Please answer the following question:
What comparisons can you draw between "My Last Duchess" and JANE EYRE?
Use the discussion we have in class about the poem to produce a response that will make your classmates think. Blog post is due before class meets on February 26th.
27 comments:
It is clear that “My Last Dutchess” and “Jane Eyre” are similar. Primarily, “My Last Dutchess” and “Jane Eyre” both involve men coping and dealing with wives who are not how they wish them to be. The narrator of “My Last Dutchess” initially got married to his wife expecting her to be the woman of his dreams. Then, he discovers that his beloved wife has crushed that hope when she begins to be unfaithful. He deals with his feelings toward her by eliminating her from his life. Mr. Rochester from “Jane Eyre” marries his wife Bertha with the expectations that Bertha is a normal, well rounded woman who, like the narrator’s last wife, will be the woman he has always wanted. After being married for some time, Mr. Rochester realizes that Bertha is completely opposite of what he perceived. Bertha is an aggressive lunatic who eventually burns down the house that Mr. Rochester took care of her in. He tried to do what he could for her, but she rids herself from his life for him in the fire. Similarly, both of these works deal with men acting like a very serious situation is nothing at all. The narrator of “My Last Dutchess” tells a somewhat stranger about how he practically killed his own wife. The narrator casually brings up the situation on his own in a conversation that began as an innocent tour of the house. Afterwards, the narrator wishes to greet the house’s company, nonchalantly acting as if he did not just confess to the murder of his wife. Mr. Rochester takes care of an insane woman in the top floor of his house and treats her like she is not there. When she acts up in the night, Mr. Rochester does what he can for her, then continues to entertain his company and plays it off like nothing happened. Instead of leaving her, or making her leave, Mr. Rochester carelessly lets his crazy wife secretly live with him, even when she has the potential to harm him. “My Last Dutchess” and “Jane Eyre” have similarities that make them memorable works of art.
To begin with, I think that there can be a comparison drawn between the narrator of Browning's poem and Mr. Rochester of Jane Eyre. Mr. Rochester is cold and aloof to Jane when he first meets her in the novel. He only unraveled under the influence of alcohol,where his emotions become uninhibited and he speaks of vague instances in his life, which Jane does not yet understand. Once sober, he again develops his superior attitude. The narrator, leading his guest to the painting of his last duchess,seems to be exhibiting the grandness of his house and acting in a manner that would reflect his higher status in society. In Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester lets his guard down and begins talking about his romance with Bertha and later with Celine Varens. He is, at first, very weary telling Jane the story. As he continues, it becomes obvious to the reader that he was hurt by these experiences, which is why he tries to hide them from Jane and the rest of Thornfield. The narrator in my last duchess was left vulnerable by his wife and he would not let his wounded pride show through until he became too emotional during his story to his guest. Both men, were very selective in their word choices when telling their tales in the beginning, but, at some point, a particular chord was struck and their true emotions were revealed. They both have a tendency to ramble on, trying to get their point across and make amends with themselves for what happened since they feel responsible somehow. They differ in one major way, however. Mr. Rochester was ashamed of his past actions and was battling inner regret for his married soul. The narrator of Browning's poem was not emotional because he was sorry, he, instead was trying to come up with some kind of valid reasoning for his wrong actions toward his last duchess. The narrator was a deranged egotistical man while Mr. Rochester was simply a misguided soul looking for some way to relieve his pain.
After reading My last duchess I do see comparisons to the novel Jane Eyre. The character that relate to me first from the poem and the novel are the speaker and Mr. Rochester.The first thing that is similar between the speaker and Mr. Rochester is that they both have wives. They the second thing that relates them is there love for their wives. Mr. Rochester marries Bertha in the begging because of love and the fact that she was the type of women that you would thing would be a good wife but after being with her for some time he comes to the understanding that she is a mad women and is simply crazy. This is the same in the poem. The speaker married his wife with a certain impression of her. He thought she would be there forever. After being with the duchess he feels that he has given her the world and she in a way disrespects his by having other relationships with men. IN both cases the men married there wife's because of the qualities they thought they had and soon realized that it wasn’t what they wanted. But I do see two other characters that relate to each other. Mr Rochester and the duchess in the picture. Mr. Rochester has a wife who is somewhat off her rocket but it is his wife that he loves. When Jane comes into his life at fist he is very careful about what he say to her. But he begin to let his guard down and open up to her and eventually falling in love with her. In the poem the speakers story of his leads us to believe that his wife in the photo was easily slighted by other men. Her heart never remained in her husband the speaker. What relates the two is that they both were previously married but fell in love with opposite people/ peoples. The duchess and Mr. Rochester eventually let there emotions get away from them which allows them to long for something else in there life which was another person of course.
