"Reflection"

Journal Prompt:
I didn't have any confusions or questions about the final assignment.

Final Assignment:
     "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning is a monolog/poem. It's about a Duke describing his last wife from a painting he has to the servant of the count's daughter he's planning to marry next. But while talking about his last duchess he indirectly shows us the type of person he really is. Which is crazy and controlling.
     Lines 45-47 reveal that the Duke is controlling. It specifically says, "I gave commands, then all smiles stopped together." Which prove that whatever he said had to be done and it was. It also reveals how crazy he is. You can infer that he either killed his last duchess or had her sent away. Especially when he says, "Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands as if she was alive." Browning first mentioned this in line 2 and repeated this towards the end of the poem. He put so much emphasis on that line so that we can see how much of a mad man he really is. From the beginning to now the duke character develops from an insecure husband to a psyhco controlling husband. Lines 45-47 just gives us the conformation of what we thought earlier in the poem that the Duke is a crazy, controlling, freak.