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Analysis of Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess 

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on March 30, 2021 • ( 0 )

My Last Duchess 

“My Last Duchess” appeared in Browning’s first collection of shorter poems, Dramatic Lyrics (1842). In the original edition, the poem is printed side-by-side with “Count Gismond” under the heading “Italy and France,” and the two poems share a similar concern with issues of aristocracy and honor. “My Last Duchess” is one of many poems by Browning that are founded, at least in part, upon historical fact. Extensive research lies behind much of Browning’s work, and “My Last Duchess” represents a confluence of two of Browning’s primary interests: the Italian Renaissance and visual art. Both the speaker of the poem and his “last Duchess” closely resemble historical figures. The poem’s duke is likely modeled upon Alfonso II, the last Duke of Ferrara, whose marriage to the teenaged Lucrezia de’ Medici ended mysteriously only three years after it began. The duke then negotiated through an agent to marry the niece of the Count of Tyrol.

True to the title of the volume in which the poem appears, “My Last Duchess” begins with a gesture performed before its first couplet—the dramatic drawing aside of a “curtain” in front of the painting. From its inception, the poem plays upon the notion of the theatrical, as the impresario duke delivers a monologue on a painting of his late wife to an envoy from a prospective duchess. That the poem constitutes, structurally, a monologue, bears significantly upon its meaning and effects. Browning himself summed up Dramatic Lyrics as a gathering of “so many utterances of so many imaginary persons, not mine,” and the sense of an authorial presence outside of “My Last Duchess” is indeed diminished in the wake of the control the duke seems to wield over the poem. The fact that the duke is the poem’s only voice opens his honesty to question, as the poem offers no other perspective with which to compare or contrast that of the duke. Dependence on the duke as the sole source of the poem invites in turn a temporary sympathy with him, in spite of his outrageous arrogance and doubtlessly criminal past. The poem’s single voice also works to focus attention on the duke’s character: past deeds pale as grounds for judgment, becoming just another index to the complex mind of the aristocrat.

In addition to foregrounding the monologic and theatrical nature of the poem, the poem’s first dozen lines also thematize notions of repetition and sequence, which are present throughout the poem. “That’s my last Duchess,” the duke begins, emphasizing her place in a series of attachments that presumably include a “first” and a “next.” The stagy gesture of drawing aside the curtain is also immanently repeatable: the duke has shown the painting before and will again. Similarly, the duke locates the envoy himself within a sequence of “strangers” who have “read” and been intrigued by the “pictured countenance” of the duchess. What emerges as the duke’s central concern—the duchess’s lack of discrimination—also relates to the idea of repetition, as the duke outlines a succession of gestures, events, and individuals who “all and each/Would draw from her alike the approving speech.” The duke’s very claim to aristocratic status rest upon a series—the repeated passing on of the “nine-hundred-years-old name” that he boasts. The closing lines of “My Last Duchess” again suggest the idea of repetition, as the duke directs the envoy to a statue of Neptune: “thought a rarity,” the piece represents one in a series of artworks that make up the duke’s collection. The recurrent ideas of repetition and sequence in the poem bind together several of the poem’s major elements—the duke’s interest in making a new woman his next duchess and the vexingly indiscriminate quality of his last one, the matter of his aristocratic self-importance and that of his repugnant acquisitiveness, each of which maps an aspect of the duke’s obsessive nature.

This obsessiveness also registers in the duke’s fussy attention to his own rhetoric, brought up throughout the poem in the form of interjections marked by dashes in the text. “She had/a heart—how shall I say—too soon made glad,” the duke says of his former duchess, and his indecision as to word choice betrays a tellingly careful attitude toward discourse. Other such self-interruptions in the poem describe the duke’s uncertainty as to the duchess’s too easily attained approval, as well as his sense of being an undiplomatic speaker. On the whole, these asides demonstrate the duke’s compulsive interest in the pretence of ceremony, which he manipulates masterfully in the poem. Shows of humility strengthen a sense of the duke’s sincerity and frank nature, helping him build a rapport with his audience. The development of an ostensibly candid persona works to cloak the duke’s true “object”—the dowry of his next duchess.

