ands; then all smiles stopped together. There she stands as if alive (Kennedy 16). Having the Duke hint at the Duchesses demise with his last remarks, he intently returns to the business at hand: the arrangement of his marriage to a new young girl. In a way the Duke is nonchalantly brushing off the fate of the Duchess, as if she were just an intricate piece of artwork in his gallery. Have you note, as the Duke walks past the portrait, he is eager to point out many other valuable pieces of artwork, as if to say that solely he owns each piece of artwork, including the portrait of his last Duchess. Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though. Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me (Kennedy 17)! By creating a dark and mysterious character, such as the Duke, Browning envelopes his audience in a picturesque landscape, masking the horrific qualities the Duke possesses. With some further research, this specific historical background was set during the Italian Renaissance, inspiring and fascinating Browning in his creation. The Italian Renaissance represented the flowering of the aesthetic and the human (Watson 133). Offering this setting to imply the complications and intrigue with human sexuality and male domination during the Renaissance time period. Concluding, nevertheless, that the Duke continuously punished his former Duchess for expressing her natural sexuality: Such stuff was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough for calling up that spot of joy (Kennedy 16). Hence, the reason there can be seen a faint half-flush that dies along her throat (Kennedy 16), giving the exact evidence of abuse committed by the Duke. It is assumed with the violence in the middle lines of the poem that the Duchess, nevertheless, falls victim to the Dukes desire to extinguish her life. Just this or that in you disgusts me; here you miss, or there exceed the mark and is she let herself be lessoned (Kennedy 16). Th...