In "Jane Eyre", Mr. Rochester seems like a normal man without any secrets. No one ever suspects him of already having a wife, although, he is forced to reveal this secret when his wedding to Jane is stopped. This is how the man in "My Last Dutchess" seems at first too. As he is giving a tour, he comes upon the painting of his late wife. The man on the tour does not suspect anything mysterious or secretive. However, he reveals the secret upon describing her- turning his speech into an angry rant. In the begining of the poem, the man guiding the tour is in complete control just mentioning his late wife's painting. However, as he describes more deeply into the story, particularly when he hesitates in order find the perfect wording, his control level is lowered. After this moment, his feelings crazily abound and his emotions of anger and rage shine through, he has lost all control over the situation and his feelings. Just as the man in "My Last Dutchess" wants and attempts to be in control of the situation and his feelings, so to does Mr. Rochester. Mr. Rochester promises Jane he will reveal a secret to her once they are married. This shows he does not want to have his feelings hurt, which would put him out of control in their relationship. When the subject of Mr. Rochester's current marriage is brought up and questioned, he does not right away answer the question directly. This lowers his level of control. When the secret is completely revealed and he explains his story to Jane, he loses control of all his emotions, thus losing control of the situation. Interestingly, Mr.Rochester becomes physically blind near the end of the novel, likewise the man in the poem becomes mentally blind to the other man's reaction, especially near the end of the poem.
Both "My Last Duchess" and "Jane Eyre are very similar in the way that they involve men who pride themselves in controlling women and circumstances around them. The speaker in My Last Duchess has a hard time dealing with his wife's multiple affairs and he finally pays someone to kill her. Mr. Brocklehurst of Lowood, although he does not murder anyone, likes to control all that goes on at Lowood. He gave his students measly meal portions, did not give them adequate clothing, and cut off all the hair of girls with naturally curly hair because he believes all the young girls need to be modest, meek and plain looking. Mr. Rochester is also like the speaker because he does not tell Jane about his first wife Bertha. He thinks that just because he has had this tragedy in his life because of his wife's mental state that he is entitled to happiness. He can only think of how he loves Jane and how he deserves to be with her. He ignores his past and deceives Jane to get what he desires. After Jane learns of Bertha, he acts as if anyone in his situation would have done the same thing and acts as if it is the completely normal way to go about this situation. The speaker also has this state of mind. He tells the servant about how me murdered his wife and then goes on to talk of his other art pieces like it is a completely normal conversation. Also like the speaker, Mr. Rochester gets rid of his wife by keeping her locked up and away because of the shame she has caused him. Although he does not kill her, he takes away whatever life she has left by leaving her isolated. The speaker kills his wife and then moves on to talk to the servant about marrying a new woman. Mr Rochester does the same with Jane. He wants a fresh start with a new wife like the speaker. He ignores the fact that his first wife is still alive and the speaker ignores the fact that he killed the last Duchess. They both believe that they have been through horrible love experiences and therefore are ENTITLED to another woman despite the wrongs they did their previous wives.
