My last Duchess, by Robert Browning

“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 talks about his ex-wife to a representative of the future bride's family, revealing his obsession with controlling others. Browning uses this compelling psychological portrait of a despicable character to criticize women's objectification and abuse of power.

The title of the poem express the main theme of the extract, the adjective “last” means that she was the last of many others before. Analysing the way the duke speak about her an intelligent reader may understand that she was really important to him, for example from the word “My” it indicates a possession, he was fond of her.

The extract is narrated by the duke of Ferrara to a representative of another nobleman, whose daughter the duke is soon to marry. At the poem's opening, the duke has just pulled back a curtain to reveal to the envoy a portrait of his previous duchess. The portrait was painted by Fra Pandolf, a monk and painter, he was able to captured the singularity of the duchess's glance. However, the duke insists to the envoy that his former wife’s deep, passionate glance was not reserved solely for her husband. As he puts it, she was "too easily impressed" into sharing her affable nature. She was in love with everything, he instead "gave commands" to kill her, because he could not share her with others. The duke was jealous, he wanted to control her but he couldn’t, so he murdered her.

Throughout the poem an intelligent reader may understand that the duke is still madly in love with the woman he has had killed, though his affection now rests on a representation of her. In other words, he has chosen to love the ideal image of her rather than the reality. Indeed the painting of the former duchess is more than just a work of art. When the duke tells his guest more about the former duchess, it becomes clear that the painting is also a symbol of the objectification of women. Although the duke despised the duchess as a wife because she smiled too much at others for his liking, he loves the painting of her. Unlike his human being, the painting is something he can control. Indeed, the painting, is essentially the objectified version of his former wife. Furthermore, the duke has placed a chair in front of it so that people can sit and admire it, and he brags about the fame and skill of the man who painted it.

The ideal reader of the poem may be a person with a high level of culture, which easily can understand the reader’s intention, Browning engages the reader on a number of levels, for examples: historical, psychological, ironic and theatrical.

The duke can be identified as a monster, since he had his wife murdered, even if this event is presented by the writer as an innocuous crimes, because the duke has no problem to revel the envoy what he has done. Browning use the irony to criticise the charming duke, a remarkably amoral man has still a lovely sense of beauty.

The writer represents the duke's incessant control of story by using a regular meter but also enjambment. The enjambment works against the otherwise orderly meter to remind us that the duke will control his world, including the rhyme scheme of his monologue. The structure of the poem is composed by one long stream of couplets, 28 in all.

At the end of the poem, the duke directs his guest's attention toward this bronze statue by the famous Claus of Innsbruck. Neptune is the Roman god of the sea, and the statue represents dominance. As such, the statue perfectly reflects the duke’s opinion of himself: he sees himself as an all-powerful god who tames and subdues everything around him, whether wives or prospective in-laws. What's more, the statue is "a rarity," further implying how special and powerful the duke must be in order to be in possession of it.

The overall effect on the reader is that he is intimidated by the figure of the duke and the reader may be resentful of what the protagonist has done to his last duchess.