Lecture 7:Whom Can You Trust?PATRICK MOONEY, M.A.

ENGLISH 10, SUMMER SESSION A

1 JULY 2105

● Married (1846) Elizabeth Barrett, a poet much better known than he was; the couple went to live in Italy.

● Best known for his dramatic monologues, not all of which are as depressing as this week’s selections.

● Unusually, “Robert Browning societies” for the study of his work were founded while he was still alive.

● First surviving sound recording made of a notable person in England (7 April 1889).

Robert Browning (1812–1889)

Caricature of Browning from Punch (1882).

Some questions about “My Last Duchess”

So we have some interpretive questions here …

● Who is the speaker?

● Who is “my last duchess”?

● To whom is the speaker currently speaking?

● What has he done?

● What is he currently trying to do?

“My Last Duchess” (1842)

● The speaker is probably Alfonso II d'Este, the fifth Duke of Ferrara (1533–1598).

● That would make his wife (the “last duchess”) Lucrezia di Cosimo de' Medici, daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, whom he married in 1558. He was 25, she 14.

● He abandoned her 1559; she died 1561, of either tuberculosis or poisoning.

● Painting to the left is by Agnolo “Bronzino” di Cosimo, 1560.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

● Shakespeare’s longest play.

● Also one of his most continually popular plays.

● Most likely composed some time between 1598 and 1601.

● Definitely performed by 1607, probably by 1602.

● Three extant early versions with notable differences:

– First quarto (Q1, 1603)

– Second quarto (Q2, 1604)

– First folio (F1, 1623)

● Often taken to be a “difficult” Shakespeare play for modern readers.

● Language: courtly vs. common/popular.

– Examples of uncommon rhetorical devices:● Stichomythia, long sections of alternating half-,

single, or double lines.● Anaphora, repetition of phrases at the beginning

of sentences.

Horatio, Hamlet, and the Ghost (Henry Fuseli, 1789)

What is the story of Hamlet?

Conversely, what is Hamlet “about”?

What about Rosencrantz (1966)?

● Occurs “in the wings” of Hamlet. ● Other characters from Hamlet make periodic

appearances.

● Text from Hamlet and its form.

● Character motivations.

The Punch caricature of Robert Browning is out of copyright, as it was originally published in 1882.

Original source:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Robert_browning_cartoon-1-.png

Bronzino’s portrait of Lucrezia di’ Medici is also out of copyright, being more than 450 years old.Original source:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Agnolo_Bronzino%2C_ritratto_di_Lucrezia_de%27_Medici.JPG

Henry Fuseli’s rendition of the scene from Act I of Hamlet is also out of copyright, having been published in the 18th century:

Original source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet#/media/File:File-Hamlet,_Prince_of_Demark_Act_I_Scene_IV.png

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