Lucrezia de’ Medici by Bronzino, generally believed to be the subject of the poem/Wikimedia

Why the duke broaches the painful matter of his sordid past in the first place is well worth considering and yields a rich vein of psychological speculation. Such inquiry should be tempered, however, by an awareness of the duke’s overt designs in recounting his past. On the surface, for instance, the poem constitutes a thinly veiled warning: the duke makes a show of his authority even as he lets out some of the rather embarrassing details surrounding his failed marriage. The development of the duchess’s seeming disrespect is cut short by the duke’s “commands”—almost certainly orders to have her quietly murdered. In the context of a meeting with the envoy of a prospective duchess, the duke’s confession cannot but convey a threat, a firm declaration of his intolerance toward all but the most respectful behavior.

But the presence of an underlying threat cannot fully account for the duke’s rhetorical exuberance, and the speech the poem embodies must depend for its impetus largely upon the complex of emotional tensions that the memory calls up for the duke. As critic W. David Shaw remarks, the portrait of the last duchess represents both a literal and a figurative “hang-up” for the duke, who cannot resist returning to it repeatedly to contemplate its significance. So eager is the duke to enlarge upon the painting and its poignance that he anticipates and thus helps create the envoy’s interest in it, assuming in him a curiousity as to “how such a glance came” to the countenance of the duchess. The duke then indulges in obsessive speculation on the “spot of joy” on the “Duchess’ cheek,” elaborating different versions of its genesis. Similarly, the duke masochistically catalogues the various occasions the duchess found to “blush” or give praise: love, sunsets, cherries, and even “the white mule/She rode with round the terrace.”

Language itself occupies a particularly troubled place in the duke’s complex response to his last duchess and her memory. The duke’s modesty in declaiming his “skill/In speech” is surely false, as the rhetorical virtuosity of his speech attests. Yet he is manifestly averse to resolving the issue through discussion. In the duke’s view, “to be lessoned” or lectured is to be “lessened” or reduced, as his word choice phonetically implies. Rather than belittle himself or his spouse through the lowly practice of negotiation, the duke sacrifices the marriage altogether, treating the duchess’s “trifling” as a capital offense. The change the duke undergoes in the wake of disposing of his last duchess is in large part a rhetorical one, as he “now” handles discursively what he once handled with set imperatives.

The last lines of the poem abound in irony. As they rise to “meet/The company below,” the duke ominously reminds the envoy that he expects an ample dowry by way of complimenting the “munificence” of the Count. The duke then tells the envoy that not money but the Count’s daughter herself remains his true “object,” suggesting the idea that the duke’s aim is precisely the contrary. The duke’s intention to “go/Together down” with the envoy, meant on the surface as a kind of fraternal gesture, ironically underscores the very distinction in social status that it seems to erase. “Innsbruck” is the seat of the Count of Tyrol whose daughter the duke means to marry, and he mentions the bronze statue with a pride that is supposed to flatter the Count. But the lines can also be interpreted as an instance of self-flattery, as Neptune, who stands for the duke, is portrayed in the sculpture as an authorial figure, “taming a sea-horse.”

“My Last Duchess” marks an early apex of Browning’s art, and some of the elements of the poem—such as the monologue form, the discussion of visual art, and the Renaissance setting—were to become staples of Browning’s aesthetic. “My Last Duchess” also inaugurates Browning’s use of the lyric to explore the psychology of the individual. As many critics have suggested, character for Browning is always represented as a process, and the attitudes of his characters are typically shown in flux. The duke of “My Last Duchess” stands as a testimony to Browning’s ability to use monologue to frame an internal dialogue: the duke talks to the envoy but in effect talks to himself as he compulsively confronts the enigmas of his past.

Further Reading Bloom, Harold, ed. Robert Browning. New York: Chelsea House, 1985. Bloom, Harold, and Adrienne Munich, eds. Robert Browning: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1979. Chesterton, G. K. Robert Browning. London: Macmillan, 1903. Cook, Eleanor. Browning’s Lyrics: An Exploration. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974. Crowell, Norton B. The Convex Glass: The Mind of Robert Browning. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1968. De Vane, William Clyde, and Kenneth Leslie Knickerbocker, eds. New Letters. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1950. De Vane, William Clyde. A Browning Handbook. New York: F. S. Crofts and Co., 1935. Drew, Philip. The Poetry of Robert Browning: A Critical Introduction. London: Methuen, 1970. Jack, Ian. Browning’s Major Poetry. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973. Jack, Ian, and Margaret Smith, eds. The Poetical Works of Robert Browning. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. Wagner-Lawlor, Jennifer A. “The Pragmatics of Silence, and the Figuration of the Reader in Browning’s Dramatic Monologues.” Victorian Poetry 35, no. 3 (1997): 287–302. Source: Bloom, H., 2001. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House Publishers.

