My Last Duchess (833 words)

My Last DuchessMy Last Duchess
By Robert Browning
In Robert Browning’s monologue poem ?My Last Duchess,? the author employs many literary techniques to convey the overriding jealous, controlling demeanor of the persona, the Duke. The poem, through the Dukes careful words, illustrates that appearances can indeed be deceiving.
In the first line Browning immediately withdraws the persona from the poem, saying directly to the envoy, and thus the reader ?there’s my last Duchess painted on the wall? (1). Only four lines later, we are politely invited to admire the painting: ?Will’t please you sit and look at her?? (5). By jumping right into the Duke’s comments to the envoy regarding his ?last? wife’s portrait Browning effectively draws the reader in, as we are enthralled by the Duke’s courteous demeanor.
??Fr? Pandolf’ by design? the Duke says, trying to impress his audience. Browning invented the name of the artist, and thus the Duke’s efforts to impress are foiled, since the name is unfamiliar. One explanation for Browning’s reasons behind the invented name could be to illustrate that the Duke had been duped. He may have hired the artist under the pretense she was well known. This is the first major hint towards Browning’s underlying theme?the Duke may appear to be of haute couture, but we are beginning to suspect we have been deceived.
Later, after having eloquently spoken, the Duke comments, ?Even had you skill / In speech?which I have not? (35-36). The false modesty corresponds with his forged politeness a few lines before. Then, after much discussion of how certain things his Duchess did ?disgusts? (38) him, and how she would ?miss / Or exceed the mark? (38-39), the Duke collects himself, and brings us back into his control by adjusting his almost constant fa?ade. ?Will’t please you rise?? (47) he asks, in the same breath complimenting ?master’s known munificence? (49). The circle is complete and we once again almost believe his superficial mask to be true. Through the diction of the Duke, Browning is able to show how easily one can be blinded by an allusion.
The Duke shows obvious jealousy and resentment towards his belated wife. She was ?too easily impressed? (23) and she ?thanked men,?good! But thanked?as if she ranked / My gift of a nine-hundred-year-old name / With anybody’s gift? (31-33). The Duke was simply jealous of the Duchess love of life; he wished that she would smile only for him.
Finally, filled with envious rage, he ?gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together? (45-46). By this, Browning gives the initial impression that the Duchess is now under the control of the Duke, like ?Neptune?/ Taming the sea-horse? (54-55). Even if one has caught on to the Duke’s falseness through observance of his diction, superficial understanding of the poem stops with the belief that the Duke finally has his prize?drawn behind a ?curtain? for only him, and a few choice people to view on the wall. However, Browning drives the theme that appearances can be deceiving even deeper.

The Duke places a ?curtain? around the painting to shield the eyes of the acrylic face from wandering. After all, there is more to the world than a view of the Duke. ?Fr? Pandolf? (6) attempted to convince the Duke that the only thing that could be wrong with the Duchess’s portrait is the impossibility to ?reproduce the faint / Half-flush that dies along her throat? (17-18), or that ?Her mantle laps / Over my lady’s wrist too much? (17). But what the Duke is haunted by is now a flaw in artistry, but his wife’s enduring, yet unendearing, gaze. He himself admits, that she looks ?as if she were alive? (2) in the portrait he must shield from the world, as well as from himself. The portrait ?stands? (4), unsupported, mimicking how the Duchess stood, independently, in life.
Much like the bronze god in the statue of ?Neptune?/ Taming the sea-horse? (54-55), the Duke is frozen forever, trapped by his inability to ever completely control the Duchess. One may think that the Duke has ?won? and conquered all by finally having her ?smiles stopped together? (45-56), but much like the image of himself he tries so hard to convey, the