When was my last duchess written

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Download this LitChart! Question about this poem? Ask us. After her death, Alfonso courted and eventually married the niece of the Count of Tyrol. Robert Browning takes this brief anecdote out of the history books and turns it into an opportunity for readers to peek inside the head of a psychopath.

Although Browning hints at the real-life Renaissance back-story by putting the word "Ferrara" under the title of the poem as an epigraph, he removes the situation from most of its historical details. Even though there were historical events that inspired the poem, the text itself has a more generalized, universal, nameless feel. We can understand why you might have trouble caring about "My Last Duchess" at first. But the themes in play here are way more interesting than the basic setup.

In his mind, killing her is the only way to deal with the fact that she smiled at the sunset. And that reminds us of another movie from the early 90s — Sleeping With the Enemy.

But the point is that this poem has several different attractions: a "true crime" feel the real-life Duchess of Ferrara did die under suspicious circumstances and a chilling depiction of the psychology of a man obsessed with power. Robert Browning Image of the young Robert Browning. When Browning wrote this poem, he had this thing in mind so, through this poem, he tried to explore the injustice of the male dominant society.

This poem is a dramatic monologue. In a dramatic monologue, the speaker addresses alone at the stage in the presence of a silent listener.

The scene unfolds through the monologue of the speaker who is the Duke of Ferrara. As Robert Browning tried to introduce a new type of poetry combining the traits of stage plays and romantic verses, this poem also has the same setup. It is set in the private art gallery in the palace of the Duke of Ferrara. The setting is the mid-sixteenth century in Renaissance Italy.

In this poem, the Duke of Ferrara talks to a silent listener who is one of his guests. He draws his attention towards the painting of his former Duchess who is now dead. The painting hangs on the wall of his private art gallery. The Dukes invites the listener to sit down and asks him to look at the painting and examine its art of wonder closely. The Duke tells the listener that he told him the name of its artist purposefully before he asks himself. He knows that the painting is a masterpiece.

Whoever sees it, wishes to know about its artist. They want to know who filled this painting with depth and passion and gave it a lively look. The Duke also tells him that whoever sees this painting, turns towards him with surprise.

They want to ask something but they dare not to speak in front of their Duke. So, as the Duke reads their faces and knows what they actually want, he himself explains the art of wonder to them.

Moreover, he tells him that only he can draw back the curtains that hang over the painting and show it to anyone else if he wants. The Duke then explains the painting of his Duchess. He tells the listener that the smile and the blush that he can see on the face of his duchess in the painting was not because of his presence. He guesses the reason behind her smile.

He says that maybe she smiled when Fra Pandolf praised her beauty. Maybe, he told her that her shawl is covering too much of her beautiful wrist.

Maybe, he admired her beauty by saying that he was unable to recreate the beauty. The Duke then criticizes his Duchess by saying that she always took all this stuff as a courtesy and she thought it was something enough to make her happy. He says that the heart of his Duchess could be easily won and it was very easy to impress her with anything. Wherever the Duchess looked, she liked and praised everything. He further tells the listener about the nature of his former wife.

Everything was equal for her. The gift of jewelry that he gave her to wear on her chest made her happy. In the same way, she became happy looking at the sunset in the West. Even the bough of cherries from the orchard brought to her by a fool inspired her.

Moreover, the white mule on which she rode around the terrace made her happy in a similar way. She had no special liking for the things that Duke did for her.

She treated everything equally and praised in the same way. The Duke explains that she thanked men for whatever they did for her but he had no problem with it. The real problem is that she had no special appreciation for the gifts that Duke gave her. The Duke then tells about his inability to explain anything to her. He tells the listener that though he is not skillful in speech or explaining anything to anyone yet if he had this ability to tell her that what things of her disgusted him or where she failed to meet his expectations, still he would never have talked to her about this.

He says even if there were chances that she could change herself for him. Still he never dared to discuss this thing with her. He considers it equal to stoop. As a Duke he can never bend before anyone even in front of his own Duchess. So, he decided not to stoop and explain anything to her. The Duke admits it to the listener that his wife smiled whenever he crossed her but no one ever crossed her without receiving the same smile from her side.

Her nice behavior with everyone grew day by day so he gave commands to kill her and as a result, all of her smiles stopped. He again points towards the painting and says now there she stands in the painting as if she is still alive. After ending the story of his Duchess, the Duke invites the man to get up and follow him downstairs so that they can meet other guests too. The Duke talks about the generosity of the master of the listener.

He finally reveals that the silent listener is the servant of the Count, whose daughter he is going to marry soon. The Duke tells the listener that he knows his master is generous.

He knows that the Count will not reject whatever he demands. However, as he mentioned in the beginning, the beautiful daughter of the Count is more important for him. Then they go down and on their way back, the Duke again draws the attention of the servant towards another masterpiece that is kept in his gallery. He shows him a bronze statue of God Neptune taming the sea-horse that was a rare piece of the art and he tells the servant that Claus of Innsbruck made it especially for him.

This poem is all about power. The Duke of Ferrara is shown exercising his tyrannical power not only in his political and social affairs but also in his marital life. He rules with an iron fist. A beautiful piece of art is presented in the poem.