Tuesday, September 22, 2009

I am to be the new Duchess... (The Last Duchess rewritten_

I will soon be the Duke’s new Duchess. I do not want to become his new wife but I have no choice in the matter because I am a female and must do what my father commands of me. My father has decided, that to elevate the families standing in society and to have the assurance of knowing my four sisters will have a comfortable life, that I am to marry the Duke. The Duke is a handsome man from good breeding, but is known to have a nasty temper towards the women in his life. This nasty temper is all too well rumored while he was with the last Duchess. The last Duchess was a woman of very low status in society, but for some reason caught the Duke’s eye. The pillow talk is that they had a wonderful courtship and then after being betrothed, the Duke began to show his true colors. The last Duchess had no choice but to put up with the daily cruelty inflicted by her once sweet and kind husband. After years of being married, and time beginning to ravage the once beautiful features of the Dukes wife, the Duke decided to have a painting of the Duchess commissioned by Fra Pandolf. The painter told the Duke that the grand twenty-foot tall painting would take him six weeks to finish. When the Duchess heard that she was going to have to sit in the same position for six weeks she was angry. That was the story in the mansion. I believe if I was in the Duchess same position, which soon I will be, that I too would be mad. But the Duchess went on and obeyed the commands of her husband and went into the grand gallery for the artist to create her portrait. The maid told me that when the Duchess and the painter set eyes upon each other, it was obvious that they had instantly fallen in love. The Duke realized that the painting was going along a lot slower than expected, but he never dreamed that his wife was spending most of the time in the grand gallery. He suspected they were falling deeper and deeper into love with each other. The butler at the mansion said that the Duke decided to sneak and watch what the painter and his Duchess was doing during the painting sessions and what he saw made his blood boil. He saw his wife and the lowly painter kissing passionately on the sofa. The Duke didn’t barge in and confront them, he did nothing. The rest of the story is all rumors and gossip but what I can tell is that the Duke killed the Duchess. Though the police said that the Duke said she tripped over her skirts and fell down the stairs and broke her neck. The painter was seen fleeing the London mansion with bruises covering his face. So now my father is about to go meet the Duke to discuss the marriage arrangements of his daughter to the Duke. I shiver as I think of how badly this marriage will be and I am considering running away to becoming a nun. All that I know is that I do not want to become the Duke’s Duchess…the last Duchess.
By: Cinthea




1 comment:

  1. Well captured premonitions of the next Duchess. The gossip in the village seems to have been very well-informed!

    I like the idea of the painting being so huge - where did you get that from..?

    Lovely use of images - great!

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