My Last Duchess Analysis

FERRARA.



That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,

Looking as if she were alive.I call

That piece a wonder, now: Fr<a`> Pandolf's hands

Worked busily a day, and there she stands.

Will't please you sit and look at her? I said

``Fr<a`> Pandolf'' by design, for never read

Strangers like you that pictured countenance,

The depth and passion of its earnest glance,

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,

How such a glance came there; so, not the first

Are you to turn and ask thus.Sir, 'twas not

Her husband's presence only, called that spot

Of joy into the Duchess' cheek: perhaps

Fr<a`> Pandolf chanced to say ``Her mantle laps

``Over my lady's wrist too much,'' or ``Paint

``Must never hope to reproduce the faint

``Half-flush that dies along her throat:'' such stuff

Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough

For calling up that spot of joy.She 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.

Sir, 'twas all one! My favour at her breast,

The dropping of the daylight in the West,

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,

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? Even had you skill

In speech---(which I have not)---to make your will

Quite clear to such an one, and say, ``Just this

``Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,

``Or there exceed the mark''---and if she let

Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set

Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse,

---E'en then would be some stooping; and I choose

Never to stoop.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.Will't please you rise? We'll meet

The company below, then.I repeat,

The Count your master's known munificence

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. Notice Neptune, though,

Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,

Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!

.: :.

The original inspiration of the poem probably came from Browning's first visit to Italy, in search of material for 'Sordello'. In 1842 Browning was reviewing a book about Tasso, and in looking up the life of Tasso he came upon a brief account of Alfonso II, the fifth Duke of Ferrara, the patron of Tasso. The Duke married Lucrezia, the fourteen year old daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, Duke of Florence, who later died of poisoning. The Duke of Ferrara probably inspired the speaker of this poem.
~ BHAVIKA SICKA

| Posted on 2008-12-17 | by a guest

.: :.

My Last Duchess is one dramatic monologue that leaves its readers with the question "huh?". The first time I read this, I was not getting a single thing. I mean, my interpretation was not coherent and I can't seem to patch everything; just pieces of the puzzle. But now, having read some ideas and interpretations, I was able to appreciate the wonder and beauty of this x dramatic monologue. Anyway, I hope the next time I find pieces of art like this, I won't bother surfing the net to understand it, rather, have my own interpretation and share it to the world....
-covertface-

| Posted on 2008-12-12 | by a guest

.: :.

i'm doing this poem as part of eng literature and think it's very powerful with many deep meaning.
he obviously did kill his wife, even if it doesn't directly say so.
to the ones who don't like it or don't bother trying to understand it, you obviously don't own a brain. buy a goddamn dictionary.

| Posted on 2008-11-17 | by a guest

.: :.

thanks everyone :)
keep it up...you guys are awesome!

| Posted on 2008-10-20 | by a guest

.: :.

`This is about a duke, who when talking to a rep. of a count whos daughter he wantes to mary, gives the wrong impression probly leaving him wifeless.

| Posted on 2008-10-09 | by a guest

.: :.

For great lulz. The poem is about mudkips. Proof is here-
"Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!
-ANON

| Posted on 2008-09-15 | by a guest

.: :.

this poems too long and i dont like it
to his coy mistress is better

| Posted on 2008-08-27 | by a guest

.: 2 the bastard whos curiou :.

u think ur 2 smart jus coz some real pepl express their views on poetry...this lil ass bastard thinks he's smarty pant's??..i'll prove he wears panties

| Posted on 2008-05-20 | by a guest

.: dat last bitch :.

yall r all rong i killed dat dum bitch coz she waz cheaten on me flurting wit all dem dum knites lyk da dum slut dat she iz

| Posted on 2008-05-13 | by a guest

.: Interesting Poem :.

My last Duchess is a very interesting dramatic monologue.It makes every reader wonder abt the suspicious death of the late duchess,even though from the poem one can figure out that the Duke has a hand in her death eithr directly or indirectly as he tells us that he gave commands and all the smiles stoped.
The poem reveals the Duke's character.he is too jealous and is full of pride and i also feel that he lacks confidence in himself because he is afraid that he would lose his wife to other men whom she keeps smiling to and therefore decided to get rid of her.He is arranging to marry another wife and i wonder if he would be able to control his jealousy,so i fear for her life.
Noreen

| Posted on 2008-03-11 | by a guest

.: Lust for power :.

