Prompt #2: Both “My Last Duchess” and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” are dramatic monologues (for a definition, see pg. 13 of your reader). Citing specific details from the poem, if you could choose an actor to read/play the part of either Ferrara or Prufrock, who would you choose? Have fun with this, but remember that your reasoning needs to be grounded in the events, descriptions, tone, etc…of the poem. An answer such as “I think Keanu Reeves is great in everything, of course he would be a great Prufrock!” is not what I’m looking for here.
"My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning If I could chose one actor to play or read as Ferrara I would choose Johnny Depp. I feel that he would be able to use his natural tone of egocentricity to bring the monologue to life. In this monologue Ferrara discusses the relationship he had with his late wife, and that she was not the best wife while wondering why she looks so lovely and perfect in a painting but was not so when she was alive. In this, he reveals that he was a quite controlling and quick to judge. Depp could easily convey the emotions of this conceited, judgemental man.
Used to playing roles in which his character is self centered, crazy, yet still suave, Depp is no stranger to conveying a wide array of emotions in one scene. As Captain Jack Sparrow in The Pirates of the Caribbean, he played a slightly off-kilter pirate, that was smooth enough to get the ladies but too full with his dreams of getting back his stolen ship from his former pirate comrades to care about much else. He even is disappointed and hurt that his beloved ship would even work so well for anyone but him. He will stop at no end to get back what is rightfully his, and keep it all to himself.
One could equate Sparrow's love for his ship to Duke's feelings toward the Duchess. Both characters want sole control over their loved one and do not appreciate when others even look at them. The Duke sees the Duchess as one of his posses ions, like a ship, that no one else is supposed to use. They can be jealous or appreciate her from afar but she cannot return such signs of affection in return. The Duke implies that such returns of affection were too easily given; "Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er/ She looked on, and her looks went everywhere." He felt that he was the only person she should be looking at and in reflecting upon her wondering where she had gone wrong. He feels that he was nothing but good to her and cannot understand why she felt the need to look around at others; "My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name/ With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame/ This sort of trifling?" He felt that he had given her the world, him, and she was not grateful enough to see or appreciate that. From this sparked the Duke's envious streak. According to Ferrara the Duchess had eyes for everyone, something he did not like, "'t was not/ Her husband's presence only, called that spot/ Of joy into the Duchess' cheek." In the end he "commands" her to stop with all her flirting to make sure that no one else could have her or would even think about it. This is related to Sparrow, who in the end, went down with his ship to ensure that no one took her in "Davey Jones locker."
Due to these similarities, I think that Johnny Depp would do a good job playing this character.
No comments:
Post a Comment