My Last Duchess

About:

In this dramatic monologue the narrator (The Duke of Ferrara) exposes his desire for social and political power. He is speaking to an envoy for the Count, who is visiting to potentially help arrange the marriage of the Count's daughter to the Duke. However, as part of his lengthy narrative, the Duke exposes his misogynistic and controlling behaviour over his last wife - 'My Last Duchess' - and how he still controls her image, even in death, with the revealing and covering of her painting which he keeps behind a curtain that can only be exposed by him. By the end of the poem we understand that this narrator is unreliable, power hungry and manipulative. He exposes all of his flaws and it is highly unlikely that the Count's envoy will return to his master recommending this new potential union as a result of what he has heard. Robert Browning exposes the worst of this character as a warning of what can happen when power is left unchecked and men dominate and control their wives.

My Last Duchess

Ferrara

That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,

Looking as if she were alive. I call

That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf’s hands

Worked busily a day, and there she stands.

Will’t please you sit and look at her?

I said ‘Frà 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, 10

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

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

Her husband’s presence only, called that spot

Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: perhaps

Frà Pandolf chanced to say ‘Her mantle laps 15

Over my lady’s wrist too much,’ or ‘Paint

Must never hope to reproduce the faint

Half-flush that dies along her throat’: 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.

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

The dropping of the daylight in the West, 25

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. 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. 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. 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 45

As if alive. 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 pretence

Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;

Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed

At starting, is my object. 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!

ROBERT BROWNING

Some linguistic devices in the poem:

• Conversational tone – the language functions to direct, guide and

command the listener.

• Disjointed thoughts – his thoughts are interrupted by his asides and

commands to the listener (note question in line 5 and the aside in line 9).

• Fast rhythm – quite urgent movement from point to point – doesn't dwell or

expand at length on anything but seems to lurch forward – written as

continuous piece, not broken into different stanzas.

• Convoluted syntax – use of colons to add essential detail to point and next

to short abrupt sentences.

• Uses strategies of argument/persuasion – i.e., quoting other people, or at

least speculating on their thoughts – asking rhetorical questions.

• Use of regular rhyme and rhythm.

• Use of enjambment – (punctuation before the end of a line) his thoughts are

not completed within a line, instead they carry on to the next line:

"Will't please you sit and look at her? I said

Fra Pandolf' by design, for never read"

• The language is blunt – he deliberately belittles the things she enjoyed. He

refers to the sun setting in plain almost mocking terms when he says "dropping

of the daylight". He refers to her horse as the "mule" which conveniently rhymes

with "fool" in line 28.

Other examples of lack of skill in expressing himself are, "a spot of joy" which

suggests that he does not possess the language to describe her. In lines 37 and

38 he tells us that he could have said to her, "Just this/Or that in you disgusts

me" which again reflects the blunt way he has of speaking. His language is also

quite direct. An example of this directness is in lines 31 to 32 when he says:

"She thanked men-good! but thanked

Somehow-I know not how"

• Repetition is also used: "spot of joy", "stoop", "thanked". Words like "lessoned”

and "taming" give us an insight into what he expected of her.

• A dramatic monologue – we get the impression that he is someone who is

used to speaking at great length – reflects his arrogance.