I believe the Jane Eyre and "My Last Duchess were very similar because it showed the difficulties of relationships within both plots. In "My Last Duchess" you can tell that the narrator was not happy with how his relationship was with his wife and in Jane Eyre, Jane was not happy with just being the Governess to Mr. Rochester. Also with how the narrator was jealous was also similar to Jane Eyre because there were a lot of jealous action talked about and portrayed. When Mr. Rochester first told Jane about Adela's mother he told about how he was in love with her and how he was so jealous when he found out that she was with another man and that Is just like the narrator in "My Last Duchess", with his wife he seemed to cheat on him with other men and taking their "gifts". In both incidents the men put a stop to their heartbreak; Mr. Rochester broke it off with her and shot the man and the narrator found some way to stop his wife from smiling at other men. I also see similarities within Jane and the Narrator of "My Last Duchess". In the poem the narrator starts off very calm expressing how he felt for his last wife but once he began to discuss more and more about her he began to loose control and he eventually snapped. Whereas is Jane Eyre, when Jane first got to Thornfield she did not think anything or Mr. Rochester and her emotions about him were pretty contempt but once the story progressed she began to pay more attention to him and finally she began to find herself in love with him. Both of the men, Mr. Rochester and the narrator both find themselves no longer interested in the women they are with or not even in love with them. In the narrator's case, he is no longer interested in the woman he was with because she flirted with all the men and treated him so poorly and Mr. Rochester finds himself not even interested in Bertha and tricked into a relationship he doesn't even want to be in. They are also similar characters because they both are really controlling. In Jane Eyre Mr. Rochester does not mean to be controlling but when he talks to Jane he seems to control her around because he is so used to giving orders to people, and the narrator is so demanding with his guest because he tells his guest what to do. He also goes through a very long story without hearing a word from his visitor and not even caring enough about his visitor to ask for his opinion. Adela also related to the Duchess because they both were easily impressed. The Duchess was easily impressed because she liked whatever was given to her and she settled for anything and Adela was also easily impressed by gifts like when Mr. Rochester gave her the new Frock he knew that it would make her happy and as a part of being a child, children are always easily impressed with gifts. There were a lot of similarities between Jane Eyre and "My Last Duchess" but these are the one I felt were the most interesting to me.
"Jane Eyre" and "My Last Duchess" posses very similar qualities that make them similar in comparison. The narrator of "My Last Duchess" and Mr. Rochester of "Jane Eyre" have some similar occurrences in their lives. For example both have been involved with a women who ended up spinning them a messy web of emotions that they become absorbed in. Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre fall hard for his soon to be crazy wife Bertha. He is immediately struck by her "dark" mysterious beauty. Little did he know that she would eventually turn insane and make him feel trapped and cooped up in his own house. There is however, a part of Rochester that does not want to let go of Bertha because he drives himself crazy at times because his deep dark secret of hiding Bertha in a secret room and he cant seem to send her away. The narrator of the poem also deals with the same situation in some way because he also was taken away by his duchess's beauty and he also ended up tangled in his emotions to the point of breaking. He gave up everything for this girl and he could not stand to see her cast her eye upon several different guys so he bottled up his anger, sadness and jealousy until he exploded and did something terrible. He also seems to be marked by the memory of his love or else he would not be making a point of spending time describing his experience with this girl. Both of the men mentioned are also both of a high social class. They also both seem to have loved a fair share of women. When the narrator refers to the lady in the portrait as his "last" duchess he seems to suggest that there were many before her and that he has already moved on. Whereas in Jane Eyre Rochester admits to falling in love with Bertha, then after he gave up his heart to two other women (one of which is Cecil Varnes) and throughout the book he has offered his heart to Jane Eyre.
Both "Jane Eyre" and "My Last Duchess" also stress the point that the man of the house has a compelling desire to be in control. For instance the narrator of "My Last Duchess" does not want to let his company to get a word in edgewise and makes a specific point of the fact that he is the only one that is allowed to draw the curtains above the duchess's picture. Likewise in "Jane Eyre" Mr. Rochester is accustomed to ordering his company around and telling them what to do next in order to benefit himself.
After reading “My Last Duchess” and Jane Eyre I think that the similarities between the two are in the relationships between the men and women. In “My Last Duchess” the narrator tells of his late wife as if she is nothing too special. He talks as if he has completely moved on from his life with her, yet he continues to lead on to the person with whom he is telling his story to that there was more behind this cryptic story. In Jane Eyre Mr. Rochester also has this cryptic hidden life, that later in the book we find out about. He had hidden a marriage and his psychotic wife from everyone in his house for years and not until Jane came to live with him, did her news of existence ever come out. I think that the fact that both the hidden murder of the Duchess and Mr. Rochester’s wife give a similarity that two characters had a secret to great to share. I also think these stories are similar because of the reaction from the characters that heard these stories. The messenger in “My Last Duchess” has so stricken by the story that he no longer had even any interest to give the message he came to give. This message was of another marriage from a father looking to give his daughter away to this man. In Jane Eyre, Jane first reacts to the news of Bertha, Mr. Rochester’s wife, by leaving the estate immediately. These reactions to shocking news both show the similarities in the strong characters that opposed such news. By the similarities between Mr. Rochester and the narrator in “My Last Duchess” and the messenger and Jane Eyre these pieces of literature can be comparable.
