An Object of Desire

An Object of Desire

Art is highly subjective because it evokes an emotional and reflective state of mind. Numerous artists and admirers have gone so far as to express themselves through the creation and collection of art as a personal possession. Art is expressed in many forms, as a painting or sculpture, a piece of writing or poem, the latest fashion or style, and even the human body, specifically a woman’s body, the most beautiful part of a woman. Women are socially expected to be beautiful and naturally artful, abiding with their gentle appearance and tenderness as the inferior gender role, being mothers and wives. Negative aspects surface because of this unbalanced manner of thinking, exemplified in the poem, “My Last Duchess” written by Robert Browning. The male counter part to the Duchess treats her as an object or possession, put on display and contributing to his eminence. This decidedly socialized image of women, facilitated by art as nothing more than a beautiful, nameless face, greatly hinders women’s ability or even aspiration to achieve a status other than a mother or wife, let alone an artist. Since women are socialized to grow into a more passive role in the world, men have grown to act as the dominant character and in turn treat women as inferior.
Symbolic of the painted image of his Duchess, the Duke paints his own portrait as the voice of the poem, and reveals much about his true identity and nature as a spitefully jealous man who wants nothing more of his possession then to control her every move, sensation, and facial expression. Even the phrase “Last Duchess” itself within the title of the poem, echoes the purpose of this woman, an advertised entity for the Duke, meant for more of a public display than a wife who should be privately cherished and treasured. Opening the poem, the speaker introduces the artwork: “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, / Looking as if she were alive” (Browning, 1415, l.1-2). Even though she looks alive, she...