The Meaning of Robert Browning's My Last Duchess
A Dramatic Monologue Revealing Egocentrism and Objectification
Feb 13, 2009
The sole speaker in Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess is, ostensibly, the Duke of Ferrara. Readers learn this through the inclusion of the city name, which prefaces the speaker’s monologue. The duke speaks of the duchess in the past tense and specifically indicates that she is no longer alive. Her fate, as well as his character, is revealed entirely through the information he supplies his listener. No other character contributes to the conversation, making Browning’s poem a dramatic monologue.
The Listener
The Duke of Ferrara speaks to an unnamed emissary, who has been sent ahead of his high status employers to announce their arrival. However, the reason for the emissary’s presence is not revealed until the end of the poem. The duke, wishing to show off his wife's portrait, presents the faithful and apparently stunning representation of his former wife to this nearly captive audience, hoping the emissary will be appropriately awed.
The Duchess
While encouraging his visitor’s admiration of the painting, the duke notes that he does not pull aside the curtain for everyone. When the duke is not present, the curtain remains closed. Only he can admire the woman behind it. Here, we receive the first clue of the duchess’ unhappy existence.
The duke also notes the rosy tone in the duchess’ cheek. This, he contends, was probably incited by some compliment painter Frà Pandolf paid her. Thus begins his description of her principal flaw: her goodness and affection was reserved not only for the duke, but was enjoyed by everyone she came into contact with. Her white mule, a gift cherries offered by someone, even the setting sun all made her blossom with blushing appreciation. The duke complains that the duchess ranked such pleasures in the same league as the duke’s gift of a 900-year old name.
Indicating that he tried to correct her, he asserts that correction was beneath him, and when she failed to change, he “gave commands” that caused her to stop smiling entirely. The commands are a nebulous indication of the duchess’ fate. Since readers understand from the initial lines that the duchess is no longer alive, it can be assumed that the duke and his commands are somehow responsible for her death.
The Emissary’s Purpose
The emissary has come to announce the arrival of the duke's potential new bride and her traveling party. The mention of the girl’s dowry indicates the duke's intention of marrying her. Once he finishes speaking about his former wife, he goes downstairs, where the party is waiting. The reader can assume that he plans to inspect his new betrothed. This is an especially chilling revelation, since the reader understands that his expectations of his previous wife were unrealistic and this new bride may suffer the same fate.
Statue of Neptune
The reference to the bronze state of Neptune is no chance inclusion. By alluding to the fact that Claus of Innsbruck, a sculptor dreamed up by Browning, cast the work especially for the duke, Browning reveals the duke’s desire for exceptional treatment. He also reveals the duke to be a collector of objects and by extension, a man who objectifies his women. It seems a static portrait of the duchess is the only way a woman will achieve his perfect ideal. Moreover, the statue’s subject, the mythological god Neptune taming a seahorse, is symbolic of his relationship to women. He, with unquestionable authority, is forced to discipline and cultivate the errant female.
In this dramatic monologue, Robert Browning paints his own portrait of a duke consumed by jealousy and overwhelmed by ego. By presenting a messenger--a man of decidedly lower stature, who becomes his captive audience--with a portrait of his wife, explaining her perceived faults, and alluding to her inauspicious fate, the duke further reveals his unsympathetic, even imprudent arrogance. This becomes especially unsettling when the reader understands that the emissary the duke speaks to is in the employ of the family into whom the duke plans to marry.
