Summary for My Last Duchess by Robert Browning BA students

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 My Last Duchess      

“My Last Duchess” is a dramatic monologue  by Robert Browning in 1842. He is a Victorian poet. In this poem  the Duke of Ferrara is speaking about his first wife Lucrezia.  She died under suspicious circumstances shortly after marrying the Duke. The Duchess has some extraordinary qualities which makes the Duke feel disgusted . The speaker is the Duke and the listener is the envoy, whose daughter the Duke is going to marry. 

The Duke  shows a lively and realistic portrait of the Duchess to the envoy  and calls it a great wonder. He claims that the entire portrait was painted by a famous Italian painter Fra Pandolf. 

“ I call that piece a wonder”. The Duke has brought Fra Pandolf to paint and no one dared to ask about the painter or the depthness of art. From this it’s very clear that none dared to ask the Duke about the glance in the picture. The Duke claims that the blush in the cheeks of the Duchess is caused not by him. She blushes at everyone. He is jealous and suspects his wife.

The Duke reveals the character of the Duchess. He tells about the Duchess to be very glad and was easily impressed. She glanced at every strangers and the same glance she made for the Duke. When she received gifts from the Duke she thanked him. At the same time some fools gifted her with cherries and a ride on a white mule. The way she thanked the strangers and Duke were the same. The Duke claims that he has given a prestigious position for his wife as a Duchess and he is not ready to stoop before her to speak.“ I never to stoop”

She was kind and smiled at everyone. “ This grew, I gave command, Then all smiles stopped together”. This line shows that the Duke has killed the Duchess. He shares this story to the listener. The Duke narrates this story as a warning for the count, as he has decided to woo the counts daughter. The Duke shows the listener to see a Taming Sea-horse, Neptune (god of Sea) tames a sea horse. It symbolises the power and domination of the Duke.

Thus the poem highlights an ignorant, vulgar, insensitive, selfish, arrogant, and brutal Duke who kills his wife. The Dukes tragic flaw is his jealousy and possessiveness. Through poem Browning exposes the Duke’s own anger and passion.

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