My Last Duchess

• context (date/setting)

  set in italy in the 1590s

  the speaker is Duke Ferrara and is speaking to the messenger, wants a large dowry and hints at his expectations.
• rhyming couplets

  control that he desires
• a (dramatic) monologue

  shows the duke is skilled in speech

  
  

  he is self obsessed, shows narcissim and how highly he values himself ... self importance.
• That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive.

  my - possessive pronoun - reveals a proprietorial nature

  
  

  
  

  last - sequential language - there has been a list.

  
  

  painted on the wall - suspicious/ambiguous

  
  

  praises the artist
• That piece a wonder

  that - pronoun, objectifies and dehumanises the Duchess.

  
  

  unemotive language - does not express grief/loss, instead mentions her painting (not her, herself). he bases his wealth and his collection. His wife becomes an object in his collection
• Fra Pandolf's hands worked busily a say ... Will't please you sit and look at her? I said 'Fra Pandolf' by design,

  mentions the artist's name (a proper noun)

  
  

  verb - look - objectifies her as if she is an object to look at.

  
  

  repetition of the artist's name - vulgar bragging
• But to myself they turned (since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I) And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst

  parenthetical statement - controlling nature of the duke ( a moment of self reflection for himself.

  
  

  archaic diction - he is feared.
• Sir, 'twas not Her husband's presence only, called that spot Of joy into the Duchess' cheek: perhaps Fra Pandolf chanced to say 'Her mantle laps Over my lady's wrist too much,' ...

  spot of joy - euphemism for blushing, spot = an imperfection, suggesting it was wrong for the duchess to feel this way.

  
  

  only - adverb - implying he views the Duchess of guilty and at fault

  
  

  becomes curious and wonders what the artists might have done.
• such stuff was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough For calling up that spot of joy.

  repetition: annoyed at this fact.
• She has A heart - how shall I say? - too soon made glad, Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.

  lists what he thinks is wrong with her in an attempt to get empathy from the reader. However it is ironic as the reader does not relate.

  
  

  whate'er - listed insinuations reveal his manipulation
• the bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule She rode with round the terrace - all and each Would draw from her alike the approving speech,

  bough of cherries - a gift, a token of courtship

  
  

  broke in the orchard - cherries were obtained without permission, a sense of violation

  
  

  orchard - a symbolic space of privacy, further emphasises the duke's desire to contol the duchess' interactions.

  
  

  she was appreciative and we see her as endearing, the duke is simultaneously is presented as irrational.

  
  

  the duke expresses dismay that his former wife would accept gifts from anyone but him.
• 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 With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame This sort of trifling?

  she thanked men - the duke feels she should be thankful to him only

  
  

  'my gift' - possesive pronoun, comparisons to what she receives from others. he is proud and pretentious of his 'gift', contrasting the duchess/unlike her.

  
  

  is gift - the surname which inspires fear and control, this annoys him the most as he feels she does not value it enough.

  
  

  stoop, LATER = stooping + stoop - polypton, the duke is concerned with hierarchy and maintaining power, he does not want to lose power.
• Even has you skill In speech - (which I have not)

  parenthetical statement: ironic due to the fact he is performing a monologue and is using iambic pentameter. he reveals his dishonesty in an attempt to be modest.
• Just this or that in you disgusts me; here you miss, Or there exceed the mark' - and if she let Herself be lessoned so,

  complex sentence structure, he reveals the truth (perhaps unwillingly/without even realising)

  
  

  truth - he is unjust (the antithesis of her)

  
  

  herself be lessoned - she is beneath him in terms of hierarchy and he thinks she needs to learn from him

  
  

  
  

  patrionising tone, he imagines speaking to the duchess and views her like a child.
• - E'en then would be some stooping; and I choose Never to stoop.

  polyptoton - wants to maintain power

  
  

  
  

  i choose Never to stoop - shows his arrogance, he feels that to appreciate and consider her actions he would have to fall to a lower level and he does not want to compromise this. his position/status is his first priority.
• Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt, Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands As if alive.

  same smile? - sibilance, he is jealous and insecure that she was able to treat everyone equally and immediately/quickly greet them warmly.

  
  

  
  

  i gave commands - curt clause

  
  

  all smiles stopped - euphemism for her death, ambiguous and sinister phrases make the reader wonder if he has any responsibility over her death.

  
  

  As if alive - a sinister tone, a dark simile, caesure that follows, shows separation and unemotive language as he moves on very quickly. there are some darker implications.

  
  

  ambiguous speech - hiding critical information, details, especially of her death.
• Will't please you rise? We'll meet The company below, then. I repeat, The Count your master's known munificence

  immediately moves on to the new Duchess, she angered him to the point where he got remarried to replace her.

  
  

  unemotive tone/dismissive tone

  
  

  the duke is presented as hard hearted.
• Is ample warrant that no just pretence 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.

  'my object' possesive pronoun, he sees his next women as a possesion as well and objectifies her.
• Notice Neptune, though, Taming a sea horse, thought a rarity, Which Claus of Innisbruck cast in bronze for me

  alliteration, symbolism + allusion to the god of the sea/water - symbolic of his own persona and how he sees himself, this is what draws him in

  
  

  proper pronoun - names a priest (bragging again, just like the artist)

  
  

  for me! - exclamation - selfish/possesive/happy?

  
  

  another object in his collection, just like the painting of the former Duchess.
• speaker

  the duke (possibly based on Duke Alfanso II)
• how does the poem begin

  the duke talks to a messenger from the count
• how does the poem end

  The Duke asks his guest to look at a rare bronze statue. there is no description of the New Duchess and he dismisses her quickly.
• iambic pentameter

  rhyming couplets, controlling + upbeat, happiness as he admires his collection
• Enjambment

  moves on quickly, a lack of emotion and longing, instead a conversational and prosaic tone which is sinister.
• themes


  power

  gender roles

  jealousy

  insecurity

  relationships

  memory
• comparing characters


  La belle dans merci
• comparing male-female relationships (which can be slightly controlling)

  poem at thirty nine

  
  

  la belle dans merci
• comparing power/love

  the tyger
• comparing cruelty/selfishness

  prayer before birth