My Last Duchess Flashcards
Context of My Last Duchess by Robert Browning
He was a big fan of the poet Shelley and asked for all of Shelley’s works for his thirteenth birthday. By the age of fourteen, he’d learned Latin, Greek and French. Browning went to the University of London but left because it didn’t suit him.
He married fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett but they had to run away and marry in secret because of her over-protective father. They moved to Italy and had a son, Robert. Father and son moved to London when Elizabeth died in 1861.
Browning is best known for his use of the dramatic monologue.
My Last Duchess is an example of this and it also reflects Browning’s love of history and European culture as the story is based on the life of an Italian Duke from the sixteenth century.
Subject of My Last Dutchess by Robert Browning
- The characters mentioned in this poem are based on real life, historical figures. The narrator is Duke Alfonso II who ruled a place in northern Italy called Ferrara between 1559 and 1597.
- The Duchess of whom he speaks was his first wife, Lucrezia de’ Medici who died in 1561 aged 17, only two years after he married her. In real life, Lucrezia died in suspicious circumstances and might have been poisoned.
- The poem is set in 1564, three years after the death of the Duchess. An emissary (messenger or representative) has been sent to see the Duke from the Count of Tyrol.
- The Count is the father of the Duke’s next wife (he married three times in all). The Duke shows the emissary a picture of his late wife and remarks on her character, suggesting that she was unfaithful to him - and hinting that he might have killed her because of it.
- During his speech, the Duke makes himself look arrogant, insensitive and selfish.
Form and structure of My Last Dutchess by Robert Browning
Form:
- This is one of Browning’s best known dramatic monologues. ‘Mono’ means one - there is only ever one speaker in a monologue.
- The poem is written in iambic pentameter (the rhythm of each line is ‘de-dum’, five times) and in rhyming couplets.
Structure:
- This is one long speech, pretending to be a conversation. It is divided up into rhyming couplets but to mimic unrehearsed speech there are lots of twists and turns within the lines, shown by a variety of punctuation (colons and lots of dashes as well as the usual commas and full stops).
For example “She thanked men good! but thanked/Somehow - I know not how”.
Sound of My Last Dutchess by Robert Browning
Although it is written in rhyming couplets - which would usually make it sound more memorable - the sense of rhyme is partly lost because there is so much enjambment, e.g., “Will’t please you look at her? I said/’Fra Panfolf’ by design, for never read/Strangers like you that pictured countenance”.
There is lots of stopping and starting and it is hard to read it without sounding full of yourself.
Imagery of My Last Dutchess by Robert Browning
- There are lots of personal pronouns in this poem; they are significant as one of the themes is the narrator’s high opinion of himself and his selfishness.
- Many of the words relate to his love of possessions - including his former wife (“My last Duchess”).
- The narrator, in a rare moment of humility, says he is not very good with words “Even had you skill/In speech - (which I have not)” and, in a sense, he’s right.
- This is not a poem full of wonderful imagery and it would reflect a capable, intelligent and sensitive soul if it was; this certainly does not describe the Duke.
Attitudes, themes and ideas of My Last Dutchess by Robert Browning
Attitudes:
- The Duke thinks the world revolves around him simply because he has “a nine-hundred-years-old name”. In criticising the character of his late wife, he reveals the unpleasant side of his nature.
Themes:
- Pride is not an attractive quality: the Duke’s arrogance comes across quite clearly when talking about himself and his things.
- Being upper class and having good morals don’t necessarily go together: people of great wealth and breeding often considered themselves to be morally superior to others - the Duke shows that isn’t the case.
- Money and possessions aren’t everything: he might have a wonderful house, terrace, orchard, paintings and statues but his paranoia about his late wife comes across and reflects his insecurity.
- In real life, Duke Alfonso II married three times and didn’t produce an heir to his fortune - money can’t buy you everything.
Ideas:
- Browning shows, in a clever way, that commenting on a certain subject can reveal more about the person making the comments than the subject itself.
- The Duke spends a lot of time criticising his late wife but the reader finishes the poem feeling sorry for her and disliking the Duke a great deal.
Example comparisons to My Last Dutchess by Robert Browning
Ozymandias, River God:
- All the poems have one clear, distinct voice.
- Each poem is built around a character who has some distinctly unpleasant qualities.
- All of the poems are about power in some sense. - Ozymandias was incredibly powerful in his time but is now merely a remnant of the past; the Duke is powerful in the society of his time and perhaps demonstrated his personal power by killing his wife; the River God exerts his power through drowning people.
- None of the characters actually exists in the real sense. Ozymandias is ancient history; the Duke himself and even his title died out centuries ago; the River God is a mythical creation.
- The characters in each poem clearly display a dark side to their nature.
How is the Duke presented in My Last Dutchess by Robert Browning
- Browning uses the dramatic monologue form for My Last Duchess. As it is the Duke who is ‘speaking’, his character is therefore created through his own words.
- From the very first line of the poem, the Duke unwittingly portrays himself as a selfish and rather ignorant egotist.
- That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall
He refers to the woman in the painting (who, we should remember, is dead) as if she were a possession - “my last Duchess” and this unfeeling attitude is intensified with the use of the word “last” as if the woman will be replaced by a newer model, as if replacing a car or suit. - The Duke drops in the painter’s name “Fra Pandolf” to see if it impresses the listener. The Duke even admits deliberately mentioning the name - “I said / Fra Pandolf by design”. Wanting to impress the person to whom he is speaking becomes a regular feature in the poem and is obviously another negative characteristic of the Duke.
- The Duke also reveals his misgivings about his late wife’s character:
…Sir, ‘twas not
Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek… she liked whate’er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
If we remember that he is speaking to a relative stranger, this is quite inappropriate conversation. - He basically accuses his late wife of being unfaithful but Browning has encouraged us to dislike the Duke so much already that it is easy to think he was at fault or is paranoid about what could have been her naïvety.