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Psychoanalysis of Duke of Ferrara from ‘My Last Duchess’

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Robert Browning encapsulates the cosmos of a character within the microcosm of a moment. The dramatic monologue ‘My Last Duchess’ by the poet is a presentation of an egoistic, narcissistic and self centered duke. Throughout the poem there is a clear image of a psyche, overprotective, jealous and possessive personality who has executed his wife for his own narrow mentality. Browning has also portrayed the duke as someone extremely powerful who can change everything with a single command.

Keywords: Duke of Ferrara , Last Duchess’ , Psychoanalysis

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• DOI: 10.25130/ARTS.V12I41.783
• Corpus ID: 225967076

A Pragma - Stylistic Analysis of Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess”

• Published 15 April 2020
• Linguistics

16 References

Robert browning: a dramatic monologue marvel, violation of grice’s maxims and ambiguity in english linguistic jokes, the complete critical guide to robert browning, thrown voices : a series of dramatic monologues with a discussion of the genre, logic and conversation, discourse analysis, key ideas in linguistics and the philosophy of language, a glossary of literary terms.

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Ambiguity in context

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My Last Duchess Summary & Analysis by Robert Browning

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

“My Last Duchess” is a dramatic monologue written by Victorian poet Robert Browning in 1842. In the poem, the Duke of Ferrara uses a painting of his former wife as a conversation piece. The Duke speaks about his former wife's perceived inadequacies to a representative of the family of his bride-to-be, revealing his obsession with controlling others in the process. Browning uses this compelling psychological portrait of a despicable character to critique the objectification of women and abuses of power.

• Read the full text of “My Last Duchess”

The Full Text of “My Last Duchess”

      FERRARA

1 That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, 

2 Looking as if she were alive. I call 

3 That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf’s hands 

4 Worked busily a day, and there she stands. 

5 Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said 

6 “Fra Pandolf” by design, for never read 

7 Strangers like you that pictured countenance, 

8 The depth and passion of its earnest glance, 

9 But to myself they turned (since none puts by 

10 The curtain I have drawn for you, but I) 

11 And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst, 

12 How such a glance came there; so, not the first 

13 Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ’twas not 

14 Her husband’s presence only, called that spot 

15 Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek; perhaps 

16 Fra Pandolf chanced to say, “Her mantle laps 

17 Over my lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint 

18 Must never hope to reproduce the faint 

19 Half-flush that dies along her throat.” Such stuff 

20 Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough 

21 For calling up that spot of joy. She had 

22 A heart—how shall I say?— too soon made glad, 

23 Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er 

24 She looked on, and her looks went everywhere. 

25 Sir, ’twas all one! My favour at her breast, 

26 The dropping of the daylight in the West, 

27 The bough of cherries some officious fool 

28 Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule 

29 She rode with round the terrace—all and each 

30 Would draw from her alike the approving speech, 

31 Or blush, at least. She thanked men—good! but thanked 

32 Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked 

33 My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name 

34 With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame 

35 This sort of trifling? Even had you skill 

36 In speech—which I have not—to make your will 

37 Quite clear to such an one, and say, “Just this 

38 Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss, 

39 Or there exceed the mark”—and if she let 

40 Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set 

41 Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse— 

42 E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose 

43 Never to stoop. Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt, 

44 Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without 

45 Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; 

46 Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands 

47 As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet 

48 The company below, then. I repeat, 

49 The Count your master’s known munificence 

50 Is ample warrant that no just pretense 

51 Of mine for dowry will be disallowed; 

52 Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed 

53 At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go 

54 Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though, 

55 Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, 

56 Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!

“My Last Duchess” Summary

“my last duchess” themes.

The Objectification of Women

• See where this theme is active in the poem.

Social Status, Art, and Elitism

Control and Manipulation

Line-by-line explanation & analysis of “my last duchess”.

