Analysis of Robert Brownings My Last Duchess, Carvers Cathedral and Wrights Big Black Good Man - Essay Example

2 August Assignment In the modern day and age, a number of stories and poems have been written about understanding the various aspects of life. Three topics that have been talked about within this paper are spirituality, aristocracy and apartheid, with the help of short stories and a poem which have been regarded as pure classics. Robert Browning’s ‘My Last Duchess’, Carver’s ‘Cathedral’ and Wright’s ‘Big Black Good Man’ are the pieces that have been greatly acknowledged and analysed with a view to understand the comparisons and contrasts that the three provide in the light of each other. This paper thus helps to provide a clear and concise understanding on the basis of these three short stories and poem in order to compare and contrast the same on various levels as is further discussed within the scope of this paper. ‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning is an excellent example of a dramatic monologue which appeared first in the year 1842 in the poet’s ‘Dramatic Lyrics’. The poem has been written about the fifth Duke of Ferrara who was married to Lucrezia di Cosimo de Medici and talks about the kind of influence that wealth, power, as well as pure aristocracy had on the life of the duke. Furthermore, written and composed by Richard Wright, ‘Big Black Good Man’ is a story that first appeared in the story collection of ‘Eight Men’ which was one of the last works of the author. It is about a man by the name of Olaf, who finds himself providing room one fine afternoon, in his office, to a big black man for the subsequent five or six nights. The third story discussed is ‘Cathedral’ written by Raymond Carver in the year 1983 and was included in his anthology in the same year as well. It is about the spiritual houses of God, on a broad basis of a theme and the theme of blindness and sight prevails throughout the course of the story as the author tries to explain the kind of faith that most people have on God. My Last Duchess has been set during the Italian Renaissance period and reeks of aristocracy and how the rich survived during the time. It mainly talks about how marriage, power and wealth influence a man’s life and how when these factors are involved in play, a man ceases to think about emotions like love, desire and death. In the poem, the Duke does not seem to be in love with his dead wife or even lament about her death. Instead, he enjoys the fact that he narrates to the messenger, how he had had her killed and experiences a sense of joy in doing the same. As compared to this, Big Black Good Man talks mainly about differences on the basis of colour as the black man asks for lodgings to Olaf and the former gets scared of the consequences of sheltering a man who was so different from the rest of society. Thus it mainly seeks to talk about the period of apartheid that the world faced and how the same was countered in different countries, especially in America. Cathedral aims to discuss the spirituality and oneness that a man can develop with God however, how the same may be based on blind faith at times, without understanding the true consequences of a situation. However, the narrator narrates a story about a blind man, who is later able to open his eyes due to finding sight because of the gift of God and understanding and knowledge of the ways of the world. All three have been written in the form of a dramatic prose or a short story, including Browning’s My Last Duchess, even though it is a poem. However, it is regarded as more of a short dramatic monologue or piece of writing and retains a certain rhyme scale by an iambic parameter and may be read as a story which is being narrated on the basis of certain emotions and feelings. The other two are short stories and have been published in anthologies. All three have wide appreciation regarded all over the world because of their broad themes which has helped readers in an understanding of these different eras. My Last Duchess has a historical background attached to it and talks about the way the Duke expresses his ‘love’ through the death of his wife. He experiences various emotions that lead him to fall under the purview of a blanket of ego which has also been used as a pivotal point in other works of Robert Browning’s, such as ‘The Bishop Orders His Tomb’. The death of his wife becomes a medium of communication for the Duke and he is able to express himself and his feelings better after speaking about the same. In Cathedral as well, the blind man is able to express himself only after his blindness faces death and ostracism, in the name of God and the power of knowledge. Both these stories talk about enlightenment and an uplifting power and the power to understand the unknown as the protagonists or characters delve into the abyss of their minds and understand complex situations and emotions. The style of writing in all three pieces is extremely explicit in terms of expression of emotions even though the themes are extremely varied in all three. All three have been recognised in anthologies and books as well as by famous authors and poets, well after the death of the writers of these particular pieces and have been included in recent works for the generations to come, to read and understand. For example, My Last Duchess was adopted in the modern times as they talk about a central theme of understanding one’s self and going into the depth of the mind of one’s self. All three have also been written in a simple language, not many complicated words, but carry a different and complicated meaning. The three compositions have a great amount of comparisons among each other but at the same time, differ from each other on various levels too. For starters, Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess is indeed a poem as compared to the other two stories which have been talked about within the confines of this paper. Furthermore, in Big Black Good Man, it is not easy to understand the kind of emotions that have been expressed because of the vast amount of descriptions and different style of writing that the author implies in the story. The poem is also different in terms of recognition from the two stories because the stories have been published in anthologies whereas the poem has not. It has only been recently published as part of the author’s complete works and is included in his ‘Dramatic Lyrics’ as one of his greatest works. All three pieces carry a great message from the author to the reader or audience and talk about various issues that either had been or have been conflicting upon human society. However, again along the same lines, My Last Duchess is different because it is based during the period of aristocracy, during the Renaissance and most people cannot relate with the same topic at hand today. This is because of the difference that society has dawned upon mankind in the modern day and age as compared to the olden days when wealth created a great amount of disparity among the people. However, the other two stories talk about an eternal sense of mind or time when any man can relate with the subject matter at hand. Talking about faith and spirituality or discussing race and ethnicity is a common topic of knowledge that most people are aware of and can relate to in a certain manner. Thus, the other two authors, namely, Carver and Wright are able to strike a different balance with their audience as compared to Browning’s Duchess which can only be read as a tragedy piece by the readers. In conclusion, Bowning is an excellent poet no doubt; however he has a different scale to match when being compared with authors like Wright and Carver whose stories have also made an impact on a number of lives all around the world. Browning’s poem is a classic and is even discussed today in order to understand the kind of distress that a person might be in, but also the kind of joy that he might gain from the same situation. The other two short stories help a man to comprehend how spirituality and a thought process that talks about God can make a difference in a man’s life, as well as the kind of feelings one may have towards someone belonging to a different race or ethnicity. Thus these three pieces have a number of comparisons and contrasts with each other as discussed above. Works Cited Browning, Robert. My Last Duchess. [San Francisco]: Arion, 1992. Print. Read More