My Last Duchess

• What themes are present in My Last Duchess?

  1. Power of Humans
  2. Memory
  3. Negative emotions - Pride
  4. Identity
• State the structure and form of My Last Duchess.

  1. Form: dramatic monologue, iambic pentameter, rhymic couplets, single stanza which reveal the amount of authority, status, and power the Duke has as the tight form isn't deteriorated as the poem progresses.
  2. Structure: enjambment, cyclical structure to further emphasise the amount of control the Duke had over the Duchess.
• State quotes from My Last Duchess.

  1. "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall"
  2. "I gave commands then all smiles stopped together"
  3. "Notice Neptune, though, taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity"
  4. "Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me"
  5. "She had a heart - how shall I say?"
  6. "white mule"
  7. "puts by the curtain I have drawn for you"
  8. "her looks went everywhere"
• State alternative ideas.

  1. The Duchess's power is subversive and lives beyond the Duke's authority even while she isn't living.
  2. The Duchess's power is erased and silenced.
• What quote has sibilance and caesura?

  "All smiles stopped together."
• State the context of My Last Duchess.

  Browning was fascinated by Renaissance Italy and power dynamics. Inspired by the real Duke of Ferrara, he criticises toxic masculinity and patriarchal control through the Duke’s sinister voice. Browning explores themes of pride, possession, and identity, showing how the Duke tries to control memory and narrative even in death. The dramatic monologue format reveals the Duke’s obsession with power and status, reflecting Browning’s interest in human psychology and moral corruption.