The duke explains that she began smiling at others even more, so he gave orders and all her smiles stopped forever, presumably because he had her killed.
It has become clear that the Duke didn't like his wife to smile at anyone else but him and required her to elevate him above everyone else. As a result, he “gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together.” The Duke couldn't bear not being the only one for Duchess' smiles, and thus, presumably, had her killed.
Lines 45-46
The Duke claims that "This grew" (45) – that is, the Duchess's indiscriminate kindness and appreciation of everything got more extreme. The Duke then "gave commands" (45) and as a result "All smiles stopped together" (46). Our best guess is that he had her killed, but the poem is ambiguous on this point.
The final lines of the poem confirm the Duke's obsession with power: He is a possessive, controlling man. Because the Duchess “smiled” (line 43) at others, the Duke “gave commands” (line 45) so that “all smiles stopped together” (line 46), which may be a euphemism for having the Duchess killed or at least silenced.
The duke wanted his wife to smile at no one but himself. The duchess' smiles to the other men aroused an anger in the duke so powerful that he gave commands to have her killed. His jealousy stemmed from his perceived lack of control that he had over his wife.
Why does the Duke appear to be unhappy with his last Duchess? Ans: Throughout the poem, the Duke appears to be unhappy with his last Duchess because he strongly believes that his wife had not given him the respect he deserved. He complains that she was too friendly and insufficiently dignified.
Conflict arose when the Duke realised he couldn't control his wife, and he retaliated by killing her, which is an abuse of his power and control. control from the very start, from the possessive pronoun "my".
The concept of someone going through the most harrowing events, with a smile plastered on their face, makes for a great metaphor on the lives of patients suffering from mental illness, which is often invisible to the outside world.
'My Last Duchess':
Written by Robert Browning, 'My Last Duchess' is a poem about jealousy and perceived betrayal. The speaker is a wealthy and powerful duke who is meeting with a representative for a similarly wealthy nobleman. He explains that he had his last wife murdered because believed she had been unfaithful.
I assert that the Duke places her behind a curtain so that in her death he can hold control over whom she glances at and who admires “the faint Half-flush that dies along her throat” (Browning 18-19) in a way that he felt helplessly unable to do while she was alive.
The Duke implies that the Duchess is not worthy of his high social status because she is too easily impressed and her heart is "too soon made glad." This suggests that the Duke values control and power over love and affection. He expects his wife to be more reserved and less emotional.
The Duke did not like that she would blush at the flirtations of another man. He did not like that the things which he called common courtesy would “call up that spot of joy” which she seemed to always have on her face. The Duke accuses her of having a heart that was “too soon made glad” and “too easily impressed”.
Duke in Robert Browning's “My Last Duchess” is a controlling and entitled aristocrat who embodies toxic masculinity. He believes that his wife was unfaithful to him, which threatens his sense of power and control, leading to his eventual decision to have her killed.
The poet smiled and smiled in an effort to reassure herself that she will meet her mother soon. Her words and smiles are a deliberate attempt to hide her real fears and feelings from her mother. In the poem, 'My Mother at Sixty Six' the poet, Kamala Das smiled to hide her anxiety and fear of the unknown. ...
Explanation: The Duke states that "this grew", which means the Duchess's arbitrary compassion and admiration of all grew more intense. "gave commands and all smiles stopped together" might probably mean that he ordered his men to kill the Duchess because she was being more humble to others.
The overarching irony in Browning's "My Last Duchess" is that it really is not about the duchess, but instead about the controlling, jealous, and arrogant nature of the duke. In his monologue describing a painting of his former wife, the duke introduces us to his dark and sinister qualities.
The phrase 'spot of joy' is a metaphor for the girlish blush that often touched the duchess' cheek. The duke echoes the image of her blushing cheek when he later describes the 'dropping of the daylight in the West', drawing a connection between her beauty and the warm colors of a sunset.
In the poem, the Duke of Ferrara uses a painting of his former wife as a conversation piece. The Duke speaks about his former wife's perceived inadequacies to a representative of the family of his bride-to-be, revealing his obsession with controlling others in the process.
This quote provides the idea that the Duke was jealous of his wife's glances towards others that were not him and that she was impressed too easily by others. The jealousy represented in this quote drove his anger to new heights.
The rarest smile type is the complex smile, with only an estimated 2% of the population possessing this smile. This smile is rare because it requires three muscle groups to work simultaneously when smiling.
The Smile Entity as it strangles Rose, and its most infamous quote. You can't escape your own mind, Rose. The Smile Entity, also called The Monstrosity or simply The Smile Demon, is the main antagonist of the 2020 horror short film Laura Hasn't Slept, as well as its 2022 film adaptation/sequel Smile.
A person who hides their pain behind a smile is called an Eccedentesiast.
The dramatic monologue 'My Last Duchess' by the poet is a presentation of an egoistic, narcissistic and self centered duke. Throughout the poem there is a clear image of a psyche, overprotective, jealous and possessive personality who has executed his wife for his own narrow mentality.
My Last Duchess in a Nutshell
The Duke uses a painting of his former wife as a conversation piece, and suggests that she did something that he didn't approve of. The rest of the poem is a subtle warning about what happens to those women who disappoint him, as his last wife (his last duchess) is now deceased.
In the poem “My Last Duchess” the Duke of Ferrara has killed his wife because he believes that she has been unfaithful to him.