The Duke expresses anger and astonishment toward the duchess as the duchess was seen as stupid and moronic to the Duke. “Who’d stoop to blame this sort of trifling? Even you had the skill in speech…” (Browning, Lines 34-35) The Duke saw the last duchess as mindless and not appreciating his work which angered him. He thought that he was sublime to the duchess and that everyone should see his greatness and appreciate what he spent his time working for. The Duke had anger toward the duchess because the duke thinks he is the greatest and that everyone should bow down to him. “Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set her wits to your, forsooth, and made excuse” (Browning, Lines 40-41) The Duke sees the duchess as a person who has not learned in life yet, a person who is ultimately unqualified to be viewing such pristine art as his. There is no excuse, as the Duke sees, for the duchess to be dimwitted and unintelligent. The Duke even thinks that the duchess has less knowledge than the reader, and the reader could be a little child. The duchess is moronic and stupid to the Duke and that’s why the duchess is eliminated.
-Natalie Johnson
which question is this?
ReplyDeleteGood job citing the poem as evidence for your response. I think you have a good point, but maybe try using less repetition. Otherwise, I thought you had a clear argument and you did a good job finding textual evidence.
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