Discussion Topic
The Duke of Ferrara's personality and the impression he gives in "My Last Duchess"
Summary:
The Duke of Ferrara in "My Last Duchess" is portrayed as arrogant and controlling. He reveals his possessive nature and obsession with power through his monologue about his late wife, indicating that he perceived her as an object rather than a partner. His casual mention of possibly orchestrating her demise further underscores his ruthless and authoritative personality.
Describe the Duke of Ferrara's personality in "My Last Duchess".
As in all of Robert Browning's dramatic monologues, the speaker reveals his character and personality both consciously and unconsciously by what he says. By the time the reader has finished "My Last Duchess " he or she will have acquired a vivid impression of this Duke of Ferrara with the nine-hundred-year-old name. He is suave and polite. He treats his visitor with great courtesy. No doubt this habitual exterior hides a creature who is cold, selfish, cruel, acquisitive, and proud. He prides himself on being an art lover and a person with a great appreciation of beauty; however, he seems totally insensitive to real beauty and only interesting in acquisitions, both of valuable objects and of beautiful wives with good family backgrounds and substantial dowries. He is, in fact, a horrible monster disguised as a polished nobleman. He is as loathesome as a reptile, and the reader must...
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feel sorry for the poor girl he intends to make his "next" duchess.
What impression does the Duke of Ferrara give in "My Last Duchess"?
While the portrait of the titular duchess is beautiful but tragic, the picture the poem paints of the Duke of Ferrara is far less flattering. The duke's monologue emphasizes his arrogance and possessiveness. He claims to have been bothered by the duchess's friendly attitude towards others, particularly her habit of smiling at other men. For example, it angers the duke that the duchess appeared as grateful over cherries or a ride on a white mule as she was to be the duke's wife and inherit his ancient name. This shows the duke is overly proud of his social class and that he expects that any wife of his should share that vanity. In fact, he is so enraged that she bestows her smile on everyone that it is implied he had her killed:
I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive.
In death, the duchess falls under the duke's complete control. He hides her portrait behind a curtain, leaving the question of who gets to see her smile up to him alone. This emphasizes both the duke's desire for power and his potential madness. He is not a man who sees his wife as an equal or even as someone to love, but as someone who should submit to him in everything, even something as trifling as when and for whom she smiles. All of this paints the duke as a tyrannical figure.