My Last Duchess by Robert Browning

A Fascinating Dramatic Monologue Based Upon Real People

The purpose of the poem's meeting is to discuss arrangements for the Duke's next marriage, although this is not revealed until later on in the poem. In the beginning of the poem, the Duke starts out talking about the painting on the wall of the deceased Duchess. The painting is a fresco, artwork painted directly on a plaster wall in watercolors. It is also known that the real Alfonso was a patron of the arts and sciences.  Robert Browning had traveled in Italy prior to composing this poem and perhaps he even saw some of the artwork that Alfonso II sponsored.  The fresco of the Duchess in the poem is covered by a curtain that no one can pull back except the Duke. The Duke makes a point of this:  'none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I' and this lets you know he is a controlling fellow.

The Duke proceeds to draw what he believes is a rather unflattering portrait of his last Duchess in life. Perhaps he is trying to communicate to the emissary what he expects of his next wife. To the reader, he succeeds instead in showing himself to be cruel, demanding and inflexible. The Duchess' main fault seems to be that she had no powers of discernment. He emphasizes her beautiful smile and elaborates on her custom of bestowing her smile too freely. The Duchess had:

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.

The Duke at worst is inferring that she was unfaithful; at best, he was clearly displeased with not being treated in a more important manner.  He does seem to cook up an excuse for himself before he reveals how the matter was dealt with. He tells the emissary that even if you chose to confront the person who is displeasing you so, this would involve some indignity – ‘some stooping’ as he puts it, and he says that he chooses 'never to stoop'. He intimates that when the Duchess' frivolous behavior continued to grow, he 'gave commands' and 'then all smiles stopped together'. Yes, saints preserve us, that does seem to imply that he had her murdered!

Then, in a rather cold-blooded and nonchalant manner, he turns the talk to the marriage that is being arranged.  The Duke says that he thinks the Count will not reject any amount in terms of dowry that he might seek. At the same time, he avers that the Count’s 'fair daughter's self, as I avowed at starting, is my object' - a statement that probably wouldn't seem so ominous if it hadn't been made after his prior discourse.