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'My Last Duchess' is an exercise in perspective and power. How do Browning and Atwood explore this idea?
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Christopher Muir
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2d

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?
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Christopher Muir
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11mo

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Browning and Atwood explore the nature of power and the contrasting perspective, both of which perpetually fluctuate throughout Atwood’s respective piece and Browning’s MLD. The correlations between these parallel threads are showcased in vastly unlike settings between the more authoritative and the comparatively inferior; yet each highlights the same concerns Browning initially raises. How is the power; of the gaze, of silence and of the perspector, exercised? And in turn, how does perspective shift the ever-changing multitudes of power?

Atwood’s short story details the power dynamics within the transience of time itself, and inspects how gendered, but moreso class-based power introduces a sense of superiority into an individual. This manifestation presents itself through embodying the narrative perspective, and power particularly through narrative voice and the gaze. To look, or rather to have perspective, is too possess power and whomever controls the look in relation to speech holds the judgement. The gaze, as a concept, highlights the ability to dictate behaviour through a powerful presence.

The speaker or narrator in Atwood’s short story tends to resemble the narrative voice much alike the Duke’s in multiple parallels both with the narrator and Ms Bessie; assuming the sense of hierarchy and superiority as the powerful observes and is subjected to the scene, keeping “the tight leash” on their complement. The auditor, and by extension the reader, have the ability to discern that the perspector is yet flawed. The reader also holds some vigour, as the very act of interpreting is about negotiating the relationship between what you see and your own experiences, which in turn is another shift in power. “Choos[ing] never to stoop” is limited by the danger of being humiliated which seems to be a viable source of the the power and pride seeked by the narrator. This gendered pride is reflective in the shame inflicted by the Duchess smiling at everyone and her present boyfriend.

Essentially, the ephemerality is at once questioned, as though the Duke is a power-reduced figure whom we assume is deceased and irrelevant, us the readers, and also the speakers of Atwood’s story can judge on, the patriarchal power projected is perennial.

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Traits of the Duke, with whom power resides in ‘My Last Duchess’, are alternatingly mirrored in multiple characters of Atwood’s short story, often coinciding with moments where a character’s perspective accords power to them over the personas in their surroundings.

Power can be attained by ascribing a meaning to an object, which the Duke did by immortalising an image of the Duchess, painted under his instruction. The narrator of Atwood’s short story equally wields power from her description of Miss Bessie, which confines Miss Bessie within the periphery of the narrator’s thoughts until the narrator ceases to speak. In each instance, the perspective of the speaker accords them power over their subject through definition, however, perspective alone does not confer power.

The Duke’s obsession with art is not solely symptomatic of his lust for power but equally gives insight into the way which valued is defined, with the value of an object being tightly intertwined with the power it affords. In art, the Duke cares little for the beauty of an image, as any replica of a masterpiece, despite being aesthetically identical, is virtually worthless; rather, the Duke seeks the value of a “nine-hundred-years-old name”. The name, unattached, is an ornamental frippery, yet, when framed with a person or artwork, cedes considerable value. A blatant parallel can be made with the attitude of the boys towards Miss Bessie, respecting her for her ‘something important’ title of ‘M.A.’. Both authors explore through this the peculiarities of the instillment of power in a name rather than a tangible commodity.

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Just as the Duke in My Last Duchess is absurdly fixated on the concept of the Duchess, the ‘exceptional’ figure of Ms Bessie is the object of obsession for the speaker in Atwood’s short story. The immediate springing of Ms Bessie to the narrator’s mind in her time of hardship and sorrow, ‘standing in a patch of sunlight’, is reflective of the Duke’s ostensibly instinctive voyeurism of the Duchess’ painting. Similarly, as the Duchess appears as ‘a wonder’ in the Duke’s eyes clouded with greed, Ms Bessie embodies a gentle place of solace for the speaker, appearing ‘in a bright place in the back of (her) head.’ Just as the narrator in Atwood’s story pushes a multitude of flattering compliments onto Ms Bessie- ‘the best in town’; ‘good legs’; ‘beautiful shoes’, the Duke showers the Duchess with saccharine adulation- ‘depth and passion… of earnest glance’, 'such a glance'. However despite the excessive praise bequeathed by both the Duke and the speaker onto their respective obsessions, it is irrefutable that those very obsessions- the Duchess and Ms Bessie- appear hardly understood by said people. The positioning of Ms Bessie- ‘distant, but very clear’ – is again another link tying Atwood’s story to Browning’s poem. The distance established between the narrator and Ms Bessie is reflected in the image of the Duke and Duchess, who took the Duke’s flattery as ‘courtesy’, failing to understand his intentions. Thus it is seen that with no knowledge of the person themselves, the narrator and the Duke are entranced with the image of their obsessions, appearing ‘like a photograph’. Obstinately determined to capture the fleeting memory of the Duchess and Ms Bessie respectively, the obsessed resort to ‘photograph(s)’ and paintings, where their figures can remain preserved in time ‘as if alive’. It is the fanatic glorification of the concept of a person- rather than love of the person themselves- which ties both Browning and Atwood’s works together.

