Thursday, September 19, 2019
Womens Behavior in Coleridges Christabel and Brownings My Last Duchess :: My Last Duchess Essays
Women's Behavior in Coleridge's Christabel and Browning's My Last Duchess    Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Browning wrote in two different eras.      Coleridge's "Christabel" and Browning's "My Last Duchess" both deal with      women's sexuality. The women of the poems are both presented as having      sinned. Christabel's own belief that she has sinned is based on how a      woman of her time was supposed to behave. The Duchess's sin is that she      violates the code of conduct for a noble wife. Yet, can the modern reader      really feel these women did anything wrong? The only sin in these two      poems is that women are supposed to suppress their emotions. The real      problem is that they defied the idea that women are not supposed to be as      sexually open as men. A woman was only to behave as these two women did      towards their husband, and even with him do so behind closed doors. Women      were to serve as the "Angel in the House" both of these women defy that      image. That type of thinking is characteristic of Romantic and Victorian      standards of women. This is especially true of the upper classes to which      Christabel and the Duchess belong.       Coleridge raises the question: "What happens to a woman's self-image when      she defies social expectations?" Christabel struggles with this question      throughout the poem because she defies the standards for how a woman      should behave sexually. However, Coleridge is not trying to makes      Christabel a heroine for doing so. The poem has more to do with the effect      of breaking rules on women. Coleridge depicts Christabel as a young woman      discovering herself. She has no taste for convention, as one can see by      her wandering around in the woods at night. Apparently, this is not proper      behavior, as the poet describes her action in a scolding tone, "What makes      her in the woods so late, / A furlong from the castle gate?" (Coleridge      25-26). The reader is given the idea from the beginning that Christabel is
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