My Last Duchess Questions and Answers Pdf Download Marks 2
Q. 1. Define a dramatic monologue. What are the components of the dramatic monologue?[My Last Duchess Questions and Answers Marks 2]
Ans. A dramatic monologue is a kind of literary monologue. The other types of literary monologues are soliloquy in drama, interior monologues in the novel and so on.
The dramatic monologue has the following components: a speaker or the addresser, a listener or addressee, some interplay between the speaker and the listener and a dramatic situation.
Q. 2. What is the primary effect of a dramatic monologue?
Ans. The primary effect of a dramatic monologuedramatic irony. The situation is dramatic.As the duke speaks out, we learn a great deal about his own personality and about how he might well have been responsible for his first wife’s death.
Q. 3. Consider Browning’s My Last Duchess as a dramatic monologue.
Ans. The dramatic monologue is the utterance of a single speaker in some moments of intense psychological crisis in the presence of silent auditors. Here the Ferrarese Duke has reached a culmination in his life after commanding his last Duchess to be murdered and wished to remarry. In such a critical juncture, the speaker gives expression to his inner thoughts to the envoy of the Count. The messenger of the Count is the silent listener. So My Last Duchess is a true dramatic monologue.
Q. 4. What type of poem is My Last Duchess?
Ans. My Last Duchess is included in Bells and Pomegranates. It is in the formof adramatic monologue, the most favourite device of Robert Browning My Last Duchess is a poem by Robert Browning, frequently anthologized as an example of the dramatic monologue. The poem is written in 28 rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter.
Q. 5. What is My Last Duchess about?
Ans. My Last Duchess is a dramatic monologue set in Renaissance Italy in early 16th century and conveys the opinions of a wealthy noble man as he shows a marriage broker, an emissary, a painting of his late wife, ‘my last duchess’.
Q. 6. Where is the setting in Browning’s My Last Duchess?
Ans. The setting in Browning’s My Last Duchess is Italy. My Last Duchess is a poem by Robert Browning, frequently anthologized as an example of the dramatic monologue. It first appeared in 1842 in the poet’s collection of verses Dramatic Lyrics. The poem is written in 28 rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter.
Q. 7. Who was My Last Duchess based on?
Ans. Browning’s inspiration for My Last Duchess was the history of a Renaissance duke, Alfonso II of Ferrara, whose young wife Lucrezia died in suspicious circumstances in 1561.So, the setting in Browning’s My Last Duchess is Italy.
Q. 8. Who is the speaker in Browning’s My Last Duchess?
Ans. The duke of Ferrara is the speaker in Browning’s My Last Duchess. The speaker of My Last Duchess is the Duke of Ferrara. But it is important to think about him, not only as a character, but as a speaker. My Last Duchess is narrated by the Duke of Ferrara to an envoy or a representative of another nobleman, whose daughter the Duke is soon to marry. These details are revealed throughout the poem, but understanding them from the opening helps to illustrate the irony that Browning employs.
Q. 9. What idea of the Duke’s character do you gather from your reading of My Last Duchess?
Ans. The Duke of Ferrara appears in the poem as an individual as well as a typical nobleman of the Italian Renaissance. He has an aesthetic delight in art and a streak of extreme sadistic cruelty. He is proud of the lineage and he feels his wife’s indiscriminate taste and judgment humbles his family reputation. The Duke has the ferocious jealousy of Othello but nothing of Othello’s passionate love for the wife.
Q.10. Comment on the character of the Duchess.
Ans. The Duchess was frank, good-natured and unsophisticated. She used to smile on everyone and on every occasion. She had no sense of discriminatìon. Everything pleased her. She was unable to maintain courtly decorum for the family of nine hundred years old reputation.
Q.11. “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall.” – Who is the speaker? What is remarkable about the portrait?
Ans. The speaker is the Duke of Ferrara in Browning’s poem My Last Duchess. The Duchess was a simple hearted and innocent lady who smiled on everyone and on every trifling occasion. It is this smile which Fra Pandolf has caught alive in the portrait. The portrait remains curtained in the wall of the room which nobody can unveil except the Duke.
Q.12. How would you react to the killing of the Duchess in the poem?
