Belonging

The diverse perspectives that texts of a particular historical period offer are significant to an understanding of the ways of thinking during that period. Robert Browning’s poems “My Last Duchess” and “Soliloquy of a Spanish Cloister”, alongside Kate Chopin’s short story “The Awakening”, illustrates the economic, religious and philosophical paradigms in their nineteenth century setting, displaying an array of acumen towards the significance of the understanding of these texts, which aids in the comprehension of the thought processes during this time. Browning and Chopin both reshape these societal paradigms, mirroring them in their works, on top of offering a vast range of perspectives which reflect the speculations of the Victorian era.
Browning’s “My Last Duchess” represents the economic paradigms of the nineteenth century such as social structure and class. The idea that Individuals married solely for the purpose of wealth and status is highlighted through the symbolism of the Duke’s “gift of nine-hundred-years-old name”, as an icon of his riches and domineering position within the hierarchy. Furthermore, upper class aristocrats were expected to maintain their image and refrain from associating themselves with lower ranking classes, emphasised through the Duke’s rhetorical question, “who’d stoop to blame this sort of trifling?”. These perceptions were common in a highly ordered 19th century as societies were strictly divided and integration was reproached. Furthermore, the persona’s agitated tone highlights the distaste they had for the frivolous nature of the duchess as she overlooked his commanding nature and thought nothing of the other men’s compliments (idk something along the lines of this……). The economic paradigms explored by Browning through social structure and class reflects 19th century thought processes and demonstrates the stringent expectations associated with one’s place within the hierarchy, therefore creating a greater understanding of the...