My Last Duchess-Qs-Ans-As a Dramatic Monologues

 ‘My Last Duchess’ is Robert Browning’s one of most famous poems. It is a dramatic monologue.

A dramatic monologue is a poem in which the speaker, who is like a protagonist as we have in dramas, is placed in a critical situation. The poet remains aloof (separated) from him. The speaker reacts to the difficult situation and thus lays bare his soul. He reveals his character to the readers or the audience. The presence of a listener or the interlocutor is also felt and it makes the situation dramatically.

In this poem, the Duke of Ferrara is the speaker, whose wife is no more now. He is a widower and wants to marry the daughter of a neighbouring Count, from whom he also expects to receive a rich dowry. The Count has sent a messenger (an envoy) to negotiate with the Duke.

The Duke takes the messenger to have a glimpse of his picture gallery. Actually, the Duke is the product of the Renaissance period that originally began in Italy. He has immense love for art.

In the whole poem, the Duke keeps on speaking to the silent listener, and in this way, he reveals his inner self. He is greedy, possessive, jealous, cruel, and despotic by nature, though he loves art and beauty also. His speech also brings about the innocent and simple nature of his previous wife, whom he killed by strangulating her just because she did not follow his strict ‘code’ of conduct while behaving with others.

 

My Last Duchess-Qs-Ans-Robert Browning-Use of Irony

 Comment on the use of irony in the poem. Illustrate your answer with examples from the text.

Ans. Robert Browning has very beautifully used irony in the dramatic monologue My Last Duchess. The Duke’s ironical utterances (words) help the poet to make characterisation more lively and effective. At the explicit level, the Duke seems to appreciate the qualities of the Duchess, but internally, he is disapproving of them.

After describing the beautiful face of the Duchess, he proceeds to speak on her simple heart,  which easily impressed. He says She had/A heart …too soon, made glad/Too easily impressed…

The Duke continues saying that she liked everything and her eyes went everywhere. After all, she was a Duke’s wife and she should have had control over her feelings. Here, the reader comes to know how class conscious the Duke was –Actually, he was a jealous husband He was unable to bear his wife’s looking at others and appreciating their small courtesies. This is apparently (clearly) ironic and satirical as well. He is unable to tolerate her straightforward behavior with others. 

Finally, the Duke gets her precious wife killed. See the cruel irony hidden in the lines: This grew and-I gave commands/ Then all smiles stopped together.

The Duke's hypocrisy and greed come to the fore when he ironically hints at his intention of getting a huge dowry from the Count in the marriage. He hints and indicates to the messenger very cleverly that his sole purpose is to marry the Count's daughter. He adds further that the Count is well known for his generous nature and so, he would not mind his reasonable demand for dowry. Thus Robert Browning uses irony very intelligently in character-building in his dramatic monologues.

 

My Last Duchess-Qs-Ans-The Duke's Character

 The tyranny, pride, and greed of the Duke have been shown in sharp contrast to the good nature of the Duchess. Explain.

 Or The Duke’s Character

Ans. The poem” My Last Duchess’ is in the form of a dramatic monologue. It very beautifully depicts the contrast between the characters of the Duke and his former wife, the Duchess.

The Duke’s character has been an epitome of the evils like tyranny, pride, and greed, while the Duchess has been shown as a woman full of human values like kindness and sympathy. Let’s discuss both of these characters; in sharp contrast to each other.

The Duke’s cruelty and tyranny come to the surface when he talks to the envoy about his previous wife, the Duchess.

First of all, we find the Duke’s possessive nature,  which makes him a despotic husband.

The use of the possessive adjective ‘my’ in the line ‘‘That's my last Duchess” shows his possessive nature in the very beginning. He considers his wife his personal property.

The Duke did not allow an ordinary artist to execute the work of painting the portrait of his late wife. He willingly engaged a monk, who is supposed to have won over his physical desires. Here also, we may say that the Duke was a man of jealous nature. He did not like other men to have a close look at his wife’s beautiful face. He appears to be a tyrant, who did not allow his wife the very basic freedom of life.

Indirectly also, the Duke suggests to the Count’s messenger that he would like strict discipline from his would-be wife while behaving with ordinary people. He was not at all democratic in his ideas. He did not believe in the goodness of a human heart. That is the reason why he could not appreciate the inner beauty of the Duchess.

The Duke was also class-conscious. He believed in social discrimination while his wife believed in equality. She had a simple and innocent heart.

‘Then all smiles stopped together: This single line of only ‘five words’ contains “the tragedy of a whole life” in a little space, says Robinson, a famous critic. It means a lot. When the Duke could not further tolerate the duchess’ liberal behaviour with others, it may be guessed clearly that he passed orders to kill her. In this way, her smiles were stopped forever. Thus we see

The Duke also exhibits several Renaissance qualities that surely are appreciable. First, he admires the portrait of his wife. It shows his love for art. After that, the Duke starts moving downstairs. The messenger gives the Duke way, but he tells him politely that both of them would go together downstairs.

As the Duke starts to step down, he indicates to the messenger to see a bronze statue of Neptune. He tells the messenger that it was a rare piece of art carved by the famous sculptor Claus of Innsbruck. Thus, it shows that the Duke has a great love for art.

But his greed, hypocrisy, possessive nature, jealousy, and cruelty overshadow his qualities.