"My Last Duchess" is a dramatic monologue written by Robert Browning in 1842. The speaker in the poem is the Duke of Ferrara, who is giving a tour of his palace to an envoy from another noble family. As they walk through the palace, the Duke stops in front of a portrait of his last wife, the Duchess.
The Duke begins to speak about the Duchess, saying that she had a "spotless mind" and a "heart as soft" as a baby's. However, he also reveals that she had a tendency to smile too much and too freely, which he found irritating. He implies that he had her killed because of this, saying that she "smiled" one too many times.
Throughout the poem, the Duke's pride and arrogance are evident in his words and actions. He is extremely possessive of the Duchess and sees her as a possession rather than a person. He is also jealous of anyone who might have received her attention or affection, including the courtiers who admired her beauty.
The Duke's actions and attitudes towards the Duchess are disturbing and show a lack of empathy and understanding towards her as a person. He is more concerned with maintaining his own reputation and social standing than with the happiness or well-being of his wife.
In the final lines of the poem, the Duke hints that he is planning to marry again and that he expects his new wife to be more obedient and submissive. This reveals the Duke's shallow and selfish nature, as he is willing to discard one wife for another simply because she does not meet his expectations.
Overall, "My Last Duchess" is a thought-provoking and disturbing poem that explores the themes of power, possession, and control in relationships. It serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of selfishness and a lack of empathy towards others.
My Last Duchess Summary & Analysis
He appears confident his demands will be met, both the ample dowry and the subservient wife. Irony When the intended meaning of the writer is different from the actual meaning of the words, it is known as irony. He further tells the listener about the nature of his former wife. Before the poem even begins, the courtier has been escorted through the Duke's palace—probably through an art gallery filled with paintings and sculptures. The Duke in this poem uses his power to control a woman, his duchess. Though literary polite, the request seems rather like a command from the Duke. 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.
My Last Duchess Poem Summary and Analysis
The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. He shows that he loves his Duchess more in painting as compared to when she was alive. Twice the agent starts to question or interrupt, but the duke smoothly deflects the interruptions and continues speaking. He indicates a statue and tells his visitor that it is his own statue as god Neptune preparing the ocean horse. The lyric resembles a bit of casual conversation, however it is intended to uncover an account of persecution, desire, pride, defilement, kill and the covetousness for share. In these latter considerations Browning prefigures writers like Charles Baudelaire and Oscar Wilde. Literature of the era, in circles both journalistic and literary, portrayed women as fragile creatures in need of a husband.
My Last Duchess by Robert Browning
He regarded his late wife as a mere object that existed only to please him and do his bidding. The emissary is there on the behalf of quite a powerful family. The apparent pauses, shown by dashes, purportedly indicate a hesitation as the duke considers what to say, but actually they suggest his consummate arrogance and manipulative control of the situation. She thanked everyone and the Duke had no problem with that. Rather, the specific historical setting of the poem harbors much significance: the Italian Renaissance held a particular fascination for Browning and his contemporaries, for it represented the flowering of the aesthetic and the human alongside, or in some cases in the place of, the religious and the moral. He expected her to be lovely to seem at, however very little a lot of.
