Analyse the Different Forms of Power Presented in My Last...

Amongst the three love poems examined in this essay, the theme of male or female power in relationships pervades throughout. The views of the speakers are expressed and defined through literary and poetic techniques. This gives the reader an insight into the speakers problems and dissatisfaction of a relationship, due to an imbalance of power. However there are dissimilarities between the poems - for example where in La Belle Dame Sans Merci the female displays supernatural power and dominance over a knight, the Duke in My Last Duchess desires psychological power over his Duchess The poem My Last Duchess is a dramatic monologue written by Robert Browning, coming from the Duke of Ferrara. In the poem he displays his megalomaniac†¦show more content†¦Due to the fact he is only controlling an object and not a person, he has attained no real achievement and the patriarchal power we assume he has, like the curtain covering the Duchess, is only a cloak shrouding his true self. The strong patriarchal ideas in My Last Duchess are a sharp contrast to the feminist theme of A Woman to her lover. While the woman in the poem may seem to be domineering, she is seeking equality amongst men and women rather than total control and believes the power of love conquers all other forms of power. In My Last Duchess the Duke displays his views of a society controlled by high-ranking men - such as himself, however in the poetic voice of A Woman to Her Lover, has a totally different attitude, where women and men share equal power. To illustrate this, the woman creates three hypothetical situations, each containing one of the expectations 19th century men had towards woman. In the first stanza, she discusses how woman are accustomed to be the servant and how their function was to bear you children. Her use of powerful wording displays her resentment and rejection towards the idea. At the end of the stanza she says, If that be what you ask, O lover I refuse you! here the use of the refrain, not only indicates her assertiveness but also that she is only interested in someone who shares the same views as her.