The Yellow Wallpaper/ My Last Duchess Analytical I
In a society with everlasting change and differences people clash on a prodigious scale. By analyzing the stories: ?The Yellow Wallpaper? written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and ?My Last Duchess? by Robert Browning, one can take a look into the soul of mankind and attempt to define its ubiquitous desire for control and the backlash that ensues. ?Notice Neptune, though Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!?(Browning, p. 53) The Duke?s desire for control is shown as he relates him self to a god attempting to capture the most extreme rarity of all: the unattainable enchantment of a sea-horse. Similarly, in ?The Yellow Wallpaper?, John?s naive understanding of the narrator?s condition lead him to attempt the type of control brought on by typical societal practices. By restricting the narrator?s awkward cry for creativity and freedom, he causes her unique mind to fabricate a world of greater comfort to suit her needs, however grotesque and frightening it seems to John?s belief system. ?John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures.?(Gilman, p.153) ?That?s my last Duchess painted on the wall, looking as if she were alive. I call that piece a wonder...?(Browning, p.52). To the Duke, the beauty of the Duchess can be reduced to a painting, and as he values her as an extravagantly rare possession, he never evaluates the fondness and innocence of her youth. His interest is to obtain subjects which have a high monetary value to society while only forming a less compassionate bond boisterous with horrid feelings of disposition and a vast hunger for manipulation. ?Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt, Whene?er I passed her; but who passed without much that same smile??(Browning, p. 53) The Duke?s thirst for attention causes him to become angry over the innocence or her naive disobedience. Finally
Cited: Browning, Robert. ?My last duchess.? Primis McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992. p. 52-53 Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. ?The Yellow Wallpaper.? Primis McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992. p. 153-165