My Last Duchess

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(No Transcript)
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My Last Duchess

• In this poem, Browning creates a character of
  chilling coldness and cruelty. The speaker is a
  Duke who is conducting negotiations for a bride,
  a new duchess. He is talking with the
  representatives of potential father in law.
  Almost casually, he shows them the picture of the
  last duchess whom he had killed because he
  could not dominate her.

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Imagine this scene

• A stately home
• A rich, devastatingly handsome Duke, flowing dark
  hair, bright blue eyes, a velvet jacket, an
  ornately embroidered waistcoat with gold buttons,
  a walking cane adorned with jewels.
• An envoy a man sent to meet the Duke a lesser
  man, smartly dressed but does not have the Dukes
  money or charisma and the Duke knows it.
• The Duke takes the envoy around his home to show
  off his art collection, including a portrait of
  his late wife, the Last Duchess.

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Questions

• How will the Duke speak to the envoy? Consider
  not only what he says but how he will say it.
• How does the Duke move around the home?
• How does the Duke look at the envoy?
• How will the Duke describe the portrait of the
  Last Duchess?

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Poetry glossary
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Iambic pentametre

1. Metre measurement of the beats in a line of
   poetry (to create rhythm)
2. Iamb a metrical foot of 2 beats with the stress
   on the second beat (tee tum)
3. Pentameter 5 pairs of iambs (typical of
   Shakespearean sonnets)

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My Last Duchess
listen

• Robert Browning

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My Last DuchessFerraraThat's my last Duchess
painted on the wall,Looking as if she were
alive. I callThat piece a wonder, now Frà
Pandolf's handsWorked busily a day, and there
she stands.
Last as in previous one in a list
Implies that she is dead
Always there forever
An object / work of art
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Will't please you sit and look at her? I
said"Frà Pandolf" by design,
Still sees her as a real person.
Bragging about the artist
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for never readStrangers like you that pictured
countenance, The depth and passion of its
earnest glance

A stranger would not be able to read her
Facial expression
Makes her sound like a woman of mystery - secrets
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But to myself they turned (since none puts byThe
curtain I have drawn for you, but I) And seemed
as they would ask me, if they durst,How such a
glance came there so, not the firstAre you to
turn and ask thus.
He has complete control
People are often afraid to ask him
A certain look on her face
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Sir, 'twas notHer husband's presence only,
called that spotOf joy into the Duchess' cheek
Hint of his jealousy and suspicions
Something appears to have made her blush and look
happy
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• 
  perhaps
• Fra Pandolf chanced to say Her mantle laps
• Over my ladys wrist too much, or Paint
• Must never hope to reproduce the faint
• Half-flush that dies along her throat such
  stuff
• 20 Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
• For calling up that spot of joy.

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• 
  she had
• A heart how shall I say? too soon made
  glad,
• Too easily impressed she liked whateer
• She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
• Sir, twas all one! My favour at her breast,
• The dropping of the daylight in the West,
• The bough of cherries some officious fool
• Broke in the orchard for her, the while mule
• She rode with round the terrace -

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Suggests jealousy

• - all and each
• 30 Would draw from her alike the approving
  speech,
• Or blush, at least. She thanked men, - good!
  But
• thanked-
• Somehow I know not how as if she ranked

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She hadA heart -- how shall I say? -- too soon
made glad,Too easily impressed she liked
whate'erShe looked on, and her looks went
everywhere.Sir, 'twas all one!
Uses three ways of saying she was easily
impressed - suggests he cant quite put his
finger on why
He is annoyed that she responded the same way to
all things was impressed by everything equally
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My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old nameWith
anybody's gift.
He thinks that the gift of his name should be
something she valued above all else.
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Who'd stoop to blameThis sort of trifling?
Even had you skillIn speech -- (which I have
not) --
Claims he has trouble expressing himself so how
could he get his point across to her?
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• 35 - to make your will
• Quite clear to such a one, and say, Just this
• Or that in you disgusts me here you miss,
• Or there exceed the mark and if she let
• 40 Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
• Her wits to yours, forsooth and made excuse,

indeed
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E'en then would be some stooping, and I
chooseNever to stoop.
He would see it as weakness to lower his
standards to tolerate her attitude.
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Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,Whene'er I passed
her but who passed withoutMuch the same smile?
This grew I gave commandsThen all smiles
stopped together.
Flirted with other men
Dead!
Ordered her death?
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There she standsAs if alive.
Reminder that what he looks at now is a picture.
He did not manage to control the real Duchess,
but has some control over this one.
Further hint that she is dead.
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• .Willt please you rise?
  Well meet
• The company below, then. I repeat,
• The Count your masters known munificence
• Is ample warrant that no just pretence

generosity
Caesura a grammatical pause or break in a line
of poetry
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• Of mine for dowry
  will be disallowedThough his fair daughter's
  self, as I avowedAt starting is my object.

Plans to take another wife
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• Words to describe the Duke
• Jealous a heart how shall I say
• Ruthless I gave commands
• Paranoid/psychotic half flush
• Aloof- refused to stoop
• Vain 900 year old name
• Calculatingly intelligent hired a murderer

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Nay, well goDown together, Sir. Notice
Neptune, though,Taming a sea-horse, thought a
rarity, Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze
for me!
God of the sea.
Another piece of artwork. This is how he wants
his possessions to be beautiful but lifeless so
that he can control them
Sees himself as wanting to be like Neptune, in
control of his creatures.
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Questions

• Who is the Duke of Ferrara talking to in the
  poem?
• Why is his guest visiting the Duke of Ferrara?
• Who painted the picture of the Dukes late wife?
• The Duke was not entirely pleased with his late
  wife, the Last Duchess. Explain why and what he
  did about it.
• What impression of the Last Duchess do you get
  from the poem? Write about her as you imagine
  she might have been.
• Write about the character of the Duke and compare
  it with the character of the poisoner in The
  Laboratory. Then compare these two characters
  with the characters in Hitcher by Simon
  Armitage and Education for Leisure by Carol Ann
  Duffy.