My Last Duchess and What Really Happened!

Robert Browning is THE Victorian poet. This book pretty much sums up his literary canon, with My Last Duchess as a fairly accurate summation of the bulk of his poetry. As many poets of this period, Browning wrote about nature a great deal, as well as other topics that were prominent in his world, such as social aspects of late 19th century England.

Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” could be read as a poem of social commentary. The poem is a nobleman’s monologue about a painting of his former wife, the duchess. Although throughout the poem he is speaking of a painting, the duke is really speaking about the duchess herself, which is represented in the painting of her. His monologue enlightens us to his own character, as well as possibly the character of the dead Duchess, depending on how much we trust the Duke’s narration. Because the Duke is not a particularly trustworthy narration, we must seek out the true story of the Duchess that is hidden between the lines of the Duke’s words. Therefore it is up to the Duke’s audience, the reader, to discover the true story of what really happened and why.

We know from the first words that the speaker is a personal of noble lineage because he refers to the painting on the wall as “my last Duchess”. Several other things can be inferred from the opening of the poem, including the fact that the duchess is no longer alive. From the first words, we might think that the Duke will go on speaking about the duchess, as he seemingly starts talking about her, saying that she looks “as if she were alive” (line 2). However, he is in fact deliberating on the painted picture of her, since he proceeds to talk about the “piece” (line 3) itself and its craftsmanship, rather than his dead wife. This is a first telling mark to the reader that the duke is perhaps not a very good man, if he tells us about the craftsmanship of a painting before the attributes of his dead wife.

The description of the craftsmanship is also significant here because he specifically employs a painter from a monastic order to come up with a design. Thus, the painter is a man who cannot be of any threat to the Duke, as far as the Duchess is concerned. It is for this very reason that there is a curtain in place over the painting, so that the Duchess should be for the Duke and for no one else. The Duke is clearly a jealous and possessive man when it comes to his dead wife.

The Duke extends the audience an invitation to come and look at this painting of his Duchess, along with him. In looking at the Duchess’ portrait along with the Duke, the audience becomes a spectator on the side of the Duke. By figuratively standing next to him and peering at this painting behind a curtain, we are intruding on the Duchess’ space. We are engaging in a sort of masculine penetration of the gaze into the realm of the feminine space behind the curtain. The facilitator of this action is the Duke himself, the embodiment of masculinity and its rituals in the poem. Also, it is the Duke’s monologue, so he is clearly in control of the entire poem, without a possibility for the Duchess to answer back. All she can do is stare out at us from what is “painted on the wall” (line 1), unable to defend herself.

Apparently the first question that the Duke’s audience asks is about the look on the Duchess’ face. We already know that the Duke’s listener is trusted, since the Duke reveals the contents behind the curtain, but now the Duke speaks rather blatantly about his wife’s character: “Sir, ’t was not her husband’s presence only, called that spot of joy into the Duchess’ cheek” (lines 13-15). Addressing his listener as “Sir”, the Duke’s comments are said in a fashion of “man-to-man”, communicating that the Duchess was less than faithful all the time, as she got that look on her face from other stimuli, most likely other men than her husband. In fact, the look on her face is so obvious, that even the monk painter noticed “the faint half-flush that dies along her throat” (lines 18-19). The flush in itself is very suggestive of some sort of improper behavior on the part of the Duchess. The Duke proceeds in his disclosures of his wife’s infidelity saying that, “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.”( lines 21-24). Now we know that the Duchess was sleeping around with other men, at least from the definitive perspective of our narrator, the Duke. The insertion of the phrase “how shall I say” assumes that the Duke is not saying everything or attempting to rephrase a more blunt assertion of the Duchess’ transgressions. Also, the assertion that “her looks went everywhere” seems like a direct euphemism for her promiscuity.

Mentioning his “gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name,” (line 33) the Duke levels his family name together with his male ego. Both are injured by the Duchess’ misbehavior, but he is particularly concerned about possible damage done to his name. He does not talk about how much he loved the Duchess and how his feelings were hurt when he found out about what she was doing. Instead, he accuses her of not being grateful enough for his “gift,” that is to say, his great name that she acquired as a result of their union. His name is clearly of primary importance, but his hurt pride comes next, as the Duke describes the Duchess’ affection towards him comparable to her affection towards others that “passed” (line 44). It is supposedly these “smiles” (line 44) that served as the final straw, causing the Duke to “give commands,” (line 45) and get the Duchess out of the site of these other men, either by having her killed or sending her to a monastery.

The final meaning of the Duke’s actions regarding the Duchess is ambiguous, but given the Duke’s unfeeling character, it is quite probable that the Duke had her killed. Certainly given everything that we know about the Duke, he is not a true gentleman, regardless of his noble status and “nine-hundred-years-old name”. However, since we never get to hear the Duchess’ side of the story, it is difficult to conjecture what really happened, and whether or not the Duchess deserved the fate she met at the hands of the Duke. All we have of the Duchess’ point of view is her look out of the painting, and the blush of her throat.