My Last Duchess

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1842

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Art

Art is a recurring motif throughout the poem. The piece starts with the speaker calling the listener’s attention to one piece of art and ends with him similarly pointing out another one. The central piece of art in the poem is the titular portrait of the last duchess, the duke’s late wife. It sets the context of the poem, allowing for the circumstance of the monologue and becoming the object around which the narrative revolves and unravels.

The art in the poem serves to highlight the character of the duke. Both the duchess’s portrait and the statue of Neptune indicate the duke’s acquisitiveness and possessive nature. Hi indicates the statue, for instance, is a rarity, calling to his desire for and pleasure in collecting objects of value. Similarly, the duke mentions how only he is allowed to draw back the curtain covering the portrait, indicating a possessive streak. In addition, the duke mentions the names of the artists responsible for both pieces of work. Although fictional artists, they can be presumed to be well reputed and talented, as the duke expects the listener to know and appreciate the names he lists. This indicates how the duke takes pride in status and reputation.

The works of art also hint at the kind of relationship the duke had with his late wife and the kind he will presumably have again with any future partners. Although he eventually speaks of the woman in the portrait, he begins by pointing it out as a piece of art, a “wonder” (Line 3). He also moves on from speaking about the portrait of his late wife to pointing out a bronze statue almost in the same breath. The seemingly similar values he places on a portrait of his last duchess and a bronze sculpture hints at how the duke viewed his wife herself in a similar manner: as a shiny possession to add to his collection to add to his own status and reputation.

Lineage

The duke’s “nine-hundred-years-old name” (Line 33) is mentioned in the poem and serves to connote the aristocracy of his lineage and its associated social status. Thus, the duke’s name serves as a symbol for status and hierarchy, both of which he deeply values. He believes these to have been disrespected within the dynamic between him and the duchess. It is not enough for the duke that the duchess is amenable and respectable to him as a wife; he requires her to show him appreciation and admiration to a degree higher than she does to everything else. He even explains this by listing a number of things, in descending order of hierarchy, that despite differing greatly in value garnered the same degree of pleasure from the duchess. This is intolerable to the duke, and it is this perceived slight on the duchess’s part that forms the root of the duke’s displeasure.

The lineage of the duke’s name is mentioned as a “gift” (Line 33) the duke believes his late wife did not adequately value. The historical figures who are believed to have inspired the poem also reflect this: Duke Alfonso II d’Este belonged to a reputed family with royal ties, vastly superior in status to the Medici family to which his first wife, Lucrezia, belonged. Therefore, the “nine-hundred-years-old name” (Line 33) is also an allusion to the Este family, an additional detail confirming the person on whom Browning based the duke in the poem.

The Duchess’s Smile and Blush

The duchess’s smile and blush is mentioned a number of times throughout the poem as captured in the portrait and further described by the duke throughout his monologue. Her expression is what allows the duke to move from talking about the portrait to talking about the woman in the portrait; similarly, he ends his narrative about the duchess by ominously stating that upon his commands, “all smiles stopped together” (Line 46).

The duchess’s smile is representative of the woman herself. Specifically, her smiles and blushes encapsulate and signify the root of the duke’s displeasure with his late wife: her lack of discretion. He remarks how it was not his presence alone that brought such a blush to her face—he lists a number of instances that all incited the same blush as he himself did. He also expresses his displeasure that he received the same smile as everyone else who encountered the duchess.

The duchess’s smiles, as described by the duke, also hint at her character. She is painted as someone easily pleased and impressed, and her constant smiles support this characterization. Furthermore, the historical figure on whom the duchess is based, Lucrezia de’Medici, was only 13 years old when she married Duke Alfonso; she died a few years later at 17. The historical context of the poem (See: Historical Context) allows for the duchess’s smiles to be further seen as proof of her innocence and naïveté, as Lucrezia was little more than a child throughout her short-lived marriage.