Set in 1542 and based on a historical figure, Alfonso II who ruled Ferrara (a city state) and who first wife Lucrezia de’ Medici died under suspicious circumstances.
The poem itself draws upon two contexts: that of Renaissance Italy and that of Victorian England, when Browning was writing. First, the fact the whole poem centres around a piece of art is significant as it cements the Duke as a man of power and influence.
This then feeds into Browning’s view of the patriarchy in Victorian England, that is that it could only retain power through brute force. In this poem, we see the Duke assertion of power over his wife, after the felt that her sexuality emasculated him, thus putting him into conflict with her.
