My Last Duchess

Question 1

“Thats my last duchess” (2)

Answer 1

• “My” - possessive pronoun - the speaker is laying claim to her as a possession
• she is used to better off his control and power

Question 2

“(Since none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you but I)” (2)

Answer 2

• Showing his power - by suggesting that he is givng the messenger a rare privilege to see the Duchess in this way - exercises his control
• Ironic how needs to show off

Question 3

“If they durst”

Answer 3

• Shows off his power - “durst” if they dare also implies that others fear him

Question 4

“Must never hope to reproduce the faint Half-flush that dies along her throat”

Answer 4

• Sinister tone “dies along her throat” - the words are semantically linked to murder ‘die’ and ‘throat’

Question 5

“A heart-how shall I say?

Answer 5

• Rhetorical question - indicates a lighter tone to the conversation

Question 6

“The white mule she rode with round the terrace -all and each would draw from her alike” (3)

Answer 6

• He is angry that she would find the same level of joy in the expensive gifts he bought her and the cheap or simple gifts of the poor or nature
• Angry at his lack of control
• Juxtaposes the two things though the irony is that his are without sincerity

Question 7

“She thanked men - good!” (4)

Answer 7

• Exclamation mark
• Change of structure
• Verse is broken with caesuras to show his rising anger
• losing control - his personality now angry when it was calm

Question 8

“Who’d stoop to blame this sort of trifling” (2)

Answer 8

• The poet is ironically mocking how vain the Duke is

* Duke cares more about his heritage and cannot understand that she didn’t see heritage as important

Question 9

“Then would be some stooping; and i choose never to stoop”

Answer 9

• Irony as he would say to his wife to stop giving attention to other people he knows he can’t which is ironic because it shows the control from the Duchess

Question 10

“This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together” (4)

Answer 10

• The use of the semi colons give a sense of finality to the statements
• Suggesting she was killed on his request
• This is the culmination of the conflict in the relationship
• Euphemism - suggests she was killed

Question 11

“There she stands as if alive”

Answer 11

Shows only looked at her physically not mentally because through a picture he can imagine she is still living and doesn’t miss any of her personality

Question 12

“Will’t please you rise?”

Answer 12

• The question shows a change of tone return to civil and polite way in start - give circular structure to the poem

Question 13

“Of mine for dowry will be disallowed”

Answer 13

Very money driven as he cares more about money then his future bride

Question 14

“Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!” (2)

Answer 14

• Cyclical - as with the start he uses an allusion to another famous artist in order to show off his wealth and power
• Shows how quickly he forgets about his dead wife

Question 15

Context

Answer 15

• Poem is loosely based on the Duke of Ferrara - written from his perspective

Question 16

Themes (2)

Answer 16

• Idea of power and conflict is shown the way the duke shows his power and also the control he had over the Duchess’s life
• conflict - between who he presents or wants himself to be and who he really is as a character

Question 17

Structure (4)

Answer 17

• Dramatic monologue
• many pauses - caesuras
• lots of enjambment (lines flow into another) - to try and capture the tone of the duke
• Rhyming couplets and iambic pentameter reflects the style of romantic poets at that time

Question 18

Tone at the end

Answer 18

Ironic - as he has just been talking about how he would be devoted to his new wife. Which he claimed he was before - cyclical structure