Sorry I think I forgot to do perspective and power but it might have a little to do with perspective if you squint

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There are multiple parallels laced within Atwood’s passage concerning Browning’s My Last Duchess, focusing on the multi-faceted and ever-changing quirks of power and perspective, and how the control of both is a fruitless pursuit to each temporary possessor.

There is the interesting shift between how power is handed around through perspectives: straight from the second sentence, Miss Bessie is introduced as a figure demanding of respect amongst a crowd of those unyielding to; the lone teacher not referred to by a derogatory “Gorilla” or “Hippo” by the student body. A figure of intimidation, she is told to be vigorous in her teachings and is the metaphorical shepherd of her “herds” of students, rounding off faceless masses year after year to scores that layer upon her own impressive reputation. Posed at the front of the classroom with a “firm jaw” and “piercings eyes”, she is, upon first impression, the Duke of her domain. Much like the Duke’s extravagant eloquence in both mannerisms and fashioned words, Miss Bessie’s aura of power amasses from the superficiality of her appearance - “good legs”, an “aquiline nose” and the adorning of clothes that impress amongst the gaudiness of the other female staff - as well as her freedom to assert her superiority, as shown with humiliation of the narrator’s boyfriend Bill, and her control of the classroom.

However, it is through the description of these bodily features and the limited exposure of the narrator herself, that the image applied to Miss Bessie remains a flaccid, one-dimensional rendition that sits atop her entire persona. The narrator reigns power over how Miss Bessie is portrayed and any impressions of her character derive from how the narrator controls their deductions. The narrator herself is somewhat conscious of this act, as seen with her skepticism of whether her teacher could be “lax” or “unguarded” or even partake in sleeping, that “surely [her eyes] could never close.” This mimics the entirety of the Duke’s monologue. What he proclaims of the Duchess is of his own intimate analysis and deductions, he takes upon the role of both the selector and destroyer: stitching together the traits of his woman that mould within his definition, whilst omitting the threads that he selfishly believes unimportant.

The third-fold of the subtle, undercurrents of power play comes with the actions of  Bill. Upon introduction, Bill is remarked upon as not a student of extraordinary capabilities both by the calling out of Miss Bessie and the narrator's own embarrassment and flippant remarks of Bill being just another boyfriend, and is placed beneath the narrator in terms of intellectual superiority as he struggles throughout the story with the course. He becomes a subject that is taken lightly. Towards the end of the story, the breaking up of the narrator and Bill evokes a sudden twist in the dynamic where Bill challenges the perspective of the narrator on the poem, and in retaliation turns stabs at the intelligence the narrator takes pride within. The detachment of Bill as a secondary aspect (an attachment of sorts) of the narrator highlights the lack of control there is actually present between two individuals. How, when compared to the Duke and the Duchess, despite the overwhelming arrows of reason pointing to the Duke as the wielder of authority, the Duke himself is enraptured in his own discord revolving around the Duchess, that she - like the mirroring force of reaction - holds an equal underlying hidden dominance.

The greater narrative of the interactions between both Atwood’s rendition and Browning’s original can be seen to display that the ownership of power can be composed of empty struggles of undefined natures. That absolute power is unable to co-exist with the fluidity and limitations that is the personal perspective.

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Power is a fluid and fluctuating concept that shifts with perspective.

