MB UNIUD

MY LAST DUCHESS
Robert Browning

Read the poem and focus on the speaker

1.  Is he a character quite separate from the poet?
The speaker is totally separate: it is one of the protagonist and he doesn't coincided with the poet. As a matter of fact the poet doesn't appear in the poem: there is only Duke's dramatic monologue.

2.  Has he been drawn from history or legend or has he been created by the writer? Probably he has been drawn from history: the Duke might be Alfonso II  (16^th century), while the Duchess might be Lucrezia de' Medici (Cosimo I de' Medici' daughter).

3.  Is he delineated against a precise setting in time and place?
The place is explicated from the start (Ferrara) but there is no precise reference to the time, even if the reader may suppose it is setting till when Duke and nobles where important.

Now consider the following point:

a) The listener
His presence can only be inferred from clues in the text. Underline them.
 
- Will you sit and look at her
 - Strangers like you
-  I have drawn for you
-  Not the first are you
- Will't please you rise
- The Count your master
- Notice...

b) The present situation
Is the situation or the event the speaker hints at of a crucial importance for his life?

Yes, it is: even if he is going to get married soon he remember his wife as his last and not latest duchess.

c) The subject-matter

1.  The monologue refers to a past and present situation. Is there any
     relationship between the two?
     Of course. He is going to married because his latest (for him she is the
     last) wife is died: he
     killed her because he loved her too much and even if she is dead, she
     is still alive in his mind.

2.   The monologue reveals the temperament and the character of the
     speaker. How would you characterize the Duke?
       - BRUTAL. His insanity ultimated in his last act: he killed his wife.
     - JEALOUS and POSSESSIVE. He wants his wife only for himself,
        nobody can see her and he didn't want to share her with nobody:he
        killed her because of her glances and because she smiled to other
        men. Now he is the only one that can look at her and above all, in
        front of her there is only him.

3.   Is there any discrepancy between how the Duke sees himself and
      how you see him? 
      Of course!!! He thinks to be right and not insane.

d) The language
The monologue displays various characteristics of the spoken languages such as (...).
Find one example in the poem for each characteristics:
- Reference to the situation in which the speaker and the listener find
  themselves:
  we'll go together down, sir.
- Direct address:
  will't please you rise?
- Contracted forms:
  will't; e'en
- Pauses, signalled by dashes: 
  From line 29 to 40
- Fillers when searching for the right expression:
  I know not how

e) The tone
How would you describe the tone of the monologue?
COOL: When the Duke is speaking, he is rational and give reason to everything. He perfectly know what it was happened and what he had did.
NOSATLGIC: The Duke talks about is wife like the last not the latest.
REFLECTIVE: He doesn't report back the past, the past is still the present.