Comparing My Last Duchess And My Ex-Husband By Gabriel Spera
The pain of betrayal transcends all boundaries. Two complementary poems illustrate this fact, despite being written 150 years apart. Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” is set in 16th Century Italy. The Duke of Ferrara is discussing the portrait of his last duchess to an envoy of a nobleman, whose daughter he is planning to marry. Similarly, the contemporary woman in Gabriel Spera’s “My Ex-Husband,” relates the details of her first marriage to the man in her new relationship. Throughout both dramatic monologues, jealousy, pride, and control blur the lines between illusion and reality. “Jealousy”
The current of jealousy is evident throughout the dialogue. In “My Last Duchess” the Duke’s possessive nature rails at not having his wife’s total attention. He criticizes that, “She had a heart-how shall I say? – too soon make glad. Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er she looked on, and her looks went everywhere. Sir, …show more content…
The Duke’s arrogance is an immovable barrier to communication. His self importance is impugned when she ranks his gift “of a nine-hundred-years-old name with anybody’s gift.” He cannot bring himself to try to “lesson” her and say, “Just this or that in you disgusts me; or here you miss, or there exceed the mark.” Even the acknowledgement of her infractions is an insult to his aristocratic status, as he states it, “E’en then would be some stooping, and I chose never to stoop.” Conceit is the Duke’s downfall. In like fashion, the central character in “My Ex-Husband” sees herself above the necessity to address her husband’s duplicity. She refuses to “lower herself” to negotiate with a “lout.” Haughtily, she remarks that, “Even if you’d the patience-which I have not-to go see some counselor,” that would amount her being left “on the short end of the stick,” and she will not let that happen. In the two stories, pride is the catalyst that tears apart the
The current of jealousy is evident throughout the dialogue. In “My Last Duchess” the Duke’s possessive nature rails at not having his wife’s total attention. He criticizes that, “She had a heart-how shall I say? – too soon make glad. Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er she looked on, and her looks went everywhere. Sir, …show more content…
The Duke’s arrogance is an immovable barrier to communication. His self importance is impugned when she ranks his gift “of a nine-hundred-years-old name with anybody’s gift.” He cannot bring himself to try to “lesson” her and say, “Just this or that in you disgusts me; or here you miss, or there exceed the mark.” Even the acknowledgement of her infractions is an insult to his aristocratic status, as he states it, “E’en then would be some stooping, and I chose never to stoop.” Conceit is the Duke’s downfall. In like fashion, the central character in “My Ex-Husband” sees herself above the necessity to address her husband’s duplicity. She refuses to “lower herself” to negotiate with a “lout.” Haughtily, she remarks that, “Even if you’d the patience-which I have not-to go see some counselor,” that would amount her being left “on the short end of the stick,” and she will not let that happen. In the two stories, pride is the catalyst that tears apart the