CRUELTY IN THE (PSEUDO) AESTHETE: BROWNING’S ‘MY LAST DUCHESS’

Abdur Rahman  Shahin

doi:10.53808/KUS.2007.8.2.0723-A

Authors

Abdur Rahman Shahin English Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna 9208, Bangladesh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53808/KUS.2007.8.2.0723-A

Keywords:

Cruelty, aesthete, ethics, pseudo

Abstract

Usually an aesthete has a love for and understanding of art and beauty, and his aesthetic perception helps to develop ethical values that govern his behaviour. It is assumed that an aesthete will not show any cruelty to the beautiful aspects of life. But a heinous murder is observed in the artistic realm of the Duke in ‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning. The Duchess is killed in a very cruel manner by the Duke because of her apparently indifferent attitude towards him. The aim of this article is to explore the nature of the triumph of cruelty that makes the appeal of aesthetic values dim.

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References

Loucks, F.J. (ed). 1979. Robert Browning’s Poetry. Norton & Company, London.

Langbaum, Robert. 1957. The Poetry of Experience: The Dramatic Monologue in Modern Literary Tradition. Random, New York.

Ibid.

Willey, B. 1975. The Seventeenth Century Background, Chatto and Windus. Penguin Books, London.

Arams, M.H. (ed.) 1993. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th edn., Vol. 1, Norton & Company, Inc., London, pp.1261.

Ibid.

Abrams, M.H. 1993. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 6th edn., Prism Books Pvt. Ltd., India, pp. 2-3.

Ibid.

Ibid

Much latter, Browning said it. It is provided in the footnote of ‘My Last Duchess’, Loucks, F. J. (ed.) 1979. Robert Browning’s Poetry. Norton & Company, London.

Hamilton, E. 1969. Mythology. Little Brown and Company, Massachusetts.

Shaw, W.D. 1979. Browning’s Duke as theatrical producer. In: James F.Loucks (ed.), Robert Browning’s Poetry. W.W. Norton & Company, London, 537 pp.

Ibid, pp. 538.