Unveiling and Unravelling the Femme Fatale in Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess"

Abstract

Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" stands as an early masterpiece within the Victorian-era literary repertoire. In this renowned poem, Browning portrays masculine creativity through the lens of a well-established dramatic monologue, a poetic form he skillfully employs to convey his critical perspectives on toxic masculinity and the empowerment of women during the rigid Victorian era. Set against the backdrop of the Italian Renaissance, this ironic composition unfolds as a proud Italian Duke addresses an unresponsive guest and expounds upon the portrait of his late Duchess, whom he unabashedly admits to having ordered executed out of jealousy– all in a calculated bid to assert his sociopolitical dominance. However, in doing so, the "commodified" female object escapes her captor and transcends the confines of art, thereby revealing her true self and inner secrets. Through a feminist and archetypal theoretical framework, this paper will argue that Browning boldly subverts traditional female constructs by presenting a morally ambiguous and somewhat villainous femme fatale-like character. This reading delves into the Duchess' dark and complex feminine aspects to reveal how her assertiveness and independence, in a society entrenched with oppressive social norms, renders her an empowering figure for women. In so doing, Browning's exploration of the femme fatale motif emerges as an empowering symbol for women. Thus, Browning's creative portrait defies established conventional roles and assumptions about Renaissance and Victorian women and challenges the societal tendency to maintain female subservience. Since his work allows the female Other to reassert her uncanny and otherworldly power and presents her as a threat to patriarchal dominance, Browning can be considered a feminist poet.