That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,  Looking as if she were alive. I call  That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf’s hands  Worked busily a day, and there she stands.  Will’t please you sit and look at her?

I said  “Fra Pandolf” by design, for never read  Strangers like you that pictured countenance,  The depth and passion of its earnest glance,  But to myself they turned (since none puts by  The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)  And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,  How such a glance came there; so, not the first  Are you to turn and ask thus.

Lines 13-19

Sir, ’twas not  Her husband’s presence only, called that spot  Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek; perhaps  Fra Pandolf chanced to say, “Her mantle laps  Over my lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint  Must never hope to reproduce the faint  Half-flush that dies along her throat.”

Lines 19-24

Such stuff  Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough  For calling up that spot of joy. She had  A heart—how shall I say?— too soon made glad,  Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er  She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.

Lines 25-31

Sir, ’twas all one! My favour at her breast,  The dropping of the daylight in the West,  The bough of cherries some officious fool  Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule  She rode with round the terrace—all and each  Would draw from her alike the approving speech,  Or blush, at least.

Lines 31-34

She thanked men—good! but thanked  Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked  My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name  With anybody’s gift.

Lines 34-43

Who’d stoop to blame  This sort of trifling? Even had you skill  In speech—which I have not—to make your will  Quite clear to such an one, and say, “Just this  Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,  Or there exceed the mark”—and if she let  Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set  Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse—  E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose  Never to stoop.

Lines 43-47

Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,  Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without  Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;  Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands  As if alive.

Lines 47-53

Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet  The company below, then. I repeat,  The Count your master’s known munificence  Is ample warrant that no just pretense  Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;  Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed  At starting, is my object.

Lines 53-56

Nay, we’ll go  Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,  Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,  Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!

“My Last Duchess” Symbols

The Painting

• See where this symbol appears in the poem.

The Statue of Neptune

“my last duchess” poetic devices & figurative language.

• See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

Personification

“my last duchess” vocabulary.

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Fra Pandolf
• Countenance
• Munificence
• See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “My Last Duchess”

Rhyme scheme, “my last duchess” speaker, “my last duchess” setting, literary and historical context of “my last duchess”, more “my last duchess” resources, external resources.

Robert Browning's Answers to Some Questions, 1914 — In March of 1914, Cornhill Magazine interviewed Robert Browning about some of his poems, including "My Last Duchess." He briefly explains his thoughts on the duchess.

Chris de Burgh, "The Painter" (1976) — Chris de Burgh (a Northern Irish singer-songwriter, best known for "Lady in Red") wrote a song from the perspective of the Duke of Ferrara about his former wife, in which the duchess was having an affair with Fra Pandolf.

My Last Duchess Glass Window — The Armstrong Browning Library and Museum at Baylor University has a stained glass window inspired by "My Last Duchess."

Julian Glover performs "My Last Duchess" — Actor Julian Glover performs "My Last Duchess" with a suitably dramatic tone of voice. Note how he emphasizes the conversational quality of the poem.

Nikolaus Mardruz to his Master Ferdinand, Count of Tyrol, 1565 by Richard Howard, 1929 — This poem by American poet Richard Howard provides the Ferrara's guest's perspective on the meeting between himself and the duke.

LitCharts on Other Poems by Robert Browning

A Light Woman

Among the Rocks

A Toccata of Galuppi's

A Woman's Last Word

Confessions

Home-Thoughts, from Abroad

How they Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix

Life in a Love

Love Among the Ruins

Love in a Life

Meeting at Night

Pictor Ignotus

Porphyria's Lover

Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister

The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church

The Laboratory

The Last Ride Together

The Lost Leader

The Lost Mistress

The Patriot

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

Women and Roses

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

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My Last Duchess

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Robert Browning: “My Last Duchess”

A poet uses a punctuation mark to plot a crime.

The Victorian Era

An introduction to a period of seismic social change and poetic expansion.

Poetry Goes Hollywood

Two readings by Tony-nominated actor Alfred Molina: a reading of Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" and "A Pedestrian" by Amit Majmudar. Need a transcript of this episode? Request a transcript here.

Among the Rocks

Andrea del sarto, the bishop orders his tomb at saint praxed's church, caliban upon setebos.

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Although the early part of Robert Browning’s creative life was spent in comparative obscurity, he has come to be regarded as one of the most important English poets of the Victorian period. His dramatic monologues and the psycho-historical epic  The Ring and the Book  (1868-1869), a novel...