"Jane Eyre" and "My Last Duchess are undoubtedly similar. To begin with, both the novel and poem start out as basic stories, and end with some sort of eerie twist. "Jane Eyre" starts about as a story about a young orphan who tries to make a life for herself and then unexpectedly turns into a story about her lover's insane wife. "The Last Duchess" starts out as a man trying to teach someone about his last duchess, then quickly turns into a poem about a murder. Both the poem and the novel have unexpected twists throughout the whole work. In addition, in the novel and the play, the proposals did not seem very sincere. When St. John proposes to Jane he tells her it is because she would make the perfect missionary wife, not because he loved her. He just needed something from her. This proclamation of St.John's that he just needed a missionary wife ruined the chances of Jane actually saying yes. In "The Last Duchess", like St. John, the narrator ruined his chances of getting another duchess because of his outburst. Both of these characters said something that immediately ruined their chances of getting what they want. Also, the relationship between St. John and Diana is similar to that of the narrator and his wife. With St. John and Diana, Diana was in love with St. John and we was too, but they could not have each other because St. John would not allow it. The narrator and his wife also must have loved each other at some point, but the wife would not continue their love. In both of the stories, the love is being blocked by one person: St. John and the Duchess. Finally, Mr. Rochester and the narrator share some similarities. Both of these characters had something to hide, something that they did not want anyone else knowing about. The narrator does not want anyone to know about the relationship with his ex-wife or they way that she acted with other man. Likewise, Mr. Rochester did not want anyone knowing about his insane wife or where he hid her. If either of their secrets escaped, which one of them did, controversy can occur.
Emma C.
I think that My Last Duchess and Jane Eyre are similar because they are both about men who are not very happy with their lives. The writer and Mr. Rochester are one set of similar characters in this poem. Neither Mr. Rochester nor the writer feel like they are getting the love they need from their wives. Mr. Rochester's real wife is not able to love him because she is mad, and the writer's wife does not love or appreciate him like she should by getting the attention of other men. At first, both of the men were happy with their wives, but when Mr. Rochester found out she was mad, and the writer of the poem realized his wife was getting the attention of other men, they became angry and let their anger take over their actions. Mr. Rochester decided to lock his wife up and never let her come out, pretended like he did not even have a wife, and even almost married Jane when he was still married to Bertha. The writer of the poem "gave commands; then all smiles stopped together," and we assume it was something horrible that he did to his wife. Another set of similar characters from this poem are Bertha and the writer of this poem. Both of them are, in a way, being punished for no real reason. Bertha is being punished by being locked up in a room for the rest of her life because she has a mental illness, which she cannot control. The writer of this poem is also kind of being punished because his wife shows interest in other men and does not really love him or appreciate him, and he cannot help this either. Jane is also a little bit similar to the writer of "My Last Duchess." Both of them have secrets being kept from them by the people they love. Of course, Mr. Rochester keeps his wife a secret from Jane, and the wife of the writer keeps a secret from him about all of the other men in her life.
I noticed several similarities between “Jane Eyre” and “My Last Duchess.” The most noticeable similarity was how the narrator of “My Last Duchess” can be compared to Mr. Rochester. The first time Jane and Rochester try to get married, it is revealed that Rochester already has a wife. She has become mentally ill, and Mr. Rochester has locked her in the attic. The fact that he has pushed her out of his life because he no longer considers her worthy to be his wife is similar to the way the narrator of the poem handles his problem with the duchess. When she makes a habit of flirtatiously smiling at other men, the narrator takes control and has her killed. His actions are similar to Mr. Rochester’s because both men try to avoid the problem rather than face it. I also saw a parallel between Jane and the people viewing the picture of the duchess in the poem. When Jane discovers that Mr. Rochester has been hiding a wife in the attic at Thornfield, she is unable to move past the shocking news. This piece of information prevents her from marrying Rochester, despite his insistence that his first marriage will not be a problem. Likewise, the people examining the picture of the duchess are astonished to hear that the narrator gave orders to have her killed. They are so stunned that they are unable to stand up and greet the guests downstairs. The narrator of the poem acts similarly to Mr. Rochester and tries to hurry them along because he does not understand why they are disturbed. Likewise, Mr. Rochester tries to convince Jane to marry him because he does not see a reason for her to feel guilty. The actions of the characters in “Jane Eyre” and “My Last Duchess” prove that they have similar personalities.
