MY LAST DUCHESS by ROBERT BROWNING

Type of Work
......."My Last Duchess" is a dramatic monologue, a poem with a character who presents an account centering on a
particular topic. This character speaks all the words in the poem. During his discourse, the speaker intentionally or
unintentionally reveals information about one or more of the following: his personality, his state of mind, his attitude
toward his topic, and his response or reaction to developments relating to his topic . The main focus of a dramatic
monologue is this personal information, not the topic which the speaker happens to be discussing. The
word monologue is derived from a Greek word meaning to speak alone. 

Publication
.......Browning first published poem under the title "I. Italy" in 1842 in Dramatic Lyrics, a collection of sixteen
Browning poems. Brown changed the title of the poem to "My Last Duchess" before republishing it in 1849 in another
collection, Dramatic Romances and Lyrics.

Setting and Background

.......The setting of "My Last Duchess," a highly acclaimed 1842 poem by Robert Browning, is the palace of the
Duke of Ferrara on a day in October 1564. Ferrara is in northern Italy, between Bologna and Padua, on a branch of
the Po River. The city was the seat of an important principality ruled by the House of Este from 1208 to 1598. The
Este family constructed an imposing castle in Ferrara beginning in 1385 and, over the years, made Ferrara an
important center of arts and learning. Two members of the family, Beatrice and Isabella, supported the work of such
painters as Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael.  
.......In Browning’s poem, the Duke of Ferrara is modeled after Alfonso II, the fifth and last duke of the principality,
who ruled Ferrara from 1559 to 1597 but in three marriages fathered no heir to succeed him. The deceased duchess
in the poem was his first wife, Lucrezia de’ Medici, a daughter of Cosimo de’ Medici (1519-1574), Duke of Florence
from 1537 to 1574 and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1569 to 1574. Lucrezia died in 1561 at age 17. In 1598, Ferrara
became part of the Papal States.

Characters
Speaker (or Narrator): The speaker is the Duke of Ferrara. Browning appears to have modeled him after Alfonso
II, who ruled Ferrara from 1559 to 1597. Alfonso was married three times but had no children. The poem reveals him
as a proud, possessive, and selfish man and a lover of the arts. He regarded his late wife as a mere object who
existed only to please him and do his bidding. He likes the portrait of her (the subject of his monologue) because,
unlike the duchess when she was alive, it reveals only her beauty and none of the qualities in her that annoyed the
duke when she was alive. Morever, he now has complete control of the portrait as a pretty art object that he can show
to visitors. 
Duchess: The late wife of the duke. Browning appears to have modeled her after Lucrezia de’ Medici, a daughter of
Cosimo de’ Medici (1519-1574), Duke of Florence from 1537 to 1574 and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1569 to
1574. The duke says the duchess enjoyed the company of other men and implies that she was unfaithful. Whether
his accusation is a fabrication is uncertain. The duchess died under suspicious circumstances on April 21, 1561, just
two years after he married her. She may have been poisoned. 
Emissary of the Count of Tyrol: The emissary has no speaking role; he simply listens as the Duke of Ferrara
tells him about the late Duchess of Ferrara and the fresco of her on the wall. Historically, the emissary is identified
with Nikolaus Madruz, of Innsbruck, Austria.  
Count of Tyrol: The father of the duke's bride-to-be. The duke mentions him in connection with a dowry the count
is expected to provide. 
Daughter of the Count of Tyrol: The duke's bride-to-be is the daughter of the count but appears to be
modeled historically on the count's niece, Barbara.  
Frà Pandolph: The duke mentions him as the artist who painted the fresco. No one has identified a real-life
counterpart on whom he was based. He may have been a fictional creation of Browning. Frà was a title of Italian
friars of the Roman Catholic Church.  
Claus of Innsbruck: The duke mentions him as the artist who created "Neptune Taming a Sea-Horse." Like
Pandolph, he may have been a fictional creation. 

The Portrait of the Duchess

.......The portrait of the late Duchess of Ferrara is a fresco, a type of work painted in watercolors directly on a plaster
wall. The portrait symbolizes the duke's possessive and controlling nature inasmuch as the duchess has become an
art object which he owns and controls.

Meter
......."My Last Duchess" is in iambic pentameter, which has ten syllables, or five feet, per line. The ten syllables
consist of five pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables. Lines 1 and 2 of the poem demonstrate the iambic-
pentameter pattern. 