Yet that still doesn’t give a satisfactory answer to the question, what is power. In respect to ‘My Last Duchess’ and it’s interpretation, it is plausible to believe that power is the ability to influence events as well as the actions of others. Here, the dynamic layers of power begin to unfold.

Social status is the foundation of class based power, and this is the most straightforward to us as readers because we ourselves reside within the hierarchical structure of society. The Duke, who had the convenient benefit of being born into a ruling class, was raised with the capacity to order and to discipline. In his eyes it is his right to be respected and also to snob those ‘below’ him. This need to reassert his dominance stems from a deeply rooted insecurity that manifest itself in his soul-sucking desire to possess and need for total authority. For the Duke, a Duchess who seemingly did not hold his ‘nine-hundred-years-old-name’ in high regard, was a threat that simultaneously angered and terrified him, thus forming the ultimate motivation for his crime. A parallel can be drawn with Miss Bessie in Atwood’s story, who wields her position and reputation like a blade. She is in charge of the students because she is a teacher, and they listen to her because she is known to be an ‘exceptional’ one.

- Gendered power

When we look towards gendered roles, the

-Linguistic power
-Economic power
-Physical control (power)
-The gaze

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The power of perspective, as well as the perspective of power, is thoroughly explored in Browning’s “My Last Duchess” and Atwood’s short story. Both qualities are inherent and active in social hierarchies, especially concerning discourse between an authoritative figure and a lesser counterpart. The texts are an enquiry into the inseparable ties held between the exercise of power and perspective.

The power to see, and more importantly, to judge and form prejudicial conceptions is manifested in any individual, whether it is the impassioned Duke or an uninspired high school student. In the poem, the Duke is portrayed as a delirious man trapped within his insatiable desire to control and possess. When met with “indifference” from his wife, she is disdained and viewed by the Duke as a woman ‘too easily impressed’. Here, the Duke’s perspective is warped by his estranging lust for power. Compared to this figure of dominance and extremity, the narrator of the short story is relaxed and relatable, a ‘verisimilitude’ acquaintance in which readers can comfortably trust. Her respect for a reputable teacher and slight nonchalance for ‘replaceable’ boyfriends is characterised as normal. Yet, it is clear that she too utilises the power to view and construct concepts, as she looks upon the ‘tasteful clothes’ and ‘gleaming shoes’. Through this character, the languid nature of the power to perceive is evident, as it fluctuates not only within figures of social superiority, but also within the most mundane beings. In this sense, perspective is not only an equippable weapon against ‘officious fools’ and flirtatious Duchesses, but also nuanced and diluted in the weavings of everyday life, when faced with ‘Miss Bessie’ and ‘Bill’.

The equally important power of presentation and self-endorsement is also present in the texts. Both the Duke and Miss Bessie perpetuate an image of ‘polished sophistication’, immediate with their refined physical images. Both figures are draped in voguish attire, paralleled by a century-old name for the Duke, and a solid reputation for the teacher. These fanciful facades--intricately designed--are employed to establish a monument of superiority. Paradoxically, this well-kept image is motivated by an insecurity stemming from the paramount fear of judgment by others.

But as seen in both texts, despite being pathetically confined to the preservation of an ‘image’, the Duke and Miss Bessie ultimately trump over the envoy and student. Thus, an alignment in the presentation-of-self and perception-from-others becomes a compelling implement.

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Many parallels of the power dynamics of Browning’s ‘My Last Duchess’ can be drawn with Atwood’s short story regarding how perspective and power are directly correlated. Both the Duke and the speaker both are of the belief that other people are disposable in their lives while at the same time they seek the validation of their superiority by the same people. The speaker in Atwood’s short story desperately desires validation from her teacher ‘Ms. Bessie” by constantly praising her in appearance and skill as a teacher and a woman. The speaker aims to be ahead of her peers and hold a tone of superiority when talking about her peers, her boyfriend Bill, whom “was on the receiving end of Ms. Bessie’s sarcasm was humiliating for him, and by extension me.”. A parallel can be drawn here to the envoy whom the Duke is seeking the appraisal from, he presents his possessions, such as his art collection with the portrait of the Duchess, boasting that it was painted with such skill ‘Looking as if she were alive.’.  The Duchess in the painting the Duke, as does the speaker in Atwood’s narrative does to Bill, also reduces her to an object, an extension of his status and erasing all sense of individuality she might have held. The duchess is only referred to by her smiles, a half flush and blushes all said with tones of contempt, ‘shame’ and ‘anger’ that the speaker had imagined Bill to feel upon not being able to impress Ms. Bessie. The constant need for validation by the Speaker and the Duke, regardless of their belief in their superiority, give power to the auditors, Ms. Bessie, and the envoy, as by through their gaze alone they have the power to scrutinize the actions of the speakers.