Jane Eyre and My Last Duchess are similar in many ways. The man's duchess is similar to Mr. Rochester's mistress, Celine Varens, in many ways. Both Celine and the duchess married higher class men even though they did not love the person. Mr. Rochester bestowed many gifts and praises on Celine and she accepted them graciously. She pretended to love Mr. Rochester while her intentions lay elsewhere. She praised him and made him seem like the sunshine of her life, when really she was interested in the status and the material gains of Mr. Rochester. This was also the case with the duchess. The duchess had a coy smile that she shared liberally with many other men that were not her husband. She was not faithful, and yet the man cared too much for the girl to break off emotional ties with her. In addition, both of the men in Jane Eyre and My Last Duchess are hazy about their past actions. Mr. Rochester doesn't tell Jane about Bertha and many other actions of his past. The man in the story doesn't reveal the details of his relationship with the duchess or how he silences the smiles.
jane eyre and my last duchess relate in one main way. first, they both contain very controlling men with unfaithful wives. in my last duchess it is the speaker and in jane eyre it is mr. rochester. both try to stay very in control of evry situation around them whether it is the words chosen to speak about his wife like in my last duchess; or if it is covering up a situation like his bed being set on fire like in jane eyre. both of these wealthy and powerful men who seem to want control marry very uncontrolable women. the speaker marrys a woman who looks at many other men and is unfaithful to him in more ways than one. she takes advantage of his love for her and the gifts that he gives her. ultimately her loosness and his lack of control catch up and she is rid of. likewise, mr. rochester marrys a woman who is mentally unstable and therefore very hard to control. she escapes 4 times throughout the novel even with a caretaker watchin gout for her. mr. rochester cannot control her craziness and the best he can do for her is to lock her in the attic of the manor until she finally eliminates herself from his life. once both these women are gone, the controlling men in both stories are free to continue with what they want and try to marry a new woman. the speaker hopes to marry a girl who hopefully loves him and will be well behaved while mr. rochester still has jane on his mind to marry. they both now haev an edge to them now for dispicable wives and a poor way to dispose of them;however it works in mr. rochesters case, for jane and himm do marry even though he has lost his eyesight. however, we do not know how things ended up for the speaker.
I believe “My Last Duchess” and “Jane Eyre” are similar because they each contain a controlling and proud character. Mr. Rochester does everything he can to make his life seem perfect without any flaws. The speaker in “My Last Duchess” shows pride in his land, house, and painting and tells his visitor what to do including whether to sit or stand. Mr. Rochester and the Speaker both want to keep control of their past, or in Mr. Rochester’s case present, history because they do not want to be looked down upon. If people were to know about Mr. Rochester’s “crazy” wife, then he would be looked at differently. He doesn’t want people to see mistakes or sufferings in his life. The speaker wants to keep his emotions and certain facts to himself about his last wife. He does not want information that may harm his reputation in society to slip out. They both show fear. The speaker and Mr. Rochester are afraid to let their flaws and secrets be revealed. The poem and the book are also similar in the fact that they both had “embarrassing” wives. Mr. Rochester was crazy, and he was too embarrassed to tell his future wife about his past. The speaker’s wife was very open with any other man that came passing by. She does not show respect for herself, her husband, or any possessions/gifts that her husband bestowed upon her. Both of these women show very different and embarrassing qualities. Though they are different, it still creates a massive amount of uneasiness for their husbands in how they have to put up with what they have been given.
I believe that "Browning's "My Last Duchess" and Bronte's “Jane Eyre" are surprisingly similar. Primarily, Mr Rochester in “ Jane Eyre” and the man in “My last Dutchess” do not seem to be hiding anything. In “Jane Eyre”, Mr. Rochester seems like a wonderful man that does not seem to be hiding any secrets. No one suspects him of having a wife, including Jane. Like Mr. Rochester, the man in “My Last Dutchess” seems to be normal at first too. The man sees the painting of his late wife. In the beginning of the poem, the man guiding the tour is completely controlled when mentioning his late wife's painting. As he describes her more deeply, his level of control is continuously decreased. When he describes her, he reveals a secret, which triggers a fuming rage. After this moment, he becomes crazy, and ferociously angered, losing his control of all his feelings. Similarly, they both involve men having to deal with their terrible wives. The man in “My Last Dutchess” originally married his wife in expectance of her being such a wonderful woman. However, he soon finds out that his dearly beloved wife is untrue to him. Instead of dealing with his anger in a healthy way, he chooses to eliminate her from his life. Likewise, Mr. Rochester from “Jane Eyre” marries a normal, amazing lady, who, like the narrator’s last wife, is his dream wife. Soon after being married, Mr. Rochester realizes that Bertha, Mr. Rochester’s wife, is a destructive crazy woman. Bertha eventually burns down Mr. Rochester’s house and kills herself in the fire. In both cases the men married there wife's because of the traits they thought they had, but they realized that their wives were not at all what they appeared. Furthermore, both men do not seem highly concerned by the situations that are very serious, acting like the event really is not anything important. The narrator of “My Last Dutchess” tells how he virtually killed his wife. The narrator casually brings up the situation, and afterwards acts as if he did not just confess murdering his wife. Likewise, Mr. Rochester takes care of an insane woman, in the top level of is house, and treats her as if she does not live there. When she starts bad things in the night, Mr. Rochester just continues to entertain his company and acts as if nothing important happened; he even acted like in this behavior after she tried to kill him by setting his bed on fire. Mr. Rochester haphazardly lets his wild wife live secretly with him, even when she always tries to hurt him. Therefore, “Jane Eyre” and “My Last Dutchess” have many similarities, that make them very interesting, appreciated works of literature.