.......1.................2..................3.................4...............5  

That's MY..|..last DUCH..|..ess PAINT..|..ed ON..|..the WALL,
.......1.............2...............3.................4...............5  
Look ING..|..as IF..|..she WERE..|..a ALIVE..|..I CALL

Rhyme: Heroic Couplets

.......Line 1 rhymes with line 2, line 3 with 4, line 5 with 6, and so on. Pairs of rhyming lines are called couplets. When
the lines are written in iambic pentameter, as are the lines of "My Last Duchess," the rhyming pairs are called heroic
couplets. 

Internal Rhyme

Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas not 

Frà Pandolf chanced to say "Her mantle laps

Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss  

Or there exceed the mark"–and if she let(lines 38-39)

Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse (line 41)

Summary and Commentary
.......Upstairs at his palace in October of 1564, the Duke of Ferrara–a city in northeast Italy on a branch of the Po
River–shows a portrait of his late wife, who died in 1561, to a representative of the Count of Tyrol, an Austrian
nobleman. The duke plans to marry the count’s daughter after he negotiates for a handsome dowry from the count.  
.......While discussing the portrait, the duke also discusses his relationship with the late countess, revealing himself–
wittingly or unwittingly–as a domineering husband who regarded his beautiful wife as a mere object, a possession
whose sole mission was to please him. His comments are sometimes straightforward and frank and sometimes
subtle and ambiguous. Several remarks hint that he may have murdered his wife, just a teenager at the time of her
death two years after she married him, but the oblique and roundabout language in which he couches these remarks
falls short of an open confession.  
.......The duke tells the Austrian emissary that he admires the portrait of the duchess but was exasperated with his
wife while she was alive, for she devoted as much attention to trivialities–and other men–as she did to him. He even
implies that she had affairs. In response to these affairs, he says, “I gave commands; / “Then all [of her] smiles
stopped together.”  
.......Does commands mean that he ordered someone to kill her? 
.......Does it mean he reprimanded her? 
.......Does it mean he ordered some other action?  
.......The poem does not provide enough information to answer these questions. Nor does it provide enough
information to determine whether the dukeis lying about his wife or exaggerating her faults. Whatever the case,
research into her life has resulted in speculation that she was poisoned. Browning himself says the duke either
ordered her murdered or sent her off to a convent. 
.......That the duke regarded his wife as a mere object, a possession, is clear. For example, in lines 2 and 3, while he
and the emissary are looking at the painting, he says, “I call that piece a wonder, now.” Piece explicitly refers to the
portrait but implicitly refers to the duchess when she was alive. Nowis a telling word in his statement: It reveals that
the duchess is a wonder in the portrait, because of the charming pose she strikes, but implies that she was far less
than a wonder when she was alive.  
.......Of course, the engaging pose the duchess strikes is not the only reason the duke prizes the portrait. He prizes it
also because the duchess is under his full control as an image on the wall. She cannot play the coquette; she cannot
protest or disobey his commands; she cannot do anything except smile out at the duke and to anyone else the
duke allows to view the portrait.  
.......As the duke and the emissary turn to go downstairs, the duke points out another art object–a bronze art object
showing Neptune taming a sea horse. The emissary might well have wondered whether the duke regarded himself as
Neptune and the sea horse as the duchess.  
.......What the emissary plans to tell the count about the duke is open to question. But in real life, the duke did marry
the woman he discussed with the emissary. 

