Anatomising the "Case": Shelley's The Cenci, Browning's The Ring and the Book, and the Origins of the Dramatic Monologue

This chapter considers the ongoing influence of The Cenci on a range of Browning's work, from "My Last Duchess" to The Ring and the Book to "Cenciaja". The basis of its argument lies not only in Browning's lifelong interest in The Cenci, but also in the correspondences between the form and themes of Percy Bysshe Shelley play and Browning's monologues. Despite the obvious continuities in Browning's literary career, most critics are at pains to separate his dramas and early poems from his dramatic monologues. Several other critics have attempted to demonstrate why Browning abandoned the drama for the dramatic monologue. Armstrong has shown the extent to which Browning's early attempts at the dramatic form were influenced by the Monthly Repository circles' belief in its significance as a democratic genre that could best represent ideological conflict and moral complexity.