My Last Duchess

Question 1

Context
Structure/form
Message

Answer 1

Robert browning -
English poet but spent a lot of time in Italy
Fan of Italian Renaissance (when art flourished)
‘My last Duchess’ was published in 1842.
Structure/form:
Dramatic monologue - reinforces the impression that the duke is in conversation with his visitor. The rhyming couplets suffers the Dukes desire for control. The poem creates a picture of a somewhat unstable character, whose obsession with power is unsettling. The poem builds towards a confession.

Question 2

Quotation 1 ~ “none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I”

Answer 2

“none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I”

• feels the need to control the looks the painting is given because he couldn’t control who looked at his wife when she was alive
• he controls who can look at the portrait by drawing a curtain each time

Question 3

Quotation 2 ~ “not the first are you to turn and ask thus”

Answer 3

“not the first are you to turn and ask thus”

- creates the impression of question from the visitor but we hear it through the duke - who is in complete control.

Question 4

Quotation 3 ~ “the bough of cherries some officious fool broke in the orchard for her, the white mule”

Answer 4

“the bough of cherries some officious fool broke in the orchard for her, the white mule”

• enjambent makes it sound as if he’s getting carried away by the anger it causes

Question 5

Quotation 4 ~ “in speech - (which I have not)”

Answer 5

“I’m speech - (which I have not)”

• false modesty
• he also clearly likes talking about himself

Question 6

Quotation 5 ~ “E’en then would be some stooping ; and I choose never to stop”

Answer 6

“E’en then would be some stooping ; and I choose never to stop”

• the Duke is so proud that even criticising his wif would have been beneath him
• he believes that she should not need to be reminded how to behave