The power of the envoy and Ms. Bessie’s gaze is limited by their social status. Ms. Bessie is a woman and although ‘the boys respected her’ due to her qualifications and ‘respected the tight leash she kept them on’ there were other teachers who were not given the same respect some of who were called ‘the Gorilla, the Crip, and the Hippo’. This was due to their inability to outwardly show their superiority in their appearance as where per the narrator Ms. Bessie was neat and well dressed with ‘an elegance the others could not match’. This gaze that the students, more specifically the male’s gaze had, held a power due to the societies nature. As with the Duke, their gender gave them superiority over the other. The envoy had a different limitation to his power, his limitation was due to his position in the social hierarchy, although higher than a woman’s, was less than the Dukes. Thus, rendering him unable to question or confront the Duke in his actions of murdering his wife. The Envoy had no options as to who to tell of the crime that was committed as he was the Count’s envoy, who was still lower than a Duke. The envoy was powerless to stop Duke this the next Duchess faced the risk of facing the same fate as the last. These limitations were placed due to the perspective that the speaker and the Duke had, one of both superiority and vulnerability of their own perception.

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Atwood's and Browning's respective “My Last Duchess”  texts are an exercise in exposing the shifting, lucid and opaque dimensions of power, and its enactment through vastly differing mediums.

An essential social hierarchy is established immediately in the beginning of Atwood’s narrative, assigning Miss Bessie as a superior figure. The students, constricted in a dull, humdrum classroom have no choice but to listen and obey her instructions, to the extent that their own physical actions are being restricted “I couldn’t risk turning my head”. Her and Browning’s Duke are both inherent possessors of official, inherited power; “my 900-years-old-gift”. A keen sense of languid disinterest is evoked, with the imagery of the “reverie, or half sleep”, contributing to the permeating sense of containment.

Despite being a brand new classroom, “an ancient, fermenting smell” is present, and this presents a paradox of sorts - a dichotomy between what one sees, and what one senses. These descriptions do not only confirm that our narrator is an imaginative and curious person, but also one displaying a careful attention to detail. She can be considered analogous to the Duke, who also has the ability to envisage detailed conversations “Fra Pandolf chanced to say..” and events (which may indeed have been entirely factitious). Through this subtle interplay of form and content, the Duke is portrayed to maintain two parallels, with Miss Bessie, as well as the narrator, simultaneously.

After initial observations, the readers are suddenly alerted to a surprising shift in the power dynamic. Our narrator - who until now, despite exhibiting some similarities to the Duke, was still very much a conforming piece of the social hierarchy - has flipped the rhetoric. In her painstakingly exact delineation of Miss Bessie’s physical appearance - “good legs”, and “exceptional” outfits, her “piercing eyes” and “aquiline” nose - she has successfully transformed her very gaze into a medium of power. Now reduced to a frozen, static image, Miss Bessie has assumed the position of Browning’s Duchess passively resting in her frame, having to endure the Duke's imposed descriptions. Perspective as an instrument of judgement is also evidenced through our narrator’s second hand “humiliation” due to her boyfriend Bill. She proceeds to “visualise” him, turning “red in the face” with “shame and anger”, exactly like the Duke’s envisaging, (entirely in his mind, for want of another objective narrator) the Duchess “smiling” at "officious fools" and “sunsets". The Duke and narrator thus share a certain sort of confidence in their supercilious knowledge of others. Here we witness the typical position of possession of power being subverted by Atwood, creating instead a materialising, morphing and mutating force which manifests itself solely through perspective. To describe someone is to assign them a certain meaning and to fix one’s gaze on something is an assertion of power. The “greasy boys” jeering at our narrator further on in the story, in much the similar way, assert power over her. This maintains a firm grasp on the unfolding of a larger design - the role of gender as a medium of power. Which emerges victorious - the power of gaze, official authority, or gender? These discrete shifts in power and person, yet the underlying dynamic of the gaze remaining constant, exposes the readers to the shortcomings of power as a fixed entity.

