Robert Browning, “My last Duchess”

Analysis:

The text under analysis is a poem by the Victorian author R. Browning. It was first published in 1842.

The title of refers to a woman who is likely to be the subject of the poem. It is strongly marked by the possessive “My” that may imply a relationship between the speaking voice and the woman he’s referring to; on the other hand, the reader does not know anything about the woman’s feelings, so the speaking voice may deal with a non reciprocated love. The adjective “last” may suggest that she’s passed away. The word “Duchess” tells the reader about the lady’s social status, however it does not provide other information about her age. The title offers a mystery to solve and catches the reader’s attention.

As for the structure of the poem it is organized into one stanza, which hints to the reader that the poet focuses on the content rather than on its arrangement. The text is anticipated by the word “Ferrara” and the reader is invited to make hypotheses about its meaning and function: it may be the place where the poem was composed (Browning spent a great part of his life in Italy) or it could be the place where the poem is set.

Also, the poem is arranged into rhyming couplets, which make the poem catchy and easy to remember.

The speaking voice addresses a silent listener and tells him about his late wife, the Duchess: he describes her portrait, which is hidden behind a curtain. The speaking voice first focuses on her wife’s expression and glance, skilfully caught by Fra Pandolf’s brush: the blush on her cheeks is maybe due to something the painter told the duchess and that she understood as a compliment, causing her to blush embarrassed. The poem refers to the duke’s jealousy because of his wife’s nature: she was always happy, “too easily impressed” and “too soon made glad”. Thus the speaking voice felt on the same level as other men and his jealousy led to the duchess’ murder (she was poisoned). The poem is closed by the speaking voice’s invite to the listener to follow him downstairs, where another nobleman is waiting for him. However, the Duke openly reveals that he is only interested in the man’s fair daughter.

The poem is a portrait of Lucrezia de’ Medici: Browning was inspired by her death, occurred in 1561. Lucrezia had married the Duke Alfonso II d’Este (it is likely to think the speaking voice is Alfonso himself) when she was 14 years old. Thus she became the Duchess of Ferrara, the place where the poem is set. She died, probably poisoned, because her behaviour did not please Alfonso nor his family.

The poem is an example of dramatic monologue: the speech is pronounced by a first person speaking voice who addresses a silent interlocutor. The speaking voice provides the reader hints of the listener’s presence by interacting with him: see “will you please sit and look at her” (line 5), “strangers like you” (line 7), “since none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you” (line 10), “sir, you are not the first to turn and ask thus” (line 13), “will you please rise?” (line 47). The interaction between the speaking voice and the silent listener resembles the one later developed by Hamid in his novel “the Reluctant Fundamentalist”: both the speaking voices invite their silent listeners to sit down, to listen to their stories; also, they answer to their silent questions (line 13: “you are not the first to ask about that”).

The dramatic monologue also reveals the speaking voice’s mood and traits: he seems to be a manipulative, jealous, possessive man. His traits come to surface not only from the way he pictures his wife, but also from the way he addresses the silent listener. Indeed, the speaking voice’s invites however look more like orders: he uses “will” instead of “would”, which is a more formal and kind way to ask.

Despite his possessive nature, the Duke’s relationship with her late wife is now characterized by detachment: the speaking voice talks about himself in third person and uses the expression “her husband” to make her and the memory of her look more distant. Also, he addresses her with “my last duchess” in the opening of the poem and later only with the pronoun “she”: he never mentions the woman’s name.

Despite his strong and stubborn nature, the duke is unable to object to his wife’s behaviour, which leads him to plan her death. The use of punctuation, the frequent run-on-lines make increase the pace throughout the poem, thus conveying the idea of the duke’s lack of patience towards her wife’s behaviour. The duchess’ murder is only hinted (line 45: “I gave commands”). Although at line 36 the speaking voice implies that he has not speaking skills, the monologue proves the opposite and he could have talked to her about her behaviour.

In short, it is the reader who has to put the pieces together to know the story behind the duke’s words.

An interesting question that might have rose throughout the poem is: why does the duke hide the painting behind a curtain only he is allowed to draw? In my opinion he wants to hide the painting in order not to see his late wife in a standing position (line 4: “there she stands”), as if she still stood up to him even after she died. Being able to hide her, he is still able to control her.

To conclude, the poem conveys the Victorian mentality, marked by a strong patriarchal and sexist view of the world. In the Victorian Age, a woman was subdued to the power of her father and of her husband. Therefore, the idea of a woman who resembles the Duchess was unacceptable: her flirtatious and cheerful nature were strictly repressed by the Man.