Zareen Raushan 10.04.

2017

The Other Voices: My Last Duchess

Lucrezia slowly glided across the hallway as she heard voices and footsteps coming her

way. The Duke of Ferrara, Alfonso came into her sight first, who was followed by another man.

She wondered who he was, hence she decided to listen to the conversation they were having. It

came as no surprise to her when the Duke decided to flaunt his favorite portrait of all his

collections. ‘That piece a wonder, now: Fra Pandolf’s hands’ she heard the Duke say to the man.

Yes, of course that painting is her own portrait, she thought to herself. It seemed to her that the

Duke had the only right to compliment the beauty of the painting. He did not expect the man to

say anything upon the subject but was rather inclined to say the words himself. To the Duchess,

it seemed that the praise was rather a form of mockery on her for she was more beautiful in

person than the portrait itself. The Duke asked the man to take a seat and look at the painting.

She was always shocked at the way the man had the nature to order everyone as if they were his

servants.

Alfonso was quite strict about his feelings of belongingness. She noticed that her painting

was covered by a pair of curtains and nobody was ever allowed to pull them aside apart from the

Duke himself. To her it seemed as a cruel sense of possessiveness, more of an illness than the

feeling of love. ‘twas not Her husband’s presence only called that spot of joy into the Duchess’

cheek:’ she felt her cheeks burning in anger as she heard him say these words to this unknown

man she saw. Lucrezia felt that he disgraced her honor by foul-mouthing about her character.

The Duke always had a belief that his wife was not faithful to him. She chuckled to herself at this

imaginary thought of his. Alfonso also believed that no man was supposed to compliment her on
her beauty, hence she was thankful that the man was not giving out any words of praise for her

painting. She could not defend herself for his harsh words for she was not allowed to do so.

The Duke of Ferrara always had a question about her integrity towards her husband, for

he thought that the ‘spot of joy’ which meant that the blush on her cheek, was not only for her

husband but also for other men. She went on to think how this maddening possessiveness led to a

suffocation in her marriage. She was lost in her thoughts as the Duke kept on rambling about her

painting and the Duchess’ character. The unknown, mysterious man had to sit through all of this,

as he had come to visit the Duke Alfonso. She was mostly curious about what business the man

had with the duke, which led her to keep on listening to the conversation. She noticed that the

other man was not speaking much and he was not even expected to say anything as well. ‘Will ‘t

please you to sit and look at her’ she could hear him say, but deep down she knew it was more of

an order than a request.

‘Oh Alfonso’ she murmured to herself ‘when a person compliments another person it is a

mere courtesy to return the favor by smiling back with a compliment to accompany the fellow

human being.’ If only he understood such civic manners, then her marriage to the Duke would

have been much more peaceful. Even the mere form of courtesy did not seem polite to the Duke

if it was paid to any other man than himself. ‘A heart-how shall I say? - too soon made glad,’

She looked at him indignantly as he uttered the outrageous words, demeaning her nature.

Alfonso made the point that she as a woman had quite a weak character. These very words made

her feel quite small to herself, yet nothing could be done about it now. She did not know how she

could possibly explain that her heart had always belonged to her husband but she was very kind

to anyone who made her smile. He was firm in his delusional thoughts she said to her herself

calmly. However, the Duke Alfonso, of Ferrara was mad with overpowering jealousy and his
towering pride, even if his bride only acknowledged the compliments that came her way for her

beauty and meek nature.

Alfonso was led to believe that his wife was cheating on him when a man broke into the

orchard for her, she recalled sadly. She kept on wondering about the identity of the mysterious

man sitting in front of her husband when a suspicious thought struck her mind. She kept

lingering a little longer to confirm her thoughts. Lucrezia’s thoughts floated back to her husband.

As they stood up to walk out of the hallway, the Duke mentioned about the count of Tyrol whose

niece’s hand was asked for marriage with him. She finally, understood the meaning of this

meeting. His pride of nine hundred years led him to a failure in marriage once and he was willing

to take a second chance with another woman of royal blood, she bitterly thought to herself. This

unknown man to her was an agent to supposedly and unknowingly came to talk about the

prospects of marriage with this bitter monster, she kept on thinking. Near the end of her marriage

to the Duke, she remembered being utterly shunned from him except for the occasions during the

day when they were required to pass one another with a smile, until that fateful day. Ever since

that one terrible day everything about her life changed. She pitied the future of wife of Alfonso

for the young girl did not know what trouble she getting into. Lucrezia wanted to stop the niece

of count Tyrol from getting married to the Duke of Ferrara but did not have the ability to do so.

For she was dead, murdered by her own husband, the former wife of the Duke Alfonso, of

Ferrara, his last Duchess.