Through the shifting gaze, what one sees becomes theirs. The translucence of this possession of power, is exhibited time and time again, with parallels drawn between the Duke, Miss Bessie, our narrator and the Duchess entangling and overlapping. This problematicises the notion of absolute power, initially assumed to be held by the Duke. Atwood’s assertion of the multiple parallels with characters in varying positions of power and perspective during the narrative, exploit the Duke’s multiple layers of power, ultimately challenging the reader’s perspective and demanding a rethinking of his character.

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Set in the dull hum of a caged classroom, Atwood borrows strings of thought from Browning’s My Last Duchess to emphasise the transient nature of power, perspective and perception. Set in starkly different landscapes, Atwood dabbles with the flimsy concept of time to express the complexities of Browning’s philosophies, and the universality of the relationship between the duke and duchess, narrator and auditor, man and women and ultimately the powerful and the powerless, forcing reader's to confront the harsh reality that they themselves are mere students being “shepherded” throughout life, at the whim of a superior force, a ‘teacher.” Atwood subtly exposes reader's to the idea that power isn't as simple as what one previously perceived. Power has its claws deep in the heart of the idea of perception, power ultimately isn't static. “Miss Bessie” is the duke to the duchess of the students in her class, she “meticulously,” alike the crazed Duke’s framing of his “last duchess”, objectifies the student to make them hers. They aren't mere individuals, they are an extension of her, her reputation. Yet the power dynamic is flipped when the narrator grasps the power back as she limits Miss Bessie to good legs” and shiny “shoes” subsequently morphing into the duke. Atwood embodies Browning's irritation that the struggle for power is different depending on which vantage point one looks at it from. Humans are subject to someone else's perception of them, when the girl is ‘catcalled” by the men, her identity is frozen in that frame. She is, in that second controlled by the men, their judgement of her defines her. She is the duchess. For when humans believe they have power over themselves and other people, the fact is that in their blind folly they have misinterpreted reality, for us as readers, and Browning as a poet have power over the “meticulous” Duke, as we have confined him to words on a page   and understand his unreliability. But that doesn't mean we are free from other “dukes” in life, individuals that choose "never to stoop" and in their excessive ego split humans into “Strangers like you” and “[himself].” Atwood massages this point, as the flexibility of the notion of ‘duke’ and the flimsy concept of power is carefully explored, frightening readers. 

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Set in the dull hum of a caged classroom, Atwood borrows strings of thought from Browning’s My Last Duchess to emphasise the transient nature of power, perspective and perception. Set in starkly different landscapes, Atwood dabbles with the flimsy concept of time to express the complexities of Browning’s philosophies, and the universality of the relationship between the duke and duchess, narrator and auditor, man and women and ultimately the powerful and the powerless, forcing reader's to confront the harsh reality that they themselves are mere students being “shepherded” throughout life, at the whim of a superior force, a ‘teacher.” Atwood subtly exposes reader's to the idea that power isn't as simple as what one previously perceived. Power has its claws deep in the heart of the idea of perception, power ultimately isn't static. “Miss Bessie” is the duke to the duchess of the students in her class, she “meticulously,” alike the crazed Duke’s framing of his “last duchess”, objectifies the student to make them hers. They aren't mere individuals, they are an extension of her, her reputation. Yet the power dynamic is flipped when the narrator grasps the power back as she limits Miss Bessie to good legs” and shiny “shoes” subsequently morphing into the duke. Atwood embodies Browning's irritation that the struggle for power is different depending on which vantage point one looks at it from. Humans are subject to someone else's perception of them, when the girl is ‘catcalled” by the men, her identity is frozen in that frame. She is, in that second controlled by the men, their judgement of her defines her. She is the duchess. For when humans believe they have power over themselves and other people, the fact is that in their blind folly they have misinterpreted reality, for us as readers, and Browning as a poet have power over the “meticulous” Duke, as we have confined him to words on a page   and understand his unreliability. But that doesn't mean we are free from other “dukes” in life, individuals that choose "never to stoop" and in their excessive ego split humans into “Strangers like you” and “[himself].” Atwood massages this point, as the flexibility of the notion of ‘duke’ and the flimsy concept of power is carefully explored, frightening readers. 

