My Last Duchess Essay

Margaret Atwood’s short story My Last Duchess aptly employs ideas from Robert Brownings poem My Last Duchess to highlight themes of importance in communication, The relationship between judgement and inadequacy. The author narrates a story of the trials of being a high school student from the point of view of a young woman who not only has to cope with the stress of an upcoming examination and the pressure her teacher puts on her to excel, but also the added trepidation of what the future holds for her relationship. Many aspects of her relationship with her boyfriend, Billy, and her teacher, Miss Bessie, parallel to the relationship illustrated by the Duke about his relationship with the Duchess in Robert Brownings poem. Similarly, many of …show more content…
Comparatively, the Duke did not speak about making any attempt to address his issues with the Duchess’ behaviour with her and give her a chance to adjust in order to please him. In this respect the narrator does share parallelisms with the Duke. When she reaches a certain point in her relationships she simply ends them and trades her boyfriend in, in order for a “fresh one” to be “obtained”. Notably after her fight with Bill she mourns over the relationship being “at an end” before they even break up. She finds it easier to kill the fractured relationship than communicate with Bill and repair it. Similarly the Duke rather than informing the Duchess of what he expects of her, he kills her so he doesn't have to deal with her. Furthermore, at the beginning of Atwood’s short story the narrator pictures “a whole bunch of Duchesses, all in a row like a chorus line”, later she discusses her past relationships saying that “Bill had replaced” her “last boyfriend” moreover these similarities establish an understanding of why she sympathizes with the Duke throughout the story. She understands the Duke’s frustration with the Duchess’ lack of common sense because Bill lacks the ability to be “an attentive reader” and she resents having to always help him. The narrators refusal to communicate with any of her boyfriends results in the diminishing of all of her relationships, similar to how the Duke killed off his Duchess and warns the envoy that the same could happen to the next

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