Ans. The Duke expressly tells the envoy that he disliked the last duchess’s indiscriminate taste and judgement, her lack of sophistication in maintain courtly decorum of the house. But what is implicit here is that the Duke was jealous of the Duchess’s smiles and ordered her to be killed. The Duke has the ferocious jealousy of Othello but nothing of Othello’s passionate love for the wife.
Q.13. What do you mean by “nine hundred years old name”?
Ans. The Duke is very proud of his family which has a nine hundred years old history. It is an ancient and noble family of Italy, and so he is deservedly proud of his lineage.
Q.14. “Even then would be some stooping and I choose never to stoop.” – What does the speaker consider stooping? Why did not he stoop?
Ans. The Duke of Ferrara considered rectifying the Duchess’ undignified gestures of smiling on everyone and of being easily pleased with trifles as stooping’. The Ferrarese Duke belonged to a family of nine hundred years old reputation. So to tutor his wife who did not understand the aristocratic codes of conduct would be below his dignity.
Q.15. “Then all smiles stopped together.” Explain the line in brief.
Ans. The line simply contains a euphemism. In order to put an end to the Duchess’s indiscriminate smiles, the Duke ordered her to be killed. A critic comments on this line as “a tragedy in five words”, the tragedy of a whole life concentrated within a little space.
Q.16. “Notice Neptune ….taming a sea-horse”. Why did the speaker refer to Neptune?
Ans. Neptune, according to the Roman Mythology, was the god of sea. The statue of Neptune taming a sea-horse in the last lines is noteworthy. The Ferrarese Duke sees himself in the image of Neptune and his wife, in the image of sea-horse. Here the poet wants to show the power of the Duke in the image of the seagod who controls the lives of the persons around him. The Duke believes in taming wives.
Q.17. How does the Duke delineate his last Duchess?
Ans. The Duke thought of his last Duchess as a naïve woman of impressionable heart. The Duchess used to smile on every one and on every trifling occasions. The praise of her husband, the sunlight, the gift of a bough of cherries by a foolish young man would draw from her the same approval and the same smile. The Duke despised the Duchess’s indiscriminate taste and her inability to maintain courtly decorum. More than that he felt the Duchess slighted his nine hundred year old family reputation that he had conferred on her.
Q.18. What are the main themes of My Last Duchess?
Ans. My Last Duchess is all about power: the political and social power wielded by the speaker or the Duke and his attempt to control the domestic sphere in the same way that he rules his lands. He rules with an iron fist.
Q.19. Define dramatic irony. What is the dramatic irony in My Last Duchess?
Ans. Dramatic irony occurs when the audience or readers of a work of literature know something the characters in it do not. In My Last Duchess, dramatic irony occurs when the Duke believes he is justifying himself in having his previous Duchess killed.
Q.20. Who is the listener in My Last Duchess?
Ans. The only speaker is the Duke of Ferrara. The listener, who, offstage, asks about the smile of the last duchess in the portrait, is silent during the entire poem. The listener is the emissary of a count and is helping to negotiate a marriage between the Count’s daughter and the Duke.
21.Critically comment on the opening line of My Last Duchess?
Ans. The Duke in a conceited manner tells his listener “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall…” He appears to be proud and boastful about the many Duchesses he had in his life. He goes on to say, “the depth and passion of its earnest glance…”
Q.22. What are some symbols in My Last Duchess?
Ans. The sculpture of Neptune taming the sea-horse is a perfect symbol of the Duke’s arrogant and controlling nature. The sea-horse, like the Duchess, is a symbol of innocence; Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, symbolizes the controlling and harsh nature of the Duke.
Q.23. Would you consider My Last Duchess a dramatic lyric? Mention its metrical devices.
Ans. It is a hybrid of a play and a poem. It is truly a dramatic lyric. As for meter, My Last Duchess uses the rhythm called iambic pentameter. Iambic means that the rhythm is based on twosyllable units in which an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
Q.24. Who is Fra Pandolf in My Last Duchess?
Ans. Fra Pandolf is the name of the painter who painted the famous portrait of the Duke’s last Duchess that is being surveyed by the Duke and his guest during the poem.
Q.25. How Does My Last Duchess show pride?
Ans. The first stanza is introduced with, “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall”. This illustrates pride due to the fact that the speaker has intentionally included the word ‘my’.