My Last Duchess 
By Robert Browning 

Text of the Poem
. .
That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf's
hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will't please yousit and look at her? I
said.............................5
"Frà Pandolf" by design: for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance, that he did not like the countess herself.
But to myself they turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but
I)................................10
And seemed as they would ask me, if
they durst,
How such a glance came there; so, not the
first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas not
Her husband's presence only, called that spot spot. . . joy: Enjambment, in which the sense
.
Annotations
painted. . . wall: Reference to a fresco, a
painting executed on wet plaster.
I . . . now: He refers not only to the painting but
also to his wife as she
 was in life, a mere object (that
piece). Now indicates he regards his
wife as a wonder in the painting but something
less when she lived.
you: emissary from the Count of Tyrol.
Frà Pandolf: The painter; by design: on
purpose.
countenance: face. The duke likes the
painting, but he later reveals
none. . . curtain: No one opens the curtain
except me
but I: Forgivable grammatical error. The pronoun
should be me, not I,
but I rhymes with by (previous line). durst:
archaic form of dare
such a glance: The painting really flatters
her.
 of one line of verse
Of joy into the Duchess' cheek:
carries over to the next line without a pause
perhaps...............................15
Frà Pandolf chanced to say "Her mantle laps mantle: Cloak or cape.
lines 17-19 ("Pain . . . throat): Frà Pandolf
Over my lady's wrist too much," or "Paint
believes the color of the "half-flush"
on her throat is too subtle to capture accurately
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
on canvas.
Half-flush that dies along her throat": such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause
enough.......................20
lines 21-30: The duchess annoyed the duke
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
because she was
just as pleased with a sunset, some cherries, or a
A heart–how shall I say?–too soon made glad, ride on a mule as
Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er she was with him.
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, 'twas all one! My favourat her
favour: A small gift.
breast,...............................25
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
bough . . . her: Apparently a double-entendre,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
the second meaning a
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule sexual one.
She rode with round the terrace–all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving
speech,.....................30
Or blush, at least. She thanked men,–good! but
thanked
Somehow–I know not how–as if she ranked

My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name

My. . . name: The duke comes from an old
aristocratic family
With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame named Este.
This sort of trifling? Even had you
skill....................................35
In speech–(which I have not)–to make your will
Quite clear to such an one, and say, "Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
Or there exceed the mark"–and if she let
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly
be lessoned: Be instructed.
set....................................40
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse, forsooth: in truth (archaic).
E'en then would be some stooping: and I choose
Oh . . .grew: The Duchess smiled at all men
Never to stoop. Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,
and, according to the
Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without duke, did more than smile at some men.
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave I gave . . .together: He reprimanded her. Then
commands;........45 she ceased her
Then all smiles stopped together. There she flirtation. Or, he gave commands to kill her, and
stands then "all smiles stopped
As if alive. Will't please you rise? We'll meet together."
The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master's known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just
pretence................................50
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughter's self, as I avowed
At starting, is my object. Nay, we'll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a
rarity,...................................55
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me! women.
munificence: Great generosity.
warrant: Guarantee; no just. . . disallowed:
The duke will demand
a considerable dowry from the count.
daughter: In real life, she was the count's
niece.
my object: The duke again refers to a woman
as an object.
Neptune: Roman name for Poseidon, god of
the sea in Greek mythology.
Taming a sea-horse: To the duke, the sea
horse is a symbol of the
Claus of Innsbruck: Another artist.

Themes
Arrogance

.......The theme is the arrogant, authoritarian mindset of a proud Renaissance duke, who says, "I choose / Never to
stoop" (lines 42-43). In this respect, the more important portrait in the poem is the one the duke "paints" of himself
with his words. 

Women as Mere Objects

.......Several lines in the poem suggest that the duke had treated his wife as a mere object. He expected her to be
beautiful to look at, but little more. But the duchess was human; she had faults. When the duke became annoyed by
them and by her smiling face, he "gave commands" that ended her smiling. In other words, he apparently ordered her
to be killed. The word last in the title suggests that the young woman in the portrait was not the duke's first wife. One
wonders whether his previous wife (or wives) met the same fate and whether his next duchess will end up like his
"last duchess."

Enjambment
.......In his poetry, Browning occasionally uses enjambment, a literary device in which the sense of one line of verse
is carried over to the next line without a pause. Here is an example:

Looking as if she were alive. I call 

That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf's hands
Her husband's presence only, called that spot 
Of joy into the Duchess' cheek: perhaps

Over my lady's wrist too much," or "Paint 

Must never hope to reproduce the faint

Notice that scarcely belongs with the words that follow it, not with the words that precede it. Consequently, no pause
occurs after it. 
Study Questions and Essay Topics
1. Do you believe the speaker murdered his last duchess? Explain your answer.  
2. Write a short psychological profile of the duke. Use information from the poem, as well as Internet and library
research, to support your thesis. 
3. In your opinion, what is the meaning of these lines: "[S]he liked whate'er / She looked on, and her looks went
everywhere" (lines 23-24). 
4. Does the duke plan to marry the count's daughter for the dowry he will receive?