My Last Dutchess and Jane Eyre in many different ways are very similar. In Jane Eyre, when Helen is dying Jane admits she needs love in her life which she has never truly recieved. The Narrator in My Last Dutchess just wanted his wife to be faithful and love him and only him. Both him and Jane are deprived of what everyone needs. Jane Eyre and My Last Ducthess both use their surondings to make a point. In Jane Eyre the red-room is one of the first looks we get into how bad her life is. It is a pretty scary room since Mr.Reed died in that room but they have so little respect for Jane they don't care. From the way they treat her you can tell she proably spends alot of time in the red room. The narrrator is clearly obsessed with the picture of his late wife because his entrie tour of his house is centered around this one painting. None of the other paintings he has, the guests don't have to sit down and admire her to look at they just glance at them as you would any other painting. The Narrator of My Last Dutchess and Jane Eyre have trouble finding the will power to stand up for themseleves. Jane goes through years of mental and physcial abouse from all the Reeds, she does stand up for herself sometimes, but is quickly slience and at somepoints not make a real objection after she is punished. The narrator is like Jane because it took him a while to find the strength to speak up to his dutchess. Jane Eyre and My Last Dutchess are both simliar in ways, but it was makes them different that makes them great.
In “My Last Duchess” and “Jane Eyre” there are many similarities. Obviously they both have to do with the relationships of men and women, and how they each would like the other to be. For instance, the man in the poem thinks very highly of his wife and thinks that she is the person of his dreams, until he is aware that she is very unfaithful to him. This is very similar to Jane Eyre in the sense that Mr. Rochester thought that Jane was the love of his life, which she really was, and that she would be the best person for him. These thoughts and love still remains with him, even when Jane leaves him, never telling him goodbye or even worry she had to leave. She was not really unfaithful, but as the woman in the poem, she broke new love's heart. I also think in a way that Bertha, the lunatic, is like the man in the poem. The man in the poem murders his wife, or has her killed, because of what she did to nine and now she broke his heart. This is kind of similar to Bertha in Jane Eyre because, forgetting the fact that she was a lunatic, Mr. Rochester left her all alone in the dark attic with Mrs. Poole, and she wanted to get back at him for leaving her there, ignoring new as if she never existed. In another sense the wife in the poems could also be like Bertha. Mr. Rochester married Bertha, thinking that she was the woman of his dreams. When ne comes to find out that she is a lunatic, he suddenly wishes that he never made new his wife. This is like the wife in the poem, who was the narrator's woman of his dreams, but turns out to be the woman of his nightmares, a liar and a cheater. So he has her killed, just like Mr. Rochester has Bertha locked up in the attic, both trying to remove their wives from their lives. They both kept what they did to their wives a secret, hoping that they would never be revealed because if they were, as Mr. Rochester's was, troubles would occur. Overall, I think that the poem "The Last Duchess" and the novel "Jane Eyre" had many similarities, and that they are both excellent pieces of literature.
There is a comparison between "My Last Duchess" and "Jane Eyre." Mr. Rochester is most like the duchess because he is in a marriage that he is not happy with, and even though his wife is mentally ill he is cheating on her with Jane. Mr. Rochester has declared his marriage null and void but Jane still thinks of herself as a mistress. Whoever the duchess is cheating with must also think they are doing the wrong thing too. The poem and book are most alike in the sense that someone is not happy in the marriage they are in so they resort to doing unfaithful things.
