Comparing patriarchal power in The Prelude and My Last Duchess
Compare the ways that poets present male power over women in My Last Duchess and one other poem from the anthology.
This essay was written alongside my former tutee, Molly. Many of the ideas in it are hers.
Both of these poems discuss male power over women, however, Browning does this in order to criticise patriarchal society whereas Wordsworth is more concerned with how that power affects his own mood.
In the first line of ‘My Last Duchess’ the speaker uses the personal possessive pronoun, ‘my’. This illustrates that the Duke is in charge. Arrogantly, the Duke uses ‘my’ to show his ownership of both the painting and the Duchess and to underline his status within society. He reinforces this idea by questioning whether his Duchess values what he calls, ‘my gift of a nine-hundred-years old name’. All of this paints a picture of a man who believes in his absolute authority resulting in him believing that he can ‘give commands’ and even end his Duchess’s life. These ideas, that one man can feel himself to be the owner of a woman, another human being and that one man can give any order and for no one to question it, underlines Browning’s criticism of the patriarchal society during his time. In a similar way, Wordsworth describes the speaker in ‘The Prelude’ as having no boundaries, resulting in him taking a boat without permission. He calls taking the boat ‘an act of stealth’ implying the boat is not his. Moreover, the speaker calls taking the boat a ‘troubled pleasure’ an oxymoron showing that he knows he shouldn’t be taking the boat, but he enjoys doing so anyway. In ‘The Prelude’, the boat is gendered as female showing that the speaker feels that he has power at least over female objects, if not women themselves. Consequently, in both poems the reader begins to develop the idea that men have power over women, as seen in the patriarchal societies in which these poets lived. However, Browning is criticising his speaker by ironically depicting him as arrogant and ignorant. The reader sees through the persona of the Duke and his ‘gift of a nine-hundred-years old name’ and understands that he is someone who is controlling and nasty. Whereas, Wordsworth seems to not only agree with his status, but to not even question it as the natural order that allows him to have power over his female boat. This suggests that he sees no fault in a patriarchal society.
In both poems, the speakers objectify the women (or female boat!) that they discuss. In ‘The Prelude’ the noun ‘chain’ suggests being confined or imprisoned, however Wordsworth’s speaker gives the impression that he frees the boat from her ‘chains’ but only for his pleasure. Wordsworth gives a strong impression that the boat has been humanised which he then re-objectifies as a woman. Further on in the poem, he describes the boat as an ‘elfin pinnace’. The word ‘pinnace’ was often associated with ‘prostitute’ in the 19th century and the adjective ‘elfin’ also had sexual connotations. In addition, Wordsworth uses feminine descriptive language ‘glittering idly’ to describe the boat moving across the water. During the 19th century, upper class women were valued for being beautiful and idle. Similarly, in ‘My Last Duchess’ Browning portrays the Duchess to have been objectified through being beautifully painted and hung on the wall amongst other valuable works of art. This reinforces that she is being seen for her aesthetic value. The painting is described as ‘a wonder’ and the Duchess is seen as having ‘a spot of joy … in her cheek’ implying that the painting is very beautiful and implying that the Duke appreciates the painting more than he did the Duchess herself. This may be because the Duke describes the Duchess’s behaviour later in the poem, as not up to his standards, finding faults in her. In the poem the Duke says that she was ‘too soon made glad’ by other people, which upset him. In both poems, the female figures are valued for their beauty and they so long as they behave in ways that pleases the man, then they survive. As soon as they displease the men, they are discarded. This reinforces the idea of female figures being objectified and male characters having power over them.
In ‘My Last Duchess’ the Duke has no remorse for what has happened to his Duchess and appears to be moving on quickly to his next wife. In contrast, in ‘The Prelude’ the speaker seems to be feeling guilt about his actions in stealing the boat; he describes a ‘darkness’ hanging over him. One way of reading the events in ‘The Prelude’ is to understand the speaker as having had an adolescent sexual awakening. This is suggested by the language Wordsworth uses to describe his experience. He describes the mountain as ‘uprearing its head … with voluntary power instinct’ and ‘trembling’ ‘like a living thing’. This language has strong sexual connotations. Wordsworth’s response is a feeling of depression, described using the image of ‘blank desertion.’ He responds to his abuse of power over the boat by feeling guilt. In complete contrast, Browning presents the Duke as feeling absolutely no remorse for the death of his ‘last Duchess.’ When showing off the painting, he describes her twice ‘as if she were alive’, a callous comment because he is not mourning his wife. This maybe another way that Browning is criticising patriarchal society because the Duke is showing no sadness towards the loss of his Duchess.
Both poems show male speakers with power over female figures. Both poems value those figures in aesthetic and sexualised terms. However, whilst Browning is clearly and explicitly criticising patriarchal power, Wordsworth is doing so less clearly. His speaker is unclear about the origin of his feeling of depression and guilt. Browning leaves us little room for confusion; there is no doubt about the Duke’s guilt.
