my last duchess

• that's my last duchess


  pronoun my hints at the possessiveness the duke feels towards women

  last- makes us wonder how many he has had
• (since none...... but I)

  sub text- the painting of her is covered by a curtain which only the duke may draw

  embodies his desire for control and his paranoia
• of joy into the duchess cheeks; perhaps

  in Victorian England blushing was seen as an expression of female sexuality

  perhaps- implies that the innocent excuses he appears to be making are questionable

  he believes she is guilty of infidelity
• then all the smiles stopped together

  sibilance emphasises the venomous and sinister nature of the dukes command

  leaves no explanation but implies she is dead- purposefully left open-ended to shock the reader
• to make your will


  irony here as the entire poem is written in perfect rhyming couplets

  suggests the speakers manipulative nature but his ability to mask it
• taming a sea horse


  symbolic image of domination- sea god is taming something at once beautiful and less powerful than him as the duke could not do with his wife
• dramatic monologue


  iambic pentameter

  heroic couplets keen to repress her natural impulses and desires
• effects of pace and rhythm


  echoes the dukes masculine need to control

  structured form is elegant and suits the dukes status

  shows duke is trying to order his confused and complex thoughts about his wife