Based on the poems “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover”, compare and contrast the characters and actions of the ‘Duke and the Duchess’ and ‘Porphyria and their lover’ in the other.
...her as she was pure and good, and he wanted to keep it that way! “I found a thing to do” He took advantage of the situation, as she was still ‘perfectly pure’ and he was in control. He kept repeating she felt no pain, maybe to ease his conscious. He ‘warily’ opened her eyes, as he was worried about what may happen next. “Utmost will” he thinks this is the thing she wanted the most. In death she has now fulfilled his need for her. “That all it scorned at once is fled” she has more in common with him dead than alive as they are together and he has all the power he wants over her. In the last line “And yet God has not said a word!” I think he is referring to himself as God and he thinks it must be ok it does not matter. The title ‘My Last Duchess’ is quite strange, as you would not expect ‘Duchess’ on the end of ‘My Last’. This gives me the impression that he has had many Duchess’s before her and that they are just a piece of property to him, which he can show off. “Since none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I” He does not really value her but uses her now as a focal point to show off. I got the impression that the Duchess was young and beautiful, in which she was easily manipulated and impressive to show off. Where as he seemed to be respectively older, maybe middle to old age. “Bough of cherries some officious fool broke in the orchard for her” she was flirting with another man who liked her, they maybe fancied each other and the Duke was jealous. He called the man an ‘officious fool’ which showed he was envious of this man the Duchess was with in the orchard. This maybe because she was a very young girl with the responsibility of being a Duchess, where as older women are very stern she still has her childish innocence. The Duke describes the Duchess as “Too soon made glad, too easily impressed” this comes back to her ‘childish innocence’ she is impressed by the little things. Most people would think of as ordinary and simple and probably take them for granted but these fascinated her much more than expensive, materialistic gifts. When the Duke says this he seriously criticises the Duchess but euphemises it – says a nasty remark nicely. I get the idea the Duke reckons she maybe unfaithful. This could be true or just down to the Dukes being paranoid, jealous, and suspicious and not trusting her. The age gap between them seems to be quite a lot and the reason why he committed this obscene incident; older people are suspicious why young people do things differently to them. I think this is because young people are fresh, just beginning and looking forward to life. Where as, older people try and hang on to what they want and enjoy things to stay the same. I also think that the Duke enjoyed the Duchess as she was like a breathe of fresh air to him, reliving his youth. “She ranked my gift of a nine-hundred-year-old name with anyb...