the duchess and dorian

The entire time I was reading “My Last Duchess “I could not help but think of Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” The way in which the Duke concealed the portrait of his former wife was what first made think of Wilde’s novel. In Browning’s poem, the Duke is consumed with guilt with what he has done. He may not admit to this guilt, but it is unmistakably there. In the poem, the Duke is determined to have control. He wanted to control the conversation, just as he wanted to control his wife and when he failed to control her, he had her killed. It is the guilt of this action that causes him to hide the painting behind the curtain. We talked in class about how it is possible that the Duchess, even in her portrait form, might be controlling the Duke. I agree with this. The Duke rants on and on about her and her flirtatious ways, and in the midst of his rant he inadvertently admits to her murder. The Duchess is gone, and yet he cannot stop talking about her and what she did while she was alive. With regards to “The Picture of Dorian Gray” Dorian hid the portrait of himself while he lived a life of debauchery. All of his aging and the sins he committed showed up on the face of the portrait and not on his physical being. He hid his guilt away in the painting and never looked upon it. Of course, it all caught up with him and (spoiler alert!) he eventually looks upon it, attempts to destroy it and it, in turn, destroys him. The portrait had control of Dorian as the portrait of the Duchess has control over the Duke. Also, the way in which Dorian attempts to hide his guilt by covering the painting, is the same as the way the Duke attempts to do the same thing by covering the portrait of the Duchess.