In "My Last Duchess," the Duke comes across as a haughty renaissance aristocrat who is justifying his actions with rather more eloquence than he intends. The Duke specifically says that he has no skill in speech and would not have been able to explain to the Duchess his objections to her conduct, but he manages to explain them to the count's ambassador with great precision. For the reader who "overhears" this monologue, there is a tension between the Duke's arrogance and his evident compulsion to explain his actions even when no one has asked him to do so, and telling the story cannot possibly bring him any advantage in his marriage settlement.

"Hazel Tells Laverne" has the same confessional quality. Although the speaker is as far as possible from the Duke in social class and outlook, she has the same compulsion to talk about and event which does not confer any credit on her. The most likely explanation is that she is delusional. If this is so, her madness is more straightforward than the Duke's, which is brought on by jealousy and possessiveness. She believes that a frog spoke to her and offered to make her a princess. If this really did happen, the speaker is arguably just as mad as if she were deluded, for she has killed (or at least disposed of) a talking frog which might have brought her wealth and fame even if she did not become a princess. Her treatment of the frog is a rejection of fairy tales in the face of life's harsh reality, and the same may be said of the way in which the Duke treats the Duchess.