In the present text, I am going to analyze Robert Browning's poem "My Last Duchess" published in 1842.
Possessive men seem not to change during time, their behavior is the same and to prove it I am going to make a textual analysis starting from the beginning.
Just considering the title, the duchess may probably be the subject of the poem; interesting is the possessive adjective "my" which may point that the speaking voice is someone fond of the woman.
The adjective last is curious, it is not clear what should it mean...
Considering the layout of the text, it is clear the poem is arranged in one stanza , to make the dramatic monologue more cohesive, because it is only one speech by a Duke, loosely inspired to Alfonso II D'Este duke of Ferrara. The speaker talks to a mysterious listener, which could be another gentleman probably to be convinced by the duke to marry his daughter.
Also, the discourse flow is made by the house of the iambic pentameter, the traditional metric line used in English poetry for instance by the well-known Shakespeare. The use of the rhyming couplets makes the poem more harmonic and flowing, like the duke's words, as the choice of the enjambement. The poem seems to appear like a part of a Shakespearean drama, because of its difficult words, the syntax and also the way are written and last but not least for the way he expresses himself.
The poet wanted to start the poem with the duke that wants to show his interlocutor his wife's painting, so politely invites the listener to sit, and through this pretext starts talking about her.
His speech is made to complain about her behavior and to raise himself to a level of superiority. It immediately appears clear that he didn't love his wife, for him she was an object to exhibit, as his art collection, in fact at the and of the monologue, the gentleman invites the listener to stand up and shows him other pieces of art, like the sculpture of Neptune done as he says: "for me!". From this is clear he adores to have the exclusive, his jealousy and possession for these objects is like his possession for his wife. The proof is the repetition of the adjective of possession "my", the sentences where he complains about his wife's joy of life because she didn't make feel him special. For instance " 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".
It is clear all in the duke's imagination, the wife was just a polite, sweet and joyful woman, that didn't act superior like all the gentlewomen were used to.
But, as soon as her behavior got more annoying for him, he decided to get rid of her. It is not clear how, maybe he has killed her: in fact, it says: "I gave commands;/Then all smiles stopped together." What is impressive is the fact the speaker has not talked to his wife about her behavior because he considered an act of stooping at her level, which wasn't the one of a nine-hundred-years-old family.
In conclusion, the behavior of the duke could remind one of the Shakespearean characters: Othello, who tragically killed his innocent wife blinded by his jealousy.