Last Duchess by Robert Browning

¶ … last Duchess by Robert Browning offers a grave and almost sinister picture of attitude towards women's in 19th century. The poem talks about a duke whose last wife is now dead and as he looks at her portrait, he highlights her "flaws." These flaws as we later see are intrinsic values such as modesty, humility, and compassion. Duke is however not impressed by her common behavior. He had expected her to behave like a duchess and maintain her distance. But deep down, it is not even about her compassion for people, it is actually about duke's highly controlling personality. He wanted to control her moves, her moods and her attitude towards others. One of the main signs of his controlling behavior was his constant fear of infidelity as he doubted her character and hated the fact that everything and anyone could make her "blush."

As the poem opens, we learn that Duke Ferrara, is talking to an agent of his fiancee. He is expressing his feelings towards his last wife in such a way as to warn the agent that such behavior would not be tolerated from the new duchess. The duke is engaged in a dramatic monologue where the voice or opinions of anyone are completed blocked and all we hear is duke's own voice. But this is indeed enough to dissect duke's personality because he gives clues to his own imperfections and flaws.

There is a hint in the poem that the duchess didn't die a natural death but was dofectly or indirectly killed by the duke. His hatred for her is very pronounced and he clearly states that it was due to his order that duchess stopped "smiling."

E'en then would be some stooping; and I choose

Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,

Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without

Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;

Then all smiles stopped together.

The Duke couldn't see the duchess smiling for anyone but him. he didn't allow her to show compassion to those of lower rank. He would hate to see someone paying her a compliment and she accepting it graciously with a smile and a "blush." Instead he wanted her to tespect his high rank and behave like a woman of elite class. He expected her to maintain her distance from others and to smile only for her.

The poem reveals something deeper than the duke's behavior alone. It shows how women in the 19th century were expected to behave and what fate they would meet if they did not follow orders. Women were not expected to "do" anything but instead they were seen like commodities and were ordered to be something. In common households, they were mothers, daughters and wives. In high class societies, they were seen as a pricey decoration item that was supposed to possess certain qualities like haughtiness and vanity.

The duke always suspected his wife of being charmed by others. He felt that she enjoyed glances and compliments from other men and that these pleased her. That was the reason, he had her killed. This is a clear sign of how things work in male dominated socity like England where women were expected to be completely devoted to their husbands so much so that they will not even smile at other men. The duke was not the only person suspecting his wife. Normally in such a male dominated society, men would be very controlling and suspicious. The duke was even more so because he belonged to a very high ranked family and couldn't afford to have other people talk about his wife. He thus wanted to completely control her and during the conversation with the envoy, he explicitly reveals his displeasure so that the other person would take this as a warning and convey his message to the new duchess to be.

Interestingly, the duke is so controlling that he doesn't even allow everyone to see his late wife's portrait and instead reveals it to only selected guests. This is his way of controlling her after her death as he must have controlled her when she was alive.