MY LAST DUCHESS by Robert Browning

Translation

Questa è la mia ultima Duchessa dipinta sul muro,
sembra come se fosse viva. Chiamo
quel pezzo una meraviglia, ora: le mani di Fra Pandolfo
hanno lavorato duramente un giorno, e lei sta là.
Cortesemente ti siederai e la ammirerai? Ho detto
"Fra Pandolfo" di proposito, perché mai hanno letto
estranei come voi l'espressione di quel volto dipinto,
la profondità e la passione della sua intensa occhiata,
ma si sono girati verso di me (perché nessuno sposta
la tenda che ho spostato per voi, tranne me)
ed è sembrato che mi chiedessero, se osassero,
come tale sguardo venisse lì; così, non siete
il primo a voltarvi e chiedere questo. Signore, non era
solo la presenza di suo marito, che chiamò quella macchia
di gioia sulla guancia della Duchessa: forse
Fra' Pandolfo azzardò a dire "Il suo mantello copre
troppo il polso della mia Signora," o "La pittura
non deve mai sperare di riprodurre il fioco
mezzo rossore che si attenua lungo la sua gola": questa cosa
fu cortesia, lei pensava, e una causa sufficiente
per evocare quel rossore di gioia. Ella aveva
un cuore - come potrei dire? - troppo presto reso contento,
troppo facilmente impressionato; le piaceva qualunque cosa
lei guardasse, e i suoi sguardi andavano ovunque.
Signore, era tutto uguale! Il mio dono sul suo petto,
il cadere della luce del giorno a Ovest,
il ramo di ciliegie che qualche sciocco invadente
staccò nell'orto per lei, il mulo bianco
che cavalcava attorno alla terrazza - ogni cosa
soleva generare da lei come un discorso di approvazione,
o un rossore, almeno. Ringraziava gli uomini, - bene! Ma ringraziava
in un modo - non so come - come se lei mettesse allo stesso livello
il mio dono di un nome di novecento anni
con il dono di chiunque. Chi si abbasserebbe a rimproverare
questo tipo di cosa futile? Anche se avessi l'abilità
nel parlare - che io non ho - di fare rendere la tua volontà
abbastanza chiara a una tale persona, e dire, "Proprio questo
o quello in te mi disgusta; qui tu manchi,
o là vai oltre il segno" - e se lei permette
di essere ripresa così, né chiaramente ponesse
la sua volontà contro la tua, veramente, e si scusasse,
-persino allora ci sarebbe un abbassarsi, ed io scelgo
di non abbassarmi mai. Ah signore, lei sorrideva, senza dubbio,
ogni volta che le passavo accanto; ma chi passava senza ricevere
proprio lo stesso sorriso? Questo aumentava; diedi ordini;
poi tutti i sorrisi cessarono allo stesso tempo. Là lei sta
come se fosse viva. Volete per piacere alzarvi? Incontreremo
la compagnia sotto, dopo. Ripeto,
la nota munificenza del Conte vostro signore
è ampia garanzia che nessuna giusta pretesa
mia per la dote sarà disattesa;
anche se la personalità della sua bella figlia, come ho ammesso
all'inizio, è il mio scopo. No, andremo
assieme giù, signore. Osserva Nettuno, però,
che doma un cavallo marino, considerato una rarità,
che Claus di Innsbruck ha fuso in bronzo per me!

Summary

In this dramatic monologue the speaker is an hypothetic Duke who is showing to an ambassador a very interesting picture. It represents the past wife of the Duke, a Duchess: he describes her as a young and thoughtless lady; but she was too friendly with anybody, she smiled to everyone, she seemed to rank the noble Duke with anyone: he ordered to poison her, as he felt himself devalued.
At the end of the monologue the Duke resumes to talk with the ambassador about the possible marriage with another noble woman.

QUESTION: What idea does the reader receive of the Duchess? (20 lines)

The character of the Duchess that comes from the description of the Duke makes the Lady seem ungrateful for the gift of her husband, that insist it was the gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name. In the Duke's opinion she did wrong to him in smiling and chatting with anyone, and from the use of words like "such stuff" and "cause enough" the reader can understand he disapproved all of the demonstrations of pleasure she addressed to other people. In his speech to the ambassador the Duke tries to attribute his disfavour to the rules of courtesy she seemed not to respect, but the intelligent reader through his words is able to perceive Lord's personality. The Duke shows himself as a possessive and domineering man: the word "my" in the title underlines it and the word "last" suggests the inclination of the Duke to threat people as if they were objects he can accumulate ("though his fair daughter's self is my object"). In fact the Duke seems at least to like her physically ("I call that piece of wonder"), as he made a painter realize a picture of her he can still admire. The reason because he prefer to have her stopped in a painting than alive and acting ("there she stands as if she were alive") is that he was accustomed to control people; but she was a very "passionate and earn" woman, that didn't behave like the others dames of the Duke's court: he often uses the word "too" to describe her actions. Since he felt intimidate for the first time he couldn't stand it and he ordered her to be murdered: now he can show her picture to his guests and boast to have dominated ("taming") her.

THE VALUE OF DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE

Exercises pag. 23.

Ex.1.
The character is quite separated from the poet as the Duke in the poem really existed: he was the Lord of the court of Ferrara, as Browning set the story in this city.
Ex.2
a) "will't please you sit and look at her?", "none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you", "not the first are you to turn", "Sir", "will't please you rise? We'll meet the company below", "we'll go together down", "notice Neptune".
b) The event the Duke is telling to the ambassador represents another proof of his power to dominate other people.
c) 1. The ambassador the Duke is telling his story to has come to present the Lord a noble girl that probably he will marry and dominate like his "last Duchess".
2. The Duke is: brutal, as he finally kills the Duchess; jealous of the attentions of the Lady; possessive with her; proud and class-conscious because of his "nine-hundred-years-old" name.
3. The Duke wants to present himself as a powerful and wise man, abiding to the rules of courtesy, but the reader can understand he is a possessive man who claims to control other people.
d) 1. "the curtain I have drawn for you".
2. "we'll go together down".
3. "will't please you rise?".
4. " ‘twas".
5. line 39, line 42.
6."I know not how".
e) The tone is a little bit nostalgic but very self-assured and determined to impress the ambassador.

-Check your knowledge:
Ex.1.
In My Last Duchess the setting is the city of Ferrara during the Medieval Eve. The imaginary speaker is the Duke of Ferrara who is addressing an ambassador of the Count whose daughter he intends to marry. While negotiating the marriage, he shows him a portrait of his last wife and talks about her. Two very different personalities emerge in the poem. The young wife flushing with joy at very simple things - the sunset, the cherries and the white mule; she is friendly to everybody including people of lower ranks. The Duke finds it unbearable that she puts the low value on, for example, a "bough of cherries! As on the gift of his nine-hundred-years-old name. He is proud, class-conscious and possessive. He reveals himself as a tyrant who wants to have absolute control over his wife. As he was unable to, he gave commands"; then all smiles stopped together". As the men are going below the Duke expresses his confidence that the Count will grant his reasonable request for an ample "dowry", quickly adding "though his fair daughter's self is my object!. His last remark is about a sculpture of Neptune" taming a sea horse" which is a visual metaphor for the Duke's wish to tame those under his control.

Ex.2.
It has been argued that the attention given to the dramatic monologue in the Victorian Age represents a reaction against the inward looking tendency of Romantic poetry, a wish to move away from the poet's own insights and truths into a more objective/historical structure. In other words, the use of the dramatic monologue undetermined the Romantic relationship between the speaker and the poet and allowed the Victorian poet to widen his range of themes and tones, while achieving oblique self-expressions.