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My Last Duchess

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Navid Salehi Babamiri

During the Victorian age the feminist movement got power, but women still robbed of their vital place both within their family life and social environment. Men exercised their power over them and made them stay home and do house work. In other words, women had no right to struggle for social participation and they were passive in their life as if they were the slaves of men. So according to masculine functionality, they oppressed, marginalized and debarred from love. In his poem Browning tries to show the negative side of the power or the “Big Error” that has been committed by Victorian men, and at the same time to condemn them of their wrong actions that they had toward their wives. Browning is not the supporter of the feminist but like Percy Shelly he wants to generalize equity between both “genders.” However, his poem clarifies the exercising mode of power, namely, the negative, undesirable and traumatic effect of masculinity within family and community relations during the stifl...

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Khulna University Studies

Abdur Rahman Shahin

Usually an aesthete has a love for and understanding of art and beauty, and his aesthetic perception helps to develop ethical values that govern his behaviour. It is assumed that an aesthete will not show any cruelty to the beautiful aspects of life. But a heinous murder is observed in the artistic realm of the Duke in ‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning. The Duchess is killed in a very cruel manner by the Duke because of her apparently indifferent attitude towards him. The aim of this article is to explore the nature of the triumph of cruelty that makes the appeal of aesthetic values dim.

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Winthrop Wetherbee

Gus Adriel Solé

Simpson Library / Eagle Scholar

Olivia Havlin

Beginning with Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun in 1269, Medieval authors give allegorical characteristics to women defining what a Medieval woman is, who she should be, and how she should behave. This text becomes a rule book on courtly love and male and female behavior lasting for centuries and is borrowed by authors like Geoffrey Chaucer, who used Romance of the Rose as a reference to question female authority in many of his works. Therefore, it is through an understanding of characters such as the Old Woman from The Romance of the Rose, Criseyde from Troilus and Criseyde, and Alisoun from “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale,” that we are able to shed light on the level of sovereignty women had in the Middle Ages and how they may have achieved that level.

Ismael Saeed

Hawleir (Erbil) Hawleir (Erbil) ABSTRACT The present research paper addresses the presentation of the thought-process within the speech event illustrated in My Last Duchess (1842) by Robert Browning (1812-1889). Consequently, the paper will make a crical analysis of the main poetic interlocutor's mind-style. Thus, the speech event in the poem, and therefore the mental pattern, express verbally the Duke's moral weakness, As such, the study of Browning's style can reveal the implicit guilt within the poem's sign system of the well-articulated utterances embracing the embedded narrative. Browning organized his stylistic resources to concentrate on the supremacy of certain keywords , which embrace the inner meanings. His style is an effective poetic discourse manipulated in ways that signal it as different from ordinary, non-poetic language, even though the material of the poet may be an

IJSRP Journal

The paper focuses on the linguistics analysis of male and female representation in Robert Browning’s poems “Porphyria’s Lover’ and “My Last Duchess”. The study is based on the critical discourse analysis serves as the theoretical standpoints for the general analysis. The aim of this paper is to reveal the philosophy of Browning and provides of his poetry. He has given the meaning of human life through these poems. His poetry is like a room or cabinet of interest. Browning is of the view that to acquire the power is the aim of life. He realized that the power of knowledge was not enough unless it is followed by love.

Evelyn Meyer

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“My Last Duchess” Poem by Robert Browning Essay (Critical Writing)

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‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning is one of the finest examples of dramatic monologues. Browning dramatizes the conflict between what the Duke actually says and what he really means to say. Throughout this poem, though the Duke speaks about his demised wife, it is his arrogant obsessive nature that is being revealed unintentionally by him. The more the Duke tries to hide his selfish sadistic nature, the more evident it becomes. The irony of the situation is that the Duke tries to portray himself as a noble and powerful aristocrat, but it is his arrogant tyranny and his corruptness in abusing his power that is being revealed. Browning has used historical allusion by referring the central character to “Alfonso II, the fifth Duke of Ferrara and the last of the Este line aristocracy.” (Hawlin, 67).

