocent last Duchess.The willow scene from Othello works differently, of course, because it is a dialogue, though it is the inner workings of Desdemonas mind that the dramatic form reveals here, just as much as is the case in Brownings poem There is an almost intolerable ruth about this scene because Desdemona is so helpless. She has a good idea of what is overtaking to happen If I do die before thee, prithee shroud me / In one of those same sheets (24-5) and is impotent in the face of her urgency.There seems to be no defence against the ruthless execution of Othellos enraged will. She is in a sort of trance, a hypnosis of shock. All she can do is wait for the end, and the distressing simplicity of her reflections here is the sign of a wounded spirit in retreat from reality. The tragic atmosphere is given additional poignancy by the occasional interruption of the eitherday details of undressing for bed, the habitual go along because there is nothing else to do in the face of the worst Prithee unpin me (21).She continues at moments to pretend that this is just an ordinary night This Lodovico is a victorian man (35), not a comparison of Othello with her country forms, but a pathetic attempt at gossip. exclusively her real thoughts emerge in the obsession with the willow song, which she cannot resist. It is the perfect mirror of her own fortune And she died cantabile it that song tonight / Will not go from my mind (30-1). kindred a detail from a psychoanalysts casebook comes the hotheaded line in the song that gives away the deepest thoughts of the willing victim.Let zippo blame him, his scorn I approve, Nay, thats not next. Hark Whos that knocks?It is the wind. (51-3)She corrects herself, but the absolute terror of realisation goes through her. Compared with Desdemonas helplessness in the face of the corruption of Othello, Emilias jokes have an immensely remedial health. It is not a criticism of Desdemona, but it is a loyal placing of trust in the human by Shakespeare.In Shakespeares Othello,the wharf can hardly be blamed for his rash decision of murdering Desdemona, who had been black-painted by his trustworthy Iago and it was Iago again who had sown the seeds of jealousy in his mind. Desdemona pleaded her innocence at last and asked to call for Cassius but Othello ran berserk maddened by internal jealousy.Othello could hardly be blamed for the attitude, as he was a Moor and unacquainted with(predicate) with the ways and manners of the Venetian Republic. Naturally, he fell victim to Iagos insinuations and committed the murder of hi beautiful wife, Desdemona, who was actually, innocence incarnate.In Act IV, sc ii, Othello in reply to Desdemonas pleading innocence disgustingly cried out, O Desdemona, away away awayDesdemona , being totally unaware of the hankey she lost tried to reason with her husband, Am I the motive of these separate my Lord?It might have been possible that Othello could have turned desensitize ears to Iagos vitriolic comments or aspersions cast on Desdemona, but as he was new to their society and culture, it became easy for Iago to prison him against his wife, a apotheosis of beauty.By way of rejoinder , when Othello speaks out, Had it pleased Heaven/To try me with affliction had they rained/All kinds of sores and shame on my bare head/Steeped me in poverty to the very lips/Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes/I should have found in some place of my soul/A drop of patience.and at last turns to the question of complexion , Turn thy complexion thee.. Ay there look as grim as hell, we find Othello a dejected, queer ,lost soul feeling small for being a Black Moor who was lien to the Venetian culture Question of Culture and Identity assails him, no doubtOthello decided to put an end to the life of his unfaithful wife at last and as he uttered the words in Act V, Sc ii, to that extent, Ill not shed her blood/Nor scribble that whiter skin of hers than snow/A nd smooth as monumental alabaster/Yet she must die,else shell betray more men,Did he not sound the same as the Duke of My Last Duchess who had been driven mad by sexual jealousy? The murder could not be justified, but , Othello was quite a bashr and a compassionate person than the Duke. He needed present to prove Desdemonas betrayal, he had to fight immensely with his own moral sense to come to the decision of murder.As a person, Duke was cold-blooded, but Othello was emotional and irrational at he same time. If this had not been so, I will kill thee,/ And love thee subsequently.One more and this the last./So sweet was neer so fatal. I must weep/ But they are cruel tears this sorrowfulnesss heavenly /IT STRIKES WHERE IT DOTH LOVE,could he utter such words? The Duke of My Last Duchess was never so overpowered with emotions to give vent to his pent-up goodness. Did he have any goodness, if at all?In Act V, sc i, Othello is making his mind up to vent his rage upon Desdemona. Here h e again finds enough reason to slaughter Desdemona. On sense of hearing the footsteps of Cassius, he ejaculate forth, Tis he-O brave Iago, honest and justminion your dear lies dead/and your unblest fate hies, strumpet I comeTill Lines 31 of Act V Sc ii, we find Othello raves and rails on the murder of Desdemona. Othello seemed to give a chance to Desdemona to prove her innocence by saying, If you bethink yourself of any disgust/Unreconciled as yet heaven and grace /Solicit for it straight.But he meant the murder and perpetrated it In Act III ,Sc iii, when Othello grows blind in rage provoked by honest Iagos words, he finds every reason to kill Unfaithful Desdemona and utters, Monstrous , monstrousOn hearing Cassios dream-mutterings on his secret affair with Desdemona, Othello got green with anger and envy and saw betrayal from the cruelest possible angle.He found terrible monstrosity in it, profound mendacity in the whole episode, running on the sly.When Emilia came after the murd er talking of Desdemonas profound love for her husband ,Othello could not keep his cool, he blurted, O cursed slave/Whip me ye devils/From the ownership of this heavenly sight/Blow me about in the winds, roast me in sulphur/Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fireO Desdemona, Desdemona, perfectlyAct V, Scii Could we ever expect the Duke speaking in such touchy, sentimental terms after committing the murder?No, neverWorks Cited1.Shakespeare, WilliamOthello, Arden, London, 1974.2.Young, W.T.Brownings poems,Macmillan, London, 1975.