Jane Eyre and My Last Duchess have three common themes within them, jealousy, power and the love in marriages. In Jane Eyre you could feel the jealousy between Blanche and Jane. Jane was jealous of Blanche because she believed that Mr. Rochester loved Blanche and Jane wanted him to love her. In My Last Duchess, the writer was clearly jealous of all the other men his wife had relations with. His jealousy and rage against this though was more intense then that of Blanche and Jane. It results in the killing of his wife. The other theme, power also pertains to both of these works. In Jane Eyre, Mr. Brocklehurst takes all of the power and control at Lowood and is somewhat like a master to all of the people there. When ever he told someone to do something, it happened no matter how cruel and unnecessary. Similarly, in parts of the novel it seemed as if Mr. Rochester tried to take control of Jane, such as telling her that she had to attend his party even though she did not want to. In My Last Duchess, the writer had to have control over his guests and commanded them to sit down and look at the picture so they can take it all in. He tried to control their emotions by the things he said. The third theme love in marriages occurs in both works. In Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester marries Bertha Mason and thought that he was in love with her. Throughout the course of their marriage, she changes and becomes a psychopath and he thoroughly regrets his marriage to her. In My Last Duchess, the writer makes it apparent of the extent to which he loves his wife. Throughout his marriage he sees her unfaithful behavior towards him and it drives him to insanity. In the end he ends up killing his wife because of his jealous rage. My Last Duchess and Jane Eyre are two literary works that can be easily compared.
Browning’s “My Last Duchess” and Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” are similar in many ways. The one way that really stuck out in my mind was that they both are about women and how they were controlled. The narrator of the “My Last Duchess” is taking his company around the house for a tour. He talks very highly of his late wife when they come up to the painting on the wall. He wants the person to sit and look at her. By doing this, the person can observe her beauty. The narrator talks about her beauty and she seems to be the woman he had always dreamed about becoming his wife. But the fact is, is that his wife is unfaithful to him. He says, “’t was not her husband’s presence only, called that spot of joy into the Duchess’ cheek.” Her husband was not the only thing or person that can make her smile. The narrator was not happy when he became aware of what his wife’s unfaithful actions were. He gave her his last name which entitled her to his wealth she has made her stay with him and be faithful. She was only rich because of his name. He is trying to control her so she will be faithful, but he ends up murdering her so that all the cheating will stop. The narrator was so jealous of the other men and his jealousy led to anger. In comparison in “Jane Eyre,” Mr. Rochester tried to take control of Jane. Jane is hesitant to marry him. She is poor and marrying him would entitle her to money. Mr. Rochester was in control of their marriage and wedding plans. When he becomes blind, he expects her to take care of him, instead of her having her freedom. The character of Bertha Mason plays an important role in the love between Jane and Mr. Rochester. Mr. Rochester takes control of Bertha when he locks her away and expects her never to leave the house. There is also another similarity. Both the narrator in the poem and Mr. Rochester in “Jane Eyre” try to get rid of their wives. The narrator does by murder and Mr. Rochester locks her away.
Firstly, I can see a comparison between the man from "My Last Duchess" and Mr. Rochester from "Jane Eyre". The comparison that I see is two men that are deceived by a woman who they thought was perfect for them through the way the acted towards them before their marriage. After Mr. Rochester and Bertha's marriage, Mr. Rochester realizes how insane and dangerous Bertha really is, and he then locks her up in the house out of embarrassment. Likewise, the man from "My Last Duchess" was deceived by his wife. After their marriage, she turned out to be unfaithful to her husband, and he treated this problem by hiring someone to kill her. Both of the men used the deceit of their wives as an excuse to rid themselves in some way of their wives. Mr. Rochester's way of staying away from his wife was locking her up in a room to prevent her from being out, and he would also remain from home for long periods of time. During these times of leave, he would be in search of someone else he could truly love. Likewise with the man from "My Last Duchess", he hired someone to rid him of his wife so that her cheating would stop. Bottom line is the two men result in drastic measures to rid them of their mistakes (marrying their wives).