I think this is a poem about lust for power and sense of jeolousy toward those people who are happy in this world.am i right?

| Posted on 2008-03-08 | by a guest

.: My Last Duchess :.

I agree, he does kill her, but the narrator is not Ferrara - that's the place that he is Duke of.

| Posted on 2008-03-03 | by a guest

.: -+=My Last Duches=+- :.

For what i understand from our class, the narrator(ferrara) is jealous to his wife. His wife is fliriticious, she is easily impressed seeing her invironment, in this reason the duke hated her wife, at first he kept it as a secret, but as it goes, he couldn't hide his feelings, so he killed the duchess, as what in the poem is now telling us.
The DUKE KILLED HIS WIFE COZ OF JEALOUSY!!!!, Is he right to kill his wife? maybe yes, for he is a crazy man.. heheheh

| Posted on 2008-02-06 | by a guest

.: Modernisation :.

What this peom is showing is what many view to be an old time contract killing. The Duke has wanted to tame the Duchess and subject her to total domination and over powering control; however she has continually defied him by simply smiling. In my opinion the Duke is a very sick man and he tries to justify what he has done throughout the poem. This shows us what a moderm poet Robert Browing (1812 1889)was.

| Posted on 2008-01-20 | by a guest

.: My last duchess :.


Though “My Last Duchess” shows the Duke’s love for his last wife it also shows his love for power and control; The Duke is arrogant, he has a exaggerated sense of his own importance and feels he name holds power “My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name”. he feels that the actions of his wife reflect on him and that her flirtatiousness was not acceptable. He wanted to be treated differently than other men, he wanted her to preserve her smile for him, he wanted control over her. However he would not tell her as “Even then would be some stooping; and I choose
Never to stoop”, it seems that the Duke valued his pride above the life of his wife and felt that only in death would she be only his.

rosy









| Posted on 2007-12-11 | by a guest

.: My Last Duchess :.

My Last Duchess is use by dramtic monologue by Robert Browning. The backgroun is that the speaker in "My Last Duchess" is not named, but browning identified himas Alfonso II, the fifth Duke of Ferrara, who was a poerful noblema in Renaissance Italy. The first i=of the Duke's three wives was a young girl. Shortly afterhis marriage, the Duke left for two years =. His wife died in 1561, about a year after his return. Many beleved that she had been poisoned. In "My Last Duchess," the Duke is making plans to marry thye daughter of a count, and he is making arrangement with the Count's representative.

posted by Cyrille Villena Domaoal

| Posted on 2007-10-29 | by a guest

.: My Last Duchess :.

My Last Duchess is use by dramtic monologue by Robert Browning. The backgroun is that the speaker in "My Last Duchess" is not named, but browning identified himas Alfonso II, the fifth Duke of Ferrara, who was a poerful noblema in Renaissance Italy. The first i=of the Duke's three wives was a young girl. Shortly afterhis marriage, the Duke left for two years =. His wife died in 1561, about a year after his return. Many beleved that she had been poisoned. In "My Last Duchess," the Duke is making plans to marry thye daughter of a count, and he is making arrangement with the Count's representative.

| Posted on 2007-10-29 | by a guest

.: My Last Duchess :.

My Last Duchess is use by dramtic monologue by Robert Browning. The backgroun is that the speaker in "My Last Duchess" is not named, but browning identified himas Alfonso II, the fifth Duke of Ferrara, who was a poerful noblema in Renaissance Italy. The first i=of the Duke's three wives was a young girl. Shortly afterhis marriage, the Duke left for two years =. His wife died in 1561, about a year after his return. Many beleved that she had been poisoned. In "My Last Duchess," the Duke is making plans to marry thye daughter of a count, and he is making arrangement with the Count's representative.

| Posted on 2007-10-29 | by a guest

.: :.

an anlysis we came up in class with is that fra pandolf might have been michaelangelo himself. Lucrezia and michealangelo were lovers before her marriange to the duke of ferrarra, alfonso II, and at that time he was the best known painter in italy. hr might have been commissioned to paint lucrecia's portrait and might have brought along her blush.

in addition to this i do not consider lucrezia to be a flirt. She was a normal, bubbly teenager, full of life and charms in the wrong circumstances, married to the wrong guy for her. she believed in humanism as opposed to ferrarra's feudalism. And it was this mistake of being dissimilar to har husband dat brough about her death.

| Posted on 2007-09-07 | by a guest

.: My Last Duchess :.