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Caitlin

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There are several parallels to be drawn at different levels between the power dynamics present in Browning’s ‘My Last Duchess’, and the Atwood short story.

The classroom hierarchy with Miss Bessie as its master parallels the social hierarchy in which the Duke ranks supreme. Just as the Duke exhibits his veneer of sophistication through lofty rhetoric and priceless art collection, Miss Bessie brandishes her impeccable record of distinguished students. Just as the Duke possession of his wife is enacted through his tight control of her appearance and behaviour to match his own social standing, the teacher ‘herds the class like sheep’, directing and inhibiting so they will ‘set down the right facs in the right order and excel in the schooling system. In both cases, the elites must seek to maintain their reputation by displaying the quality of their possessions.

However, the position itself within a hierarchy does not necessarily guarantee one the possession of power, as shown through the various acerbic nicknames-’gorilla’, ‘hippo’ -given by the students to the teachers. On the other hand, through Miss Bessie’s ‘no-nonsense’ assertion of her power, the students are kept on a ‘tight leash’,because they are chastened by the teacher’s ‘sarcastic’ comments that can make a ‘fool’ of one in front of the class.  As such, power lies in the ability to manipulate someone psychologically in order to instill fear of one’s gaze; to put someone else under scrutiny is to gain command.

The close connection between power and perspective implies that power is  fluid and can be easily inverted. For example, Miss Bessie herself becomes locked within an immobile frame as the narrator fastidiously dissects her physical appearance, appraising her from the ‘softly gleaming shoes’, to the ‘brooches’  which  ‘looked as if their semi-precious stones were real’. The pointed phrase -’as if’-highlights the vulnerability of the subject within the frame, as it suggests the capricious nature of the viewer who may easily have deemed the ‘as if’,  insufficient. In this case, the parallel of Duke with Miss Bessie is replaced by the one with the narrator.  By disclosing the subtle shift in power, Atwood alarms the reader to the pitfalls of complacency-that no one can rest in the blameless position of victim under the oppression of a ‘recognised’  authority figure, whether it be teacher or speaker. It may well be that, we, like the narrators are perpetrators of oppression by through judgement and misinterpretation. As she visually constructs the emotions of her boyfriend ‘without even seeing him’ and responds in embarrassment, we are reminded of the Duke’s seething rage at the imagined acts of flirtatiousness of the duchess. The characters share the same confidence in their omniscience, ironically revealing their limitations in insight and distortion of the truth.

Gender

The narrator also parallels the Duke in her sexual relationships, the introduction of her current boyfriend as the one who had ‘replaced’ the string of boyfriends before him echoes the Duke’s routine update of his duchess. However, without the gender superiority of the Duke, the narrator can make her judgements only in passivity. She  can only respond to her boyfriend’s ‘shame and anger’ in passive embarrassment, while  the duke’s own response of  ‘shame and anger’ towards the duchess is strongly externalised.

The survival of the duke’s patriarchal power is exemplified by the excruciating ordeal of walking pass catcalling ‘young men’. There was no way the narrator could escape the dilemma with full control and sense of dignity. If she calls back in protest, she would be taken to engage in the same sort of vulgarity as the catcallers -’brazen’,  but if she remains silent, she is accepting their insult and position of inferiority.

The narrator’s insecurity is similar to the Duke’s in their shared concern with their own dignity and authority. ‘Meticulously’ holding back on answering questions, the narrator keep safe from being seen as ‘ridiculous’.  However, her ambiguous feeling in regards to her own intelligence reveals herself being suspended in an uncomfortable middle ground, where she cannot take pride in her intellectual superiority due to fear of being called a ‘show-off’ who clings onto her academic achievements. The concealment of her “freakish” abilities under a mask of indifference is comparable with the Duke’s concealment of his wife’s ‘embarrassing unfaithfulness’ with a callous disposal.