The poem is a dramatic monologue of the Duke of Ferrara who has a subtle rhetoric in his speech. In this poem, the situation is the negotiation between the Duke of Ferrara and the Count’s envoy on the marriage between the Duke and the Count’s daughter. The poem has 28 rhymed couplets in aabbccdd form. Since the poem evokes emotion and not exactly a story, it is considered as lyric poetry. The monologue is expressed in iambic pentameter. A feature in the poem is the use of enjambments throughout the poem by breaking the lines and ending in the second verse, in order to obtain the rhyming. This has made the Duke’s speech feel like a casual talk but also gives emphasis on the sadistic and dangerously obsessive nature of the Duke. The prosody used throughout the speech gives a feel of hesitation in the Duke’s speech to the envoy. But it really disguises the egocentric arrogant man in the Duke.

In the beginning lines, the listener of the monologue by the Duke is not revealed. The listener is addressed as “you” thrice in the first ten lines. The Duke begins his monologue by “That’s my last duchess painted on the wall”. The use of “That’s” is a metaphor which shows how he regards his last wife and his cruelty in reducing his wife to an object to decorate his wall. In the line “Looking as if she were alive I call” the author uses personification and tells the reader that she is not alive. This can also be considered as a pathetic fallacy as a portrait can never look alive. The continuation in the verse shows that he is not sad and what he really wants is to show off the painting to the listener as a “piece of wonder”. The Duke’s mention of the name of the painter twice in these verses uses allusion.

“That piece a wonder, now: Fra Pandolf’s hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands. Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said “Fra Pandolf” by design, for never read”

This shows his pride in getting the best painter to work for him. By “Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said” the Duke orders the listener to focus on what he says about the painting and in turn draws the complete attention of the listener to him. The rhyming in verses makes the actually commanding tone of the Duke sound as a request and pleasure.

Although one feels that personification is the device used in portraying his wife to the listener by the mention of “depth and passion of its earnest glance” and the blush on his wife’s beautiful face it is actually an irony. He says that the blush on her face was not because of her husband’s presence, but due to the compliment she got from the artist Fra Pandolf for her beauty. He stresses on “Sir, ’twas not Her husband’s presence only called that spot”. The use of metaphor in “since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I” is evident as it shows the possessiveness of the Duke over his wife. The Duke continues to say about his wife as having “A heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad.

Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er”. He considers this act as not befitting a Duchess. He mentions his courtiers as “officious fools” and the pony which the Duchess rides as a “white mule”. The hyperbole used in these verses emphasizes his anger and resentment towards the things which impress the Duchess. The selfish and sadistic Duke wanted the Duchess to give utmost importance to him and not to be happy in others’ gifts.

A simile is used to express his biggest disappointment with her by telling “as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybody’s gift.” He did not like his wife giving importance to everything just like she gave importance to his long aristocracy.

The next line points to an irony when the Duke says “Even had you skill in speech—(which I have not)—to make your will”; because from the poem it is evident that he has a clear skill in speech. He means that even if he had the skill, he would not stoop to the level of the lady to ask her to stop these disgusting acts which shows his arrogance and points that he considers women at a lower level than men. Euphemism is the device used to tell how the Duke murdered her Duchess.

“Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet”

The enjambment in this sentence makes the cruelty he did sound casual. This shows the cruel and tyrannical nature of the Duke who will go to any extreme to fulfill his needs. Personification is again used in saying “there she stands As if alive” showing at the portrait.

Although the Duke requests the listener to get up by using “please” he says “I repeat” in the following verse, which denotes the please is a metaphor and he literally commands and not requests. It is here he finally reveals the speaker as the Count’s envoy. Then he casually states that he will need a generous dowry for the marriage to the Count’s daughter and will not marry unless the Count gives him the dowry. By “Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed

At starting, is my object” he gives two meanings for “my object” which is a metaphor. This shows his greed for wealth and his possessiveness over women. There is a dramatic irony in these words as the duke does not realizes how much he reveals about himself through these words. The Duke is obsessive about material pleasures.

In the end, on the way downstairs to meet the rest of the party, the Duke asks the Count’s envoy to “Notice Neptune, though, taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!” The mention of the Statue of Neptune taming a sea horse is a metaphor which clearly mentions the fate of the Count’s daughter after her marriage. Although the Duke just showed a beautiful piece of art through the statue, it actually reveals his inner rage and the thirst to control a woman, like Neptune taming a sea horse. Allusion is used to refer to Neptune. “Last, Ferrara needs to control the eyes of others. He curtains off the Duchess’ portrait to prevent her from looking “everywhere.” He tells his listener to look at her and to “Notice Neptune”” (Browning, Commentary by Ian Lancashire, para.11).

