The setting of the poem is the residence of the Duke of Ferrara. The speaker and narrator of the poem is the Duke. "My Last Duchess" is a conversation between the Duke and a servant of a Count. As the monologue opens, the audience is treated to a description of a portrait of the Duke's first wife. He takes great pains to insure that the reader "sees" the painting. "That's my last duchess painted on the wall/ Looking as if she were alive." (Line 1 and 2)

The Duke's reason for speaking with the servant is to discuss the Duke's intention to marry the daughter of the servant's employer. This is learned late in the poem. During, the conversation, the audience sees a great hatred the Duke has for his first wife, who mysteriously died.

The opening tone of the poem is somewhat light. A widower discusses the painting of his former wife, the beauty of her. On into the poem, the reader begins to detect a change in the Duke's tone. He be

gins to recall the possible circumstances resulting in the "faint blush" the Duchess' cheeks have. (Line 15) The Duke begins opening his suspicious mind as to the various possibilities- "perhaps Fra Pandolf chanced to say". (Line 15 and 16) According to the Duke, many was the curious viewer who asked.

The Duke seemed to be in a relationship in which he was tormented, tormented by the fact that he loved a women who's head could be turned by things or other men, tormented by feelings of less-than adequate husbandry. He was tormented by the realization that his feelings meant little to his wife. As she continued to flirt and "smile", he "commanded" her to stop. It is at this point in the poem the climax is reached. (Line 45) The Duke, in all his fury, confesses to the silent servant -"then all smiles stopped together." (Line 46) He had reached his breaking point. The affairs, the taunting, the feeling of abandonment of the marriage all came together. Ending it all, he "stopped the smiles", he stopped her. (Line 45) "There she stands/ As if alive", before I took her life, he would like to add. (Line 45 and 46)

Once again, Browning's narrator changes his tone. The change is one to say "Oh no, I've told everything, what now?" The tone now becomes one of, oh, I apologize, back to the point of our conversation - my marriage to your boss's daughter. [Just as he reveals the true intent of the conversation, the reader is also given a view into the nature of the Duke.] Throughout th

Some common words found in the essay are:
According Duke, Duke Duchess, Count Count's, Duke Throughout, Oh I've, Browning Victorian, Fra Pandolf, Browning Duchess, Duke Ferrara, Robert Browning, line 45, late duchess, former wife, poem reader, robert browning, smiles stopped line, late wife, duke servant, reader view, stopped line, smiles stopped,
Approximate Word count = 1010
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)