However, the narrator’s gender makes her doubly sensitive to the possibility of attack, and  reflexively averse to weakness and inferiority. The gruesome image of the ‘bloody puddle’ on the floor of the exam room is engraved as a powerful symbol of her gendered imprisonment. The ‘plop, plop, plop’ of the dripping blood continues, with the examinee stuck to her seat without being able to cover up the shame, since running out of the exam room would only cause more attention and mockery. Unlike boys’ intellectual embarrassment such as the sheet of repeating isosceles triangles,  the girl’s shame is more often embodied. While the intellectual bumble can be held discreet (and even if it is broadcasted, it is only through an indirect medium such as language), the visceral, bodily female shame is graphically vivid before everyone, resulting in unavoidable mortification.  In her search for independence and exercise of her own will,  the narrator’s disgust at the duchess stems from the perception of the duchess as excessively eager to please, and too obtuse to protect herself against her dangerous husband. Ironically,  the narrator’s obsession with avoiding the appearance of crowd-pleaser results in her being constantly directed by others’ opinions. Neither the duchess nor the narrator is free to exercise their own wills.  Atwood’s portrayal of this predicament suggests the difficulty women face in their search for a space away from the panoptic gaze of society.

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Through their contrasting yet not dissimilar respective self-fragmented speakers who seem to hold at least some modicums of power, both Browning and Atwood explore the delicate intricacies of power and its relation with perspective.

In Browning’s My Last Duchess, we witness the bombastic Duke of Ferrara who holds not only class and gendered power, but linguistic and seemingly intellectual power as well. It is this self-awarded superiority, highlighted by his arrogant choosing "never to stoop" and distinction between “Strangers like you” and “[himself]”, that allows him to assume a position upon which his pontifications are bestowed. The narrator of Atwood’s MLD engages with similar themes, albeit on a less obvious level. Parallels can definitively be drawn between both the Duke and narrator’s power influencing their perception of the Duchess and Bill respectively. Where the Duke feels personally humiliated by his visualised imaginings of the Duchess-”as if she ranked”, “as if she were alive”--and her flirty “smiles”, the narrator evokes similar sentiments of “shame” and “anger” as she “visualises” Bill’s face. Thus we see the ultimate form of power manifest itself in the form of the Gaze, directly as a result of perception.

It seems that who you are looking at becomes your possession--and this perception as a form of power reveals itself in the Duke’s detailed description of his Duchess with her face adorning a "spot of joy" and "half flush". With these intricate delineations of his Duchess, the Duke is able to freeze his Duchess in time, thus we see that to look is to have power, and to describe is to fix a meaning on someone or something. The narrator of Atwood’s MLD suspends Miss Bessie in time through her meticulous descriptions of the “sheen and solidity” of her blouses and "spot of smear of dirt on [her] softly gleaming shoes". In this way, Atwood subverts the typicalities of power by making the supposed ‘auditor’ (the student) in hold of the power over the ‘speaker’ (teacher), suggesting that perspective is power itself. It becomes ironic, then, the narrator’s statement that “meticulousness is one step away from lunacy”, implying that perhaps an overzealous indulgence in this perspective as a form of power is to be criticised.

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In this short story, the author plays with the layers of power within different limitations. Within the speaker they hold the power over Miss Bessie through their gaze and judgement, yet outside of that Miss Bessie has another aspect of power through reputation. Yet the reader and by extension society, hold another layer of power through their ability to make judgements and oppress.
This is further defined by the clear delineation of the gap between "boys and girls" and the fleeting ideas presented with an air of normality. In this way, power is limited to a certain time and place, those under the rule of it are left open to it's whims.
In the same way, browning also uses this concept to paint the Duke with an air of power, able to contort the past to fit his imagined reality. Yet all of his status and power is meaningless to the auditor (and by extension us) as they (we) create a unique perspective of both the Duke and the Duchess. The duke, unable to control the thoughts and judgements of the auditor then desperately tries to grasp it by forcing physical and spacial control. This is perhaps similar to Miss bessie using clothes to create an outward air of power, yet even as she desperately grasps for her students focus, she is still under the rule of the patriarchy and therefore limited in her potential to extend her power.