My Last Duchess: Analysis

• Robert Browning (1812 – 1889) was an English poet known for dramatic monologues.

Background

• The poem is based on Duke Alfonso II, who ruled Ferrara in northern Italy from 1559-1597.
• Alfonso's first wife was Lucrezia de Medici, who married him at 15 and died two years later, in 1561, with suspected poisoning.
• The poem is set in 1564, three years after Lucrezia's death, as a negotiator arrives from the Count of Tyrol to arrange the Duke's next marriage.
• Fra Pandolf, the artist who painted Lucrezia’s picture, was a celebrated portrait painter in real life.

Summary

• The poem features the Duke of Ferrara showing a portrait of his deceased wife to a man who has come to arrange his marriage to another woman.
• The Duke's description of his first wife suggests a dreadful fate befell her.

Message

• Powerful people treat others as objects.

Analysis

• The poem is a dramatic monologue, delivered by the Duke of Ferrara to a gentleman about his late wife.
• The monologue is a dramatic scene set in a specific time and place.
• The form is used to construct convincing characters by revealing their identities through their words.
• The dramatic monologue encourages the reader to read between the lines to find the truth.
• The poem has one long verse, written in iambic pentameter with rhyming couplets, and with enjambment for a natural speech effect.
• The title, "My Last Duchess," indicates the Duke's possessiveness and hints at a callous attitude toward women.
• The setting, "Ferrara," roots the poem in history.

First Lines

• The poem begins with the Duke pointing out a portrait of his deceased wife, looking "as if she were alive."
• The Duke mentions the artist, "Fra Pandolf," showcasing the Duke's tendency to boast.

Control

• The Duke explains that "none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you but I."
• The curtain symbolizes the Duke's possessiveness and need for control, alarming the reader.

The Duchess

• The Duke describes the face in the picture as having an "earnest glance," suggesting she was diffident and serious.
• The Duchess’s anxious look makes the reader consider how unfairly her husband treated her to look so solemn at such a young age.
• The Duke's statement that the Duchess was not made happy only by his "husband's presence" reveals his controlling nature.
• The Duke's expectation was that his wife should only enjoy his company and have no other pleasures in life.

Spot of Joy

• The Duke mentions "perhaps Fra Pandolf chanced to say 'Her mantle laps over my lady's wrist too much'," and the 'spot of joy'
• The Duke uses “perhaps” because he is speculating that the Duchess committed adultery.
• "Spot of joy" is a metaphor describing a look of pleasure as a "spot," something small and tainted, implying the Duke dislikes his wife's happiness.

Character

• The Duke describes his wife as "Too soon made glad, Too easily impressed," turning her positive traits against her, seeming paranoid and unfair.
• The Duke expresses that she "liked whate’er She looked on, and her looks went everywhere," implying his desire to control what she saw.
• Sight is a recurring theme, encouraging readers to look beneath the surface and judge the Duke's behavior.

Materialism

• The Duke states "twas all one" and everything his wife saw was treated with equal respect and appreciation.
• The Duke is annoyed that she likes sunsets, fruit, and animals as she does not value expensive things, implying he is materialistic and elitist.

Status

• The Duke explains she ‘thanked men... as if she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybody's gift’.
• The Duke believes his wife should be grateful for his name, indicating that she is now in his possession.
• The Duke thinks his wife only values his status as much as her mule which seems to irritate him.
• The Duke asks ‘who'd stoop to blame This sort of trifling?’
• The word ‘trifling’ means treating him as though he is unimportant, diminishing the Duke.
• The Duke is too proud to lower himself to his wife and dislikes her happy attitude to life.

Digression

• The Duke says ‘Even had you skill in speech – (which I have not.)’
• The phrase in brackets shows that he claims not to be able to speak well, but the Duke clearly likes the sound of his own voice very much.

Strong Language

• The Duke thought about telling his wife ‘Just this or that in you disgusts me; here you miss or there exceed the mark’.
• The Duke uses very strong language to describe his wife's attitude and judges his wife very harshly as though she were a servant rather than a partner.

Superior Status

• The Duke believes ‘E’en then would be some stooping; And I choose never to stoop’.
• The Duke repeats the word ‘stoop’ to emphasise his belief that speaking to his wife would involve him losing his superior status or bowing down to her, and he is not prepared to do this.

Commands

• The Duke explains that as his wife smiles at everyone with ‘Much the same smile’.
• Because he wants her to smile at him differently he issues ‘I gave commands’.
• The word ‘commands’ means he treats her like a servant or slave to order about.
• After this, ‘all smiles stopped’. His wife is clearly upset.
• At that moment the Duchess’s smiles stopped, happiness died, and, presumably, her life ended.

Murder

• The Duke changes his subject and says ‘Will’t please you rise?’
• The change of direction denotes the moment when the Duchess’s smiles stopped, happiness died, and, presumably, her life ended.
• A man as controlling and powerful as the Duke could easily have his wife murdered because she ceased to please him, and ‘all smiles stopped’ could hint that the Duke had his wife killed because he as jealous of other men.

Dowry

• The Duke moves on to the business he has with the ambassador.
• He says the Count will give him a ‘dowry’ with his ‘fair daughter,’ highlighting formal arrangements when women were possessions.
• Frighteningly, the Duke says the Count’s daughter ‘is my object’ as women are objectified and dehumanised.

Neptune

• The Duke ends by pointing out another one of his valuable belongings – it is a sculpture.
• The Duke directs the ambassador to ‘Notice Neptune, though, Taming a sea-horse’.
• Neptune is a powerful male figure, like the Duke, he is controlling a 'sea-horse' - delicate creatures, like the Duchess.
• The sculpture symbolizes the Duke's desire to overpower women.
• The statue was ‘cast in bronze for me!’ ending the poem with metal and the Duke concluding that he only likes things made especially to please him.