This poem isn't about his love for his wife;
his poem's meaning is that the Duke is in love with power and control; but what I believe to be the greatest factor in this poem at all is the irony that on a metaphysical level, the Duke is in fact being controlled by the poet. This gives the poem even more depth, and perhaps a strange insight into Robert Browning (Could this be a manifestation of the power craving he has on the inside?). But, let's keep it simple, and look at it as just the Duke. Throughout the poem, we the reader, view this poem through the eyes of the Count's Envoy. As the Duke explains about his wife, he does reveal too much, (His references to his wife made in the semantic field of archery, [Sport which entails the use of a weapon]), and the constant plees he makes that she was always the one in the wrong; a flirtatious wife... But is it so? No. I believe that rather than being flirtatious, she may, sadly, just be a simple woman who cannot understand what she is doing. Of course, this isn't described in the poem, but it could certainly be the reason, which makes this poem a lot more sad. Upon noticing that he has sad too much to the reader (As The Count's Envoy), he begins to justify his actions, which in fact only incriminate him further. Quote, 'E'en then would be some stooping; and I choose
Never to stoop.'.
This actually elaborates on his Aristocratic manner, (another detail about the Duke and his lust for empowerment) as the enjambment used in fact exagerrates the tone he would be using; he was angry with her, which led him to have her killed. Not only this, but after looking at the picture, he brings the envoy to look at his next work of art, an effigy of complete control and tame over a beast, which implants the thought in your head (As would the Count's Envoy, upon realisation of this man's utter mental imbalance) that this man is so power mad, he will simply do the exact same thing to his next wife. It's strange that he would want another wife however, because he seems to get exactly out of what he wants from a wife on demand, including that special look she had (Which also emphasises on how psychotic he is, as this look was aimed at the painter)which ironically got her killed in the first place.

I have my GCSE English Language tomorrow. Is that an okay analysis?
- Mister Alex.

| Posted on 2007-05-21 | by a guest

.: My Last Duchess :.

What's up with "Brittany" and "G" ?? If you come onto this site, you're obviously just as desperate and sad as the other people you've described. These people were helping you so don't throw that in their face. Very narrow-minded and pitiful i say.
Regina

| Posted on 2007-05-17 | by a guest

.: wow thanks you guys :.

ok heres the deal pickles... i dont get poetry i cant really sit down and read it and understand it...but thats ok... but i do want to thank yall though cause i had to do a summary on this poem and yall helped me out alot... thanks a bunch... GIT-R-DUN!!!!!

Brittany

| Posted on 2007-04-24 | by a guest

.: :.

you guys are all freaks and shud get lives
poetry sucks and is so pointless!!!!!!
i have to do an english thingy on this poem and
i have to put it into real english!!!!!
wat the hell is the point of gay poetry
who cares bout poems they shud all be burned!!!!!
DIE POETRY DIE!!!!!!!MWAHAHAWAHMAHAAA
and u freaks who send this stuff in shud get lives
thanks for ur time and this better be posted
keep it real gangstars
your nigga
G


| Posted on 2007-04-19 | by a guest

.: my last duchess :.

The last duchess is basically a dramatic monologue,there is only one speaker but of course the presence of the listener is felt even though he doesn't actually respond.this poem is about Lucrezia de medici and the speaker is the duke of Ferrara whose probably is Alfonso 2.fra pandolf the painter and the claus of innsbruck r purely fake.
the duke is arrogant, possessive,jealous,greedy, ruthless coz he killed his own wife just becoz she smiled at every1 and treated every1 equally.he is authoritative and insaneand misunderstands the duchess.
the duchess is humane and finds happiness everywhere.

| Posted on 2007-04-18 | by a guest

.: the real analysis :.

It's obvious what the poem is really about! The Duke killed his former wife because he is arogant, and tired of her smiling at other men and not appreciating his gifts enough. Then he is about to go downstairs with his servant to pick out a new, and better wife. The Duke will find that everyone has imperfections and kill that new wife too. I believe he is just too egotistical to handle anyone anyways.
-Jen

| Posted on 2007-04-12 | by a guest

.: the real analysis :.

