Marriage in My Last Duchess and To My Dear and Loving Husband Anonymous 12th Grade

Marriage is a complementing union between a man and a woman. Marriage requires affection and dedication to one another. In Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess, the Duke of Ferrara is very dominant and expresses jealousy from his wife in his marriage which leads him to murder his wife. Robert Browning was influenced by his father and was provided with a large library of books. In Anne Bradstreet’s To My Dear and Loving Husband, a woman speaks to her husband about their tremendous love they have for each other. The woman mentions how she cannot repay him and even when they die, their love will live on. She goes on being obsessed and surrounds her whole life on their love. Anne Bradstreet lived in the Elizabethan era which allowed her to be highly educated by her father. Thus, in the poem My Last Duchess by Robert Browning and To My Dear and Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet, both speaker’s attitude towards marriage are immensely different which is seen through symbolism, tone and character.

The Duke of Ferrara’s attitude toward marriage in Browning’s My Last Duchess is very different as the Duke is very dominant over his wife, which is seen through Neptune’s statue and the portrait of his late wife. The Duke expresses his dominance...