Browning has ended this poem very carefully giving the readers the full blow of the cruel nature of the Duke. The use of poetic devices like metaphor and personification in the poem emphasizes the dramatic irony of the situation. The greed for material wealth and the possessiveness over women by the Duke is well established through these devices. The enjambments used throughout give more dramatic effect to the Duke’s speech

Works Cited

Browning, Robert, My Last Duchess.

Browning, Robert. My Last Duchess: Commentary by Ian Lancashire. Representative Poetry Online. 2009. Web.

Hawlin. Robert Browning: Work: My Last Duchess. Roultedge. 2001.

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IvyPanda. (2021, November 20). "My Last Duchess" Poem by Robert Browning. https://ivypanda.com/essays/my-last-duchess-poem-by-robert-browning/

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . ""My Last Duchess" Poem by Robert Browning." November 20, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/my-last-duchess-poem-by-robert-browning/.

My Last Duchess

Introduction, historical background, about the poem.

This poem is a dramatic monologue. In a dramatic monologue, the speaker addresses alone at the stage in the presence of a silent listener. In “My Last Duchess”, the poet doesn’t address the readers himself. The scene unfolds through the monologue of the speaker who is the Duke of Ferrara. The Duke’s monologue shows his psychological state and his treatment with his former Duchess. 

My Last Duchess Summary

The Duke then explains the painting of his Duchess. He tells the listener that the smile and the blush that he can see on the face of his duchess in the painting was not because of his presence. He guesses the reason behind her smile. He says that maybe she smiled when Fra Pandolf praised her beauty. Maybe, he told her that her shawl is covering too much of her beautiful wrist. Maybe, he admired her beauty by saying that he was unable to recreate the beauty. The beauty of her faint half_blush that he saw fading on her throat.

The Duke admits it to the listener that his wife smiled whenever he crossed her but no one ever crossed her without receiving the same smile from her side. Her nice behavior with everyone grew day by day so he gave commands to kill her and as a result, all of her smiles stopped. He again points towards the painting and says now there she stands in the painting as if she is still alive.

After ending the story of his Duchess, the Duke invites the man to get up and follow him downstairs so that they can meet other guests too. The Duke talks about the generosity of the master of the listener. He finally reveals that the silent listener is the servant of the Count, whose daughter he is going to marry soon. The Duke tells the listener that he knows his master is generous. He doesn’t worry about the matter of dowry. He knows that the Count will not reject whatever he demands. However, as he mentioned in the beginning, the beautiful daughter of the Count is more important for him.

Themes in My Last Duchess

A beautiful piece of art is presented in the poem. The Duke shows the portrait of her former Duchess to his guest that is so beautifully painted that the Duchess seems alive, smiling and standing in front of them. The Artist of the painting “Fra Pandolf” worked hard to put the depth and passion in the painting and he made it a masterpiece. Everyone gets surprised to see this art of wonder and admires it.

Objectification of women   

The Duke’s pride took the life of his Duchess. He wanted his wife to make him feel special but he never tried to talk to her about it. The Duke tells that he feels his insult in it to explain anything to anyone even to his own wife. He considers it equivalent to stooping and his pride never allowed him to stoop so, in his pride and power he gave commands to kill his Duchess. Moreover, his pride is also shown when he tells the servant that he gave his Duchess his nine hundred years old family name but she didn’t consider it superior to other trivial gifts of others. It shows that he is proud of his family name and social status.

Robert Browning's poem, "My Last Duchess"

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Depiction of Sexist Mistreatment of Women in My Last Duchess by Robert Browning

Comparative analysis of robert browning’s my last duchess and michael ondaatje’s in the skin of a lion, "her darling one wish would be heard": how dramatic monologue illustrates distorted rationality in "porphyria’s lover" and "my last duchess", the difference between "ozymandias" by percy shelley and "my last duchess" by robert browning, let us write you an essay from scratch.

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Exploring Love and Its Corruption: My Last Duchess, Andrea Del Sarto & Two in The Campagna

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