It's obvious what the poem is really about! The Duke killed his former wife because he is arogant, and tired of her smiling at other men and not appreciating his gifts enough. Then he is about to go downstairs with his servant to pick out a new, and better wife. The Duke will find that everyone has imperfections and kill that new wife too. I believe he is just too egotistical to handle anyone anyways.
-Jen

| Posted on 2007-04-12 | by a guest

.: :.

this poem is very meaningful.the duke is an ego centric guy who believes he can own any girl .He wants a wife that is HIS .hES VERY OBSESSIVE AND wants to own alot of htings.He is jelouse that his 17 years old wife "smiles" at other men.Because in his eyes it doesnt make him any special.

| Posted on 2007-04-07 | by a guest

.: DUke likes MEn :.

Its obvious that the duke is gay and he is talking to his new husband. My last duchess refers to his last "female" partner and that it means he is goingto explre other ventures. the reason his duchess died was because he was cheating on her with a man servent. He is clearly a monarch that turned gay after he had his fun with women.

| Posted on 2007-03-27 | by a guest

.: what's in a name? :.

The duke is a self-obsesseed character from an aristocratic background. The poem emphasises on the idea of aristocratic brutality, which suggests that people in postions of 'power' or people who feel they are important due to their social status beleieve they are entitled to do as they wish. Just like the duke, he didn't approve of his wife's 'popularity' with men and saw it in his power to dispose of her, thereby endowing himself with complete control over her. Bizzare.

| Posted on 2007-03-19 | by a guest

.: the last duchess :.

in this poem robert browning brings in a new character ....the duke who may seem very proud and somewhat arragont.he may be jealoous because of his wife behaviour with eveyone.he is also showed selfish in the last lines...that is alll from me~


unknown

| Posted on 2007-03-05 | by a guest

.: Long, but I like it :.

I was disappointed when I got this poem for poetry presentations because it is by far the most difficult one there... but I have to say I like the poem. A good example of dramatic monologue, the Duke reveals things about himself when he is really trying to show how unfaithful his last Duchess was. Pay attention to the iambic pentameter in the first line - that's MY last duchess painted on the wall. Also the simile "looking as if she were alive" says something about the Duke's views of art corresponding with his views of his Duchess. Very difficult to understand, but if you break it down it really has some deep meanings. I'd say the theme is this: egotistical people can become obsessed with trivial things.

| Posted on 2007-03-03 | by a guest

.: Respect :.

I'm not a fan of long poems with deep concepts, half of which I usually have trouble understanding. But I have to say, "My Last Duchess" is an exception. Browning manages to reveal the Duke's chracter beautifully, in a subtle way that makes it seem as if the uke himself is doing it, albeit unconciously. The idea of a man so possessive that he chooses to murder- whether directly or not- his own wife, just so he can have complete power over her has an eerie, yet awe-inspiring touch to it. Beautifully written, beautifully phrased- I have to say, it has earned every ounce of my respect.

| Posted on 2007-02-20 | by a guest

.: :.

you guys are all freaks and shud get lives
poetry sucks and is so pointless!!!!!!
i have to do an english thingy on this poem and
i have to put it into real english!!!!!
wat the hell is the point of gay poetry
who cares bout poems they shud all be burned!!!!!
DIE POETRY DIE!!!!!!!MWAHAHAWAHMAHAAA
and u freaks who send this stuff in shud get lives
thanks for ur time and this better be posted
keep it real gangstars
your nigga
b

| Posted on 2007-02-11 | by a guest

.: :.

This poem is about a Duke in Italy. His wife was very popular with the men surrounding her.this poem is wriiten in continuous prose as if the Duke is recanting his thoughts,sharing his feeling on his "theoretically" belated wife. he explains that she was popular with alot of men "some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her" and also to easilly impressed."too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed;".The Duke is telling of his intollerance of her actions. He hated the way in which she treated other men as an equal to the Duke. so one day all the smiles and blushes she was giving to others stopped. (WHETHER THEY STOPPED BECAUSE HE KILLED HER-AS IMPLIED OR WHETHER SHE WAS SENT TO A NUNNERY IS UNKNOWN).Robert Browning implies that she was put to death by the Duke,evidence through wider reading also corresponds with this.


| Posted on 2005-12-02 | by Approved Guest

.: The bitch is dead :.

Look the Duke killed his wife or he would not be getting married again, Italy had laws against havng two wives at this period. She is dead because she offended him, more than likely unknowingly, but hey the Duke is a pimp and she stepped outta line so he put her in her place. The poem is not about him being nervous, it is a threat, maybe even a boast. He controlled her in death like he could not in life, and the next Dutchess will be well aware of it. The Statue is his trophy and the painting is his jealousy hiding her face from everyones view, but his. If you don't get it after that then you probably will not get it. Good Luck

| Posted on 2005-11-16 | by Approved Guest

.: :.

