Ruth Nunez Professor Stewart Enc 11022 April 2014 Emily Grierson against the Duke of Ferrara In “My Last Duchess” there is a duke who informs the father and his daughter about who was his duchess and what had happened to her. Emily Grierson, who was a total outcast in her town, had her own problems and amazed her citizens with her eccentric actions. Emily and the Duke of Ferrara are similar because they were both involved in the death of their lovers. The Duke of Ferrara and Emily Grierson share some qualities but had different motivations for killing their lovers and played different roles. Emily differs from the Duke in how she personally killed Homer by giving him arsenic. While the duke gave orders to have his duchess killed. Both had reasons for their lovers' deaths. She did this because she was afraid of losing him since the only person she loved was her father and he died. Emily felt she had to kill Homer otherwise she would feel alone. The Duke gave orders to have his Duchess killed because he was jealous and wanted to have control of her life. He got tired of how she acted and how she disrespected his name and social status. The Duke complains about how his Duchess treated his gifts and everyone else's equally, he wanted her to appreciate his gift with respect and not treat his gift as if it were nothing: “She thanked the men, -- -Good! But thanked... Somehow, now I know how, as if she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred-year-old name with anyone else's gift” (stanza 31-34). Emily and the Duke were both dealing with the deaths of their lovers, but their motivations were different. The theme of “A Rose for Emily” has to do with death, tradition versus change, and it's about man versus society. Emily Grierson was considered an e......middle of paper......e Browning's poem is about a duke who is simply annoyed that his duchess enjoys everything and disrespects his name of twentieth century. In Faulkner's story the theme is the decline of the old South. However, they are similar in the way they both involve obsession, control, jealousy, pride, and death. Emily Grierson and the Duke of Ferrara aren't too different. Perhaps you could say they would make a perfect couple as Emily's life has always been controlled by her father. Furthermore, the duke would be happy to control his life. They are both obsessed with different things, jealous of their lover, proud in different ways. Furthermore, they had secrets and their secret was that they were involved in the death of their lovers. Emily Grierson didn't change and ended up dying. As the Duke focuses on his next victim which foreshadows another death that may come.