My Last Duchess - Robert Browning

Question 1

MY LAST DUCHESS - STRUCTURE

Answer 1

• dramatic monologue; a speech given by one character
• caesura and enjambment to capture the tone of the speaker talking and adding in tangents (small opinions and asides)
• rhyming couplets and iambic pentameter; reflects the style of romantic poets at the time, despite the poem being more sinister and dark; another façade for the Duke of Ferrara’s character
• he is the only character that speaks, despite the fact he is talking to someone, he never lets them speak

Question 2

MY LAST DUCHESS - CONTEXT

Answer 2

• loosely based of the Duke of Ferrara and written from his perspective, talking to a messenger about arranging his next marriage
• the assumption is that he was dissatisfied with his former wife and had her killed
• the poet was the son of a wealthy bank clerk and his wife’s father was overprotective and controlling, so they were familiar with over controlling patriarchs

Question 3

MY LAST DUCHESS - AUTHOR

Answer 3

Robert Browning

Question 4

MY LAST DUCHESS - KEY IDEAS

Answer 4

• a dramatic monologue with the Duke of Ferrara arranging his new marriage but getting swept up talking about his former wife
• the change in tone is used to show the sinister undertones and power struggle in the relationship, he is the only one truly at conflict here
• the poet ironically shows that this man is rich and educated yet a fool in matters of love and honesty

Question 5

MY LAST DUCHESS - KEY QUOTES

Answer 5

“Fra Pandolf’s hands / Worked busily a day”
“(since none puts by / The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)”
“her husband’s presence only, called that spot / Of you into the Duchess’ cheek”
“my gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name”
“There she stands / As if alive.”

Question 6

Analysis - “Fra Pandolf’s hands / Worked busily a day”

Answer 6

• allusion to a famous artist of the time
• the suggestion is that he values the name of the artist that created it more than the Duchess who is painted

Question 7

Analysis - “(since none puts by / The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)”

Answer 7

• bracketed aside
• suggesting that he is giving the messenger a rare privilege to see the duchess in this way
• shows the Duke exercising his control
• the irony is that he needs to show off

Question 8

Analysis - “her husband’s presence only, called that spot / Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek”

Answer 8

• implies people believed it was not only him who could make her happy (though he couldn’t)
• “spot” a pun, meaning either a mark showing her face had some joy in it, but also spot as in small amount; she was not happy
• hints he was jealous

Question 9

Analysis - “my gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name”

Answer 9

• ironically mocking how vain the Duke is
• he cares more about his heritage and cannot understand that she did not see that as important
• the Duke values reputation above actual character

Question 10

Analysis - “The she stands / As if alive.”

Answer 10

• the Duchess in a painting satisfies him as much as she did in real life - as a possession.
• change of tone to return to the civil and polite way in the start
  -gives the poem a circular structure