'My Last Duchess' Review

'My Last Duchess' is a dramatic monologue written by Robert Browning, using the view point of a seemingly deranged man with unhealthy obsessions. It uses first person to engage the reader more and lure them into the mind frame of a psychopath, and the continuous use of enjambment in one large verse.

The title 'My Last Duchess' insinuates dominance instantly; the use of the word 'my' to express possession over this woman. The title also shows how this man feels no emotion towards whatever has happened to this woman; he shall have another. The poem uses iambic pentameter although this is not obvious - with every second second word being stressed. This is unnatural and contributes to the feeling of something sinister. The narrator begins by pointing out the painting of his Last Duchess, for he writes 'That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, looking as if she were alive, I call that piece a wonder now.' The tone is calm, leaving no room for emotion. Rhyming couplets are used throughout, which contradicts the poem itself, as they connote romance and love - we discover later that this is quite different. There is no stanza, no break, which may be representative of what the man has done and shows how he will repeat his actions, without stopping to think about what he is doing.

The use of imagery is quite extravagant - as this man was married to a Duchess you think of royalty, colours of gold and red. This is reinforced by his archaic language, he is obviously well educated and influential (which he later denies in a bid of modesty). Examples of this include: '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.'

The narrator also uses a series of rhetorical questions - 'How shall I say? Too soon made glad,', 'Who'd stoop to blame this sort of trifling?', 'Will't you please rise?' they need not be answered by his company as he is not inviting him to speak, it seems he is too encompassed by the sound of his own voice. This reinforces his own pretentiousness and arrogance.

There is never any evidence throughout the poem that his Duchess did anything wrong, just that she was a generally happy individual. However the narrator seems to show no remorse for this, just smug that now he can control who looks at her and who she looks at by pulling back the curtain, which symbolizes his eternal control over her.