Q.26. What is dramatic monologue in My Last Duchess?
Ans. In the course of his speech, the speaker reveals aspects of his personality or situation that he might not be aware of or might prefer to keep hidden. My Last Duchess is a classic example of a dramatic monologue. The duke addresses an emissary who has come to arrange his next marriage.
Q.27. Is My Last Duchess based on a true story? What do you know of the topical interest in the poem?
Ans. This poem is set in 1564 and is based on the real-life Duke Alfonso II who ruled Ferrara, Italy in the latter half of the 16th century. In the poem, he is talking about his first wife Lucrezia de’ Medici, 3 years after she died under suspicious circumstances shortly after marrying the Duke.
Q.28. What kind of man is the Duke in My Last Duchess?
Ans. The speaker of My Last Duchess is the Duke of Ferrara. But it is important to think about him, not only as a character, but as a speaker. We need to consider his rhetoric, and syntax, and speech patterns. The Duke is excessively proud, jealous and authoritarian man.
Q.29. Why is Enjambment used in My Last Duchess?
Ans. In Robert Browning’s poem, My Last Duchess, for example, the enjambments suggest fluency, colloquial ease. Both these phrases are given special emphasis because they are involved in enjambment and thus a connection can be created even though the line endings do not rhyme.
Q.30. What are the key themes in My Last Duchess?
Ans. The main themes of the poem My Last Duchess by Robert Browning are jealousy, control and insanity which are enhanced through the motifs of communication and art. The poem is related to art and artists.
Q.31. What literary devices are used in the poem My Last Duchess?
Ans. Browning combines the literary device enjambment, sentences that run from one line of poetry to the next, with the formal conventions of rhymed couplets (AABB) and iambic pentameter. Notice how this creates an intentionally jarring style that adds to the disturbing impression made by the Duke in his monologue.
Q.32. Who are the two artists mentioned in My Last Duchess?
Ans. Fra Pandolf is an imaginary artist mentioned in the poem. The Duke also refers to another artwork by Claus of Innsbruck, which, like the painting of the Duchess also celebrates dominance – Neptune taming a sea-horse, but the Duke cannot so successfully control his own image.
Q.33. How is the Duke arrogant in My Last Duchess?
Ans. In Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess, a portrait of the egocentric and power loving Duke of Ferrara is painted for us. Browning uses the dramatic monologue form very skillfully to show us the controlling, jealous, and arrogant traits the duke possessed without ever mentioning them explicitly.
Q.34. Who is Fra Pandolf in My Last Duchess?
Ans. Fra Pandolf is the name of the painter who painted the famous portrait of the Duke’s last Duchess that is being surveyed by the Duke and his guest during the poem.
Q.35. Why was the Duke unhappy with his first wife?
Ans. In the poem, the Duke was unhappy with his wife for a number of reasons. First of all, in lines 14–15, the duke says that his wife often blushed at others. Specifically, this “spot of joy” on her face (a blush) was caused by things other than her “husband’s presence.”
Q.36. Who is the Duke addressing in My Last Duchess?
Ans. The speaker in the poem My Last Duchess is the Duke of Ferrara, who is addressing a representative of another nobleman whose daughter is promised to marry him.
Q.37. What action precedes the opening of the speech in Browning’s My Last Duchess?
Ans. An unveiling of curtain precedes the opening of the speech in Browning’s My Last Duchess.
Q.38. Who is the addresser and the addressee in My Last Duchess?
Ans. My Last Duchess is a dramatic monologue written by Robert Browning. That means that one person is speaking for the entire poem. In this case, addresser or the speaker is Duke Ferrara while the addressee is a representative of another nobleman whose daughter is promised to marry him.The identity of the listener is held till the end.
Q.39. What is the duke arranging as an action in Browning’s My Last Duchess?
Ans. The duke is arranging a new marriage for himself as an action in Browning’s My Last Duchess.
Q.40. What is the epigraph of the poem in Browning’s My Last Duchess?
Ans. An epigraph me ans a quotation or motto placed at the beginning of a chapter or poem as an indication of its theme. The term also refers to an inscription on a monument. The epigraph of the poem Browning’s My Last Duchess is The Duke of Ferrara.
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