Where is dramatic irony presented in "My Last Duchess"?

Arguably, the greatest moment of dramatic irony in this poem occurs at the end, when the reader realizes that the person to whom the Duke is speaking has been sent to approve a marriage contract between the Duke and his master's daughter. Once the reader is armed with this knowledge, they are able to interpret the Duke's preceding dramatic monologue in a very different way indeed. We can determine, as readers, that the Duke probably wants to make a good impression upon the man whose daughter he wishes to marry; he believes that the gift he can offer, of a "nine-hundred-years-old name," justifies any and all behavior on his part. He feels that any woman should be happy to have been allowed to marry him.

However, we can interpret that the listening man in the poem probably does not view the Duke as justified in his behavior at all. On the contrary, the Duke has just described the woman in the portrait as a kind and gentle person who liked everyone, while at the same time behaving as if this was disrespectful to him. The reader, and presumably the man in the poem, do not agree. It is dramatically ironic, then, that the Duke has essentially and casually confessed to having given "commands" which led to the end of his wife's "smiles" and does not seem to realize that this presents him as a completely unviable marriage prospect for any normal person to consider.

Where is dramatic irony presented in "My Last Duchess"?

Dramatic irony occurs when the audience or readers of a work of literature know something the characters in it do not.

In "My Last Duchess," dramatic irony occurs when the Duke believes he is justifying himself in having his previous Duchess killed. He believes his reasons show him in a wholly sympathetic and positive light. However, his perception is ironic (or the opposite of reality), because the Duke's words reveal him to be a heartless and cruel psychopath. This functions as dramatic irony, because while the Duke is oblivious to what he is revealing about himself, his audience is not.

The Duke expected his late young wife to only have eyes for him, and he believes this expectation to be completely reasonable. When she did things like smile at other men (e.g., men who gave her gifts or painted her portrait), he perceived these smiles as a violation of their marriage contract.

He seems to think it was perfectly acceptable that he had her killed (either passively, by having her shut away, or actively, by ordering her death); on the other hand, the reader or the audience is most likely appalled that he would respond so harshly to the actions of an innocent young woman.

We also have to imagine that, although the Duke is blind to the implications of his behavior, the courtier who has been sent to arrange the new marriage contract will return with a strong warning against agreeing to a marriage with this psychopath.

Where is dramatic irony presented in "My Last Duchess"?

The way Browning used the dramatic monologue was very often hugely ironic, simply in the way it was deployed. The form gives you a - usually, at least - uninterrupted monologue in a character's voice, and, in Browning monologues, as the voice continues talking, they usual reveal more than they want to reveal. As the reader continues to "listen" to the voice, they find out things the voice didn't want them to know.

So, for example, in "My Last Duchess", there's a sense that the Duke (the speaker) tells us rather more than he intends. Would he really want us to know that he felt like this about his dead wife:

                                      Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
Or there exceed the mark

Would he really want to reveal to us, even if it is in an oblique way that "all smiles stopped together"?

The poem is packed full of questions. What happened to the Last Duchess - has this man killed her? Does this weird, controlling man not seem to prefer his dead wife "looking as though she were alive" in a painting, rather than actually alive?

The fundamental dramatic irony of the poem is that the way we feel about the Duke on listening to the poem is not at all the one he intends as he speaks it!

What is the irony in "My Last Duchess"?

There are a couple of different types of irony at work in this poem. First, there is dramatic irony, which is created when the audience knows something that a character does not know. We can think of the duke, who narrates the poem, as well as his "last Duchess" as characters. The duchess, it seems, did not realize that she displeased the duke by being so "easily impressed" by the gifts presented to her and the compliments given to her by all and sundry. He wanted her to appreciate him the most, to rank his favor and the honor of being chosen by him above all else, though he refused to tell her this, and so she was unaware of her failing in his eyes. However, we now know and understand this. She was also probably unaware that he "gave commands"—likely to have her killed—so that he could start over with a new wife.

The duke, for his part, seems unaware that his move to have her killed so that he could move on with a new wife is cruel and horrible, as he actually tells the person who is there to broker the contract for his next potential marriage all about it. His attitude toward his last duchess also constitutes an example of situational irony, when there is a discrepancy in expectation and reality in regard to the situation itself. The duchess seemed like such a sweet lady, a person who appreciated every small kindness or compliment, and yet this quality in her is the thing that most bothers the duke. This situation defies expectation.

What type of irony is used in the poem "My Last Duchess"?

Do not confuse dramatic monologue here with dramatic irony. This poem is considered a dramatic monologue because the voice is but one speaker who is also a character, the Duke of Ferrara, who is addressing another (unnamed) character directly. It is not a "dialogue" because the other character does not respond.

Keep in mind that dramatic irony is when the audience knows something the readers do not know. ("Dramatic" here, refers to drama, as in a play on a stage.) Though there is an element of this due to the style of the poem, it is not the strongest category of irony represented here.

Instead, the irony used in this poem could better be classified as verbal irony and situational irony. Verbal irony is when what is said, is not necessarily what is meant. For example, in the opening lines the speaker says of the portrait of his dead wife, "I call that piece a wonder," as if complimenting the painting. He then goes on, as if further complimenting the painter (and the subject) by speaking of "countenance, the depth and passion of its earnest glance" that the painter portrays. Again, such words sound like praise. However it is obvious from the rest of the poem that the speaker is neither in awe of the painting, nor the woman portrayed. His complimentary words are used ironically, and hide bitterness and deep resentment.

In addition to the verbal irony the speaker uses, essentially, to complain about his dead wife and how she made him feel unimportant, there is an element of situational irony here as well. Situationally irony is when what happens is unexpected, or when things appear to be one thing but are actually something else. The duke claims toward the end of the poem that he would never have told his wife these things to her face ("I choose never to stoop"), as if this would have been beneath him. It is ironic because such complaints made toward a portrait after this wife has died is even lower than simply bringing them up when she was alive. Finally, by the end of the poem it seems clear that the complaints about his dead wife are a bit of a warning to a future wife. Again, the duke cannot make any of these requests in a manly nor face-to-face manner, but in a sense of weakness and passive aggression, he sends a message of behavior he does not wish to tolerate, but obviously has once, and probably will again.

Is the speaker's statement in Browning's "My Last Duchess" ironic?

The Duke is telling the envoy about the fraught relationship he had with his late wife, the Duchess. In the course of the discussion, the Duke reveals aspects of his wife's personality and behavior which he found particularly annoying. When his wife was alive, the Duke never saw fit to inform her of the seemingly inexhaustible ways she displeased him. Yet he has no compunction whatsoever in revealing such information to a complete stranger:

E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose Never to stoop.

In other words, no matter how disgusted the Duke was with his wife—highly disgusted, as it turns out—he never stooped so low as to discuss the matter with her. The Duke clearly thinks this would've been highly improper for someone of his noble status; it would've breached some ancient aristocratic code of behavior.

The Duke's words are indeed ironic. For though he never stooped to discuss his wife's annoying habits with her, out of a sense of propriety, he nevertheless did stoop to killing her, violating every decent moral standard there is. For a haughty nobleman such as the Duke, social etiquette appears to be so much more important than morality.