Throughout the book and the poem there are similiarities such as an unhappy marriage and cheating spouses. The duchess in "My Last Duchess" and Mr. Rochester in "Jane Eyre" are very much alike. The duchess and Mr. Rochester both cheat on their spouses. Jane knows what she is doing and does not care and same with the duchess. Also MR. Rochester and the narrator both want to get rid of their wives and they eventually do
I noticed many similarities between "My Last Duchess" and "Jane Eyre." The characters that seemed to relate to each other were the narrator from the poem and Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre because they both had problems with their wives. In My Last Duchess the narrator married his wife because he was in love with her and thought their relationship would be perfect. This is similar to Mr. Rochester's relationship with his wife Bertha because he was also in love with her and believed she could be a good wife and they would have a happy life together. Both of their marriages didn't turn out as expected. For the narrator, his wife began to cheat on him with many other men and for Mr. Rochester, he eventually found out that his wife was simply crazy. They both end their relationships with their wives by going to extreme lengths. The narrator stops his wife from cheating on him by getting rid of her. He is so upset about what she is doing that she goes to the extreme of hiring someone to kill her or possibly killing her himself. Mr. Rochester also gets rid of his wife after she turns out to be the opposite of what he thought. He doesn't care about her well being and locks her upstairs. He is so ashamed of her that he denies he is even married. I also noticed how easily both of them seemed to get over their wives and move on. The narrator doesn't seem to care about his wife after she is dead and is open to meeting new women. Once Mr. Rochester realizes that Bertha is insane, he doesn't care about her anymore and easily moves on to Jane even though she is still alive and he is still technically married. "My Last Duchess" and "Jane Eyre" have many similarities between characters which makes them comparable.
To me it is clear that Mr. Rochester is just the same as the man in "My Last Duchess" you would never suspect Mr. Rochester would have a wife until he reveals his secret. This is the same because the man in the poem is giving a tour to someone and reveals that he had a wife, who has a lot of secrets which he later shares, just as Mr. Rochester had done. Another comparison would be that Mr. Rochester goes in marrying Bertha thinking he loves her and doesn't think anything could ever go wrong until they are living together and Bertha became an insane, crazy person. This is the same because the man in the poem marries his wife giving her everything she could ever want and loves her until he realizes that she loves to fall in love with other men very easily. The two men took very drastic matters to get rid of there wife, Mr. Rochester locking his wife away, and the man from the poem hiring a hit man to kill his wife.
In both Jane Eyre and My last Dutchess there are men who need to deal with women in their lives that are not compatible with them. Mr. Rochester's wife Bertha was incredibly insane. Though he loved her in the beginning of their relationship, his admiration for her deteriorated the more psychotic he found her to be. In My Last Dutchess the narrator fell in love with a women but he soon found out that she was very promiscuous and cheated on him with every man she wanted. Both the narrator and Mr. Rochester became very desperate with their spouses and did something very extreme in order to rid themselves of the constant nuisance that their wives became to them. Mr. Rochester kept his crazy wife inside of the attic with her own caretaker. This way he would no longer need to deal with the constant chaos that she created. The narrator of My Last Dutchess goes so far as actually killing his wife. Also Mr. Rochester and the narrator eventually put their guard down and told people of what they had down. Throughout the poem the narrator had a guest with him and closer to the end of the poem he told his guest what he did by going off on a long tangent about the stress that his wife had caused him and all of the men that she had been with. Mr. Rochester was finally able to let his guard down with Jane. When their wedding was canceled because he was still technically married to Bertha his wife, he told Jane about what he had done with his wife and why.
The main comparison I could see between the Last Duchess and Jane Eyre were the fact that ever if the women had done things to disappoint their spouses, they still were on a golden throne. In Jane Eyre, when she found out things about Mr. Rochester's past, and how he had a crazy, imbalanced wife, whom he was not a fan of; she ran away mad at him. Through all of the trouble's Jane put Rochester through, he still treated her like royalty. In the Last Duchess, the man treated his Duchess as the most important thing in his life, even though there were high chances that she had always been cheating on him. My overall impression of both men was that no matter what the women did to hurt them, the men would still accept and love them.
Both Jane Eyre and My Last Dutchess involve relationships. How in my last dutchess his wife isn't really how he wanted her to be so he some how stopped her from talking to the other men and how mr.rochester locked his wife up in the attic to keep her away because she was crazy.Also in my Last dutchess he has his wife killed with noone knowing just like in Jane Eyre when he locks her away in the attic Jane had never found out and she had been living there for quite some time. Both the men thought nothing would go wrong with their relationships and they were wrong and they both handled it the wrong way by basically ruining their wives lives rather than just having them leave.
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