Ferrara
That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf’s hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said
“Frà Pandolf” by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myselfthey turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I) 10
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ’twas not
Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: perhaps
Frà Pandolf chanced to say “Her mantle laps
Over my Lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half-flush that dies along her throat”: such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough 20
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart — how shall I say? — too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
I have promised to give you THREE ideas to Fire your essay on Browning’s My Last Duchess, possibly his most famous or infamous poem!
But even before I give you these ideas, could I just suggest that you pay attention to the title of the poem. For the title of this poem here tells us practically all we need to know….it directs us to the meaning of the poem.
It’s MURDEROUS MISOGYNY expressed in just THREE words!
Let’s look at the title’s implications briefly:
1) ‘My’ – the possessive pronoun ‘my’emphasises the relationship between the Duke and his Duchess in the Duke’s terms. Whilst we may initially read the ‘my’ as just a denotation of the social relationship between husband and wife or even (mistakenly) read it as a mark of affection, the poem’s final revelations about murder, make us very uneasy about the possessive pronoun. In fact it seems chilling. It reveals the unhealthy possessiveness of the Duke. His commodification of his wife whom he feels he ‘owns’ and can dispose of as he feels fit.
No human being owns another but those who feel that they do and have the apparently unlimited, enslaving power of the Duke may resort to the cold blooded act of murder, defying conscience, the law(they feel they ARE the LAW) and human ethics.
2) The word ‘last’ denotes the previous holder of the title ‘Duchess’. It suggests a series, and perhaps a deadly series at that. And then chillingly once again, ‘last’ anticipates the ‘next’ Duchess, the ‘next’ wife of the Duke whose dowry is already being organised by the Count’s emissaries as they sit silently listening to the Duke’s cruel revelations in the poem.
They cannot speak as they are silenced by his power.
What has become of the Duke’s previous wives we wonder?
And how does the Duke actually speak the first line of the poem? Does he place a particular stress on the word ‘Last’ and if so is there a sadistic irony about his pronunciation?
Is the Duke implicitly relishing the possibility of the unspoken word, we suspect lies waiting to be announced- that word is ‘next’?
3) Finally the word ‘Duchess’. This noun reveals the high status embedded in the title bestowed on the Duke’s fatally unlucky bride, a title we later learn is 900 years old and therefore worth killing for, according to the pathologically disturbed Duke, whose heart we suspect is as cold and lifeless as his artistic artefacts.
We realise too that the Duchess has no name other than her tragic, imprisoning title. She remains anonymous, even free from any endearments save the crushing weight of the possessive ‘my’.
A truly heartless title.
MISOGYNY compressed into just THREE WORDS!
I will shortly write a piece on the THREE ideas ….