This is a very interesting poem, as he values his wife as highly as any other piece of art: In this case it is Neptune - as something which he possesses and owns, and nothing much else. This same possessive attitude can also be found in "pophyria's lover", another of Browning's dramatic monologues. While we are not specifically told that the Duke kills his wife, he says twice, that she is "as if she were alive", so it seems quite obvious that she is dead. This poem shows an extreme example of jealousy. While he expects his "last duchess" to love him more than anything else, he has no inhibitions over finding another wife, and does not seem to love her exclusively.

| Posted on 2005-05-17 | by Approved Guest

.: To whoever didnt enjoy it :.

How can this poem be boring?!?! It is intersting, and once you have read it you wonder what the evil duke did to his wife. Did he kill her? It never once says that he certainly did.

If you think that the poem is boring then obviously you have not thought about what the hidden messages mean. You havn't noticed the hints and clues to what has happened to his (the duke) teenage wife.

Maybe, next time, you should actually read poetry before you critisize.

| Posted on 2005-05-16 | by Approved Guest

.: :.

This poem is basically about a Duke who is so jealous towards his wife and how she acts with other men, he gives 'The orders' to have all the smiles stop (He had her killed). He is telling this to a counts envoy, because the envoy is there to see if the duke is good enough for the counts daughter. The duke is showing the envoy around the gallery to impress him. On the way down the comment about "Notice Neptune, though, Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!" is saying to the envoy what he is expecting the counts daughter to be like. He wants to be able to tame her so she is completely his. The "for me!" at the end shows how really obsessed he his with himself. All the way through the poem he talks about himself, making him very ego-scentric. This is also shown about the comment on the 900 year old name. He feels that his name is the greatest gift his ex-wife received but he fealt that she did not rate it any higher than she did with the cherries or mule and this angers him. He feels that she would flirt with every man, as well as te painter who painted the picture of her. The flirting is told to be 'smiles' in the actuall poem.


| Posted on 2005-05-09 | by Approved Guest

.: my last duchess in depth :.

this poem is a classica damatic monologue...an art which Browning perfected.this poem has a speech prefix...Ferrara: which is not inclluded in the commercial version of the poem due to political reasons...even the title of the poem has undergone many changes...!the 1st line itself is very revealing...if u stress on the word "that" it shows a casual adress to sumthin' if u stress on the word " my" it shows the presence of the feeling of possessin' the duchess...it shows that the duke "owns" her. stress the word"last" and it shows that it has been a sequence...that is he has been showing many duchess to the guest...oh ya the guest is Nikolaus...he is the servant of the Count of Tyrolle and has come to negotiate for the count's daughter for the duke...the count's daughter was the Barbera of Austria...the original Duchess was Lucrezia...according to the chronicles, she died due to suspicious reasons at the age of SEVENTEEN...now a girl at the age of 17 is bound to smile at anyone who passes by! by the way she was married wen she was 14! and the duke had left her for two years! FRa pandolf is fake, so is the Claus of Innsbruck but i dont actually know whether Pandolf used to paint dead bodies! if u wanna get more dope on it read "ferrara and my last duchess: studies in philology" by Louis S. Friedland...

| Posted on 2005-02-12 | by Approved Guest

.: :.

This is actually a really jacked out poem.

*this'll be a spoiler, but that's kind of what you want you sneaky cheaters *

This is the mind of a killer. The main beauty in this poem is that the narrator(murderer) is reasoning through his justification to be completely okay with what he did, killing her. It's kind of like the tell-tale heart. The duke is arrogant, egotistical, and seemingly untouchable. 900 year old name, meaning established power. He gets what he wants no matter how extreme and defends his action as if it was purly logical to have taken such an action. He depicts his process of reasoning to an observers while "mourning" the duchess' death. Frà Pandolf is a fake artist that works with dead people dressing them up and taking pictures. It also may be worth noting that pictures took a really long time to develope back then. It says the girl was flirtatious with other men. She'd look at him with the same eyes as she would with other men. He wouldn't "stoop" to scolding her for her behavior. He believed only in death could she truly be only his. Claus is a fake guy that makes sculptures. This is kinda based off a true story. Duke Alfonso the II or something. It stops too suddenly but it leaves you wondering.

| Posted on 2004-10-24 | by Aksuri