Essays on Dramatic Monologues in Poetry

Dramatic monologues take a special place in poetry because this poetic technique makes it possible to learn a lot about the speakers’ characters, their concepts of themselves and others, and, of course, about their understanding of the situation. It is known that dramatic monologues have very much in common with theatrical monologues when the person’s speech is not analyzed or commentated by the author. This function is left to the audience that interprets what is happening in its own way. A great number of poets choose dramatic monologues as poetic forms in their poems. Dramatic monologues help the readers to understand main characters’ personalities in a proper way.

My goal in this essay is to discuss the poems of three poets who focused on the use of dramatic monologues in their poetical works, and had a great success with the readers. They include Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess, Anne Sexton’s For My Lover Returning to His Wife and Robert Frost’s Home Burial.

It is necessary to start with the poetic composition My Last Duchess written by the famous poet Robert Browning in 1842. Some literary critics consider that he was one of the first Victorian poets who began to use dramatic monologues in his poetry. Moreover, it is known that Robert Browning’s dramatic monologues influenced a great number of other poets who poeticized in subsequent periods. (Drew 21)

In this poem, Robert Browning represents a dramatic monologue of the Duke of Ferrera who ponders over his wife’s death. The speaker says, “That’s my last duchess painted on the wall, / Looking as if she were alive”. (1-2) The speaker tells about his wife who died suspiciously, and whose painting was placed behind the curtains. The Duke wants the audience to believe that his wife was unfaithful to him, that is why he does not want anybody to see her smile. He says, “…since none puts by / The curtain I have drawn for you, but I”. (9-10)

However, it is obvious that the speaker tries to hide something. The Duke is a person who prefers “to control everything in his life including his wife’s smiles”. ( Hudson 18) However, the Duchess did not follow his rules. She followed her own life principles. He says, “She had a heart – how shall I say? – too soon made glad”. (21-22) The Duke is irritated by the way she lived, and by her ability to enjoy the simplest things around her, such as a bough of cherries and her white mule, and “the dropping of daylight in the west”. (26)

The speaker says, “She thanked men good! But thanked / Somehow I know not how as if she ranked / My gift of nine-hundred–years-old name / With anybody’s gift” (31-34) This statement helps the readers to learn about the speaker’s character. It is clear that he is greedy and conceited man who is sure that his aristocrat name should be the main thing in the life of his wife. She should be indebted to him for his noble title, but she did not appreciate his gift. This fact leads to the duchess’ murder. The Duke cannot endure the thought that he cannot control his wife, and he kills her. He says, “That grew; I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands / As if alive” (45-47) The Duke informs the reader of his crime as if he boasts of it. The speaker is shown as a cold-hearted person whose actions deserve condemnation. His greed and his love for power ruined the life of the innocent woman who made a mistake when agreed to marry him. ( Kreilkamp 49)