Examine how Browning presents extreme emotions in ‘My Last Duchess’ and one other poem of your choice.

Comparison of My Last Duchess and The Laboratory. In both his poems, Browning conveys extreme emotion through the use of violent, deathly imagery. In My Last Duchess, "Half-flush that dies along her throat” personifies the death of the Duchess' blush. This extenuates to the audience the sadistic nature of the Duke, and the extreme jealousy that leads him to murder his wife, thus stopping the blush that has frustrated him to this extent. The hyperbole in 'her looks went everywhere' conveys how the Duke did not feel as if her attention towards him was sufficient, and that he believed she was disloyal by allowing herself to simply 'look' at others. Furthermore, this conveys the extreme sense of possession that the Duke felt he had over his wife, and the danger associated with such a possession. In The Laboratory, the alliteration of the plosive 'b' in 'Brand, burn up, bite into its grace' conveys a similar sense of danger and violence. The trio emphasises the extent to which the woman in this poem wants to go for revenge against her husbands infidelity, and the juxtaposition of 'bite' against 'grace' suggests, similarly to My Last Duchess, exemplifies the dramatic nature of her reaction. This is then furthered by the lack of logic in "Let death be felt and the proof remain" which could also be seen as suggesting that the woman here believes she is untouchable.