My Last Duchess Group

Question:

mitaricha
mitaricha
Student
Community / Jr. College

Explain the following line: "That's my Last Duchess....such a glance came there."

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Posted by mitaricha on Sunday August 16, 2009 at 10:16 PM and tagged with literature, my last duchess, quotations.

Answers:

  1. loriink
    loriink

    eNotes Editor

    In "My Last Duchess," the speaker is a duke. He is showing a portrait of his "last" wife to an unnamed viewer. No one ever looks at the picture except the duke. It is remarkably lifelike, and was painted by a very great and well-regarded painter. The duke is very proud of this fact. (He likes to brag!) The duke is remarking on the joy in the woman's expression in the painting. It is his opinion that his former wife was a flirt, and that her expression was caused by the painter's flattery. The line "And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,/How such a glance came there" is our first hint that the duke is a jealous, calculating man, and probably crazy.

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    Posted by loriink on Thursday August 20, 2009 at 9:58 AM