“My Last Duchess” Poem by Robert Browning Essay (Critical Writing)

‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning is one of the finest examples of dramatic monologues. Browning dramatizes the conflict between what the Duke actually says and what he really means to say. Throughout this poem, though the Duke speaks about his demised wife, it is his arrogant obsessive nature that is being revealed unintentionally by him. The more the Duke tries to hide his selfish sadistic nature, the more evident it becomes. The irony of the situation is that the Duke tries to portray himself as a noble and powerful aristocrat, but it is his arrogant tyranny and his corruptness in abusing his power that is being revealed. Browning has used historical allusion by referring the central character to “Alfonso II, the fifth Duke of Ferrara and the last of the Este line aristocracy.” (Hawlin, 67).

The poem is a dramatic monologue of the Duke of Ferrara who has a subtle rhetoric in his speech. In this poem, the situation is the negotiation between the Duke of Ferrara and the Count’s envoy on the marriage between the Duke and the Count’s daughter. The poem has 28 rhymed couplets in aabbccdd form. Since the poem evokes emotion and not exactly a story, it is considered as lyric poetry. The monologue is expressed in iambic pentameter. A feature in the poem is the use of enjambments throughout the poem by breaking the lines and ending in the second verse, in order to obtain the rhyming. This has made the Duke’s speech feel like a casual talk but also gives emphasis on the sadistic and dangerously obsessive nature of the Duke. The prosody used throughout the speech gives a feel of hesitation in the Duke’s speech to the envoy. But it really disguises the egocentric arrogant man in the Duke.

In the beginning lines, the listener of the monologue by the Duke is not revealed. The listener is addressed as “you” thrice in the first ten lines. The Duke begins his monologue by “That’s my last duchess painted on the wall”. The use of “That’s” is a metaphor which shows how he regards his last wife and his cruelty in reducing his wife to an object to decorate his wall. In the line “Looking as if she were alive I call” the author uses personification and tells the reader that she is not alive. This can also be considered as a pathetic fallacy as a portrait can never look alive. The continuation in the verse shows that he is not sad and what he really wants is to show off the painting to the listener as a “piece of wonder”. The Duke’s mention of the name of the painter twice in these verses uses allusion.

“That piece a wonder, now: Fra Pandolf’s hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said
“Fra Pandolf” by design, for never read”

This shows his pride in getting the best painter to work for him. By “Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said” the Duke orders the listener to focus on what he says about the painting and in turn draws the complete attention of the listener to him. The rhyming in verses makes the actually commanding tone of the Duke sound as a request and pleasure.

Although one feels that personification is the device used in portraying his wife to the listener by the mention of “depth and passion of its earnest glance” and the blush on his wife’s beautiful face it is actually an irony. He says that the blush on her face was not because of her husband’s presence, but due to the compliment she got from the artist Fra Pandolf for her beauty. He stresses on “Sir, ’twas not Her husband’s presence only called that spot”. The use of metaphor in “since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I” is evident as it shows the possessiveness of the Duke over his wife. The Duke continues to say about his wife as having “A heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad.

Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er”. He considers this act as not befitting a Duchess. He mentions his courtiers as “officious fools” and the pony which the Duchess rides as a “white mule”. The hyperbole used in these verses emphasizes his anger and resentment towards the things which impress the Duchess. The selfish and sadistic Duke wanted the Duchess to give utmost importance to him and not to be happy in others’ gifts.

A simile is used to express his biggest disappointment with her by telling “as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybody’s gift.” He did not like his wife giving importance to everything just like she gave importance to his long aristocracy.

The next line points to an irony when the Duke says “Even had you skill in speech—(which I have not)—to make your will”; because from the poem it is evident that he has a clear skill in speech. He means that even if he had the skill, he would not stoop to the level of the lady to ask her to stop these disgusting acts which shows his arrogance and points that he considers women at a lower level than men. Euphemism is the device used to tell how the Duke murdered her Duchess.

“Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet”

The enjambment in this sentence makes the cruelty he did sound casual. This shows the cruel and tyrannical nature of the Duke who will go to any extreme to fulfill his needs. Personification is again used in saying “there she stands As if alive” showing at the portrait.

Although the Duke requests the listener to get up by using “please” he says “I repeat” in the following verse, which denotes the please is a metaphor and he literally commands and not requests. It is here he finally reveals the speaker as the Count’s envoy. Then he casually states that he will need a generous dowry for the marriage to the Count’s daughter and will not marry unless the Count gives him the dowry. By “Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed

At starting, is my object” he gives two meanings for “my object” which is a metaphor. This shows his greed for wealth and his possessiveness over women. There is a dramatic irony in these words as the duke does not realizes how much he reveals about himself through these words. The Duke is obsessive about material pleasures.

In the end, on the way downstairs to meet the rest of the party, the Duke asks the Count’s envoy to “Notice Neptune, though, taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!” The mention of the Statue of Neptune taming a sea horse is a metaphor which clearly mentions the fate of the Count’s daughter after her marriage. Although the Duke just showed a beautiful piece of art through the statue, it actually reveals his inner rage and the thirst to control a woman, like Neptune taming a sea horse. Allusion is used to refer to Neptune. “Last, Ferrara needs to control the eyes of others. He curtains off the Duchess’ portrait to prevent her from looking “everywhere.” He tells his listener to look at her and to “Notice Neptune”” (Browning, Commentary by Ian Lancashire, para.11).

Browning has ended this poem very carefully giving the readers the full blow of the cruel nature of the Duke. The use of poetic devices like metaphor and personification in the poem emphasizes the dramatic irony of the situation. The greed for material wealth and the possessiveness over women by the Duke is well established through these devices. The enjambments used throughout give more dramatic effect to the Duke’s speech

Works Cited

Browning, Robert, My Last Duchess.

Browning, Robert. My Last Duchess: Commentary by Ian Lancashire. Representative Poetry Online. 2009. Web.

Hawlin. Robert Browning: Work: My Last Duchess. Roultedge. 2001.