Compiled and Circulated by Samir Kuilya, Faculty Member, Dept. of English, Narajole Raj College ==============================================
SEM - III: Paper C5T :BritishLiterature:19th Century(1832-1900) Topic- Browning’s ‘MyLast Duchess’
*** Key Facts about the Poem, ‘My Last Duchess’
i) The original title of the poem, ‘My Last Duchess’ was ‘Italy’. It was first published in Bells and Pomegranates No.III under the title Dramatic Lyrics in 1842. It was included in Dramatic Romances in 1868.
ii) ‘My Last Duchess’ is a dramatic monologue.
iii) This poem is dramatic monologue because here the action of the poem starts at a critical period of the Duke’s life. Again Duke is the speaker here who expresses his wish to marry for the second time to the envoy which expresses his selfishness, arrogance and mercenary mentality.The envoy is a person who is a silent listener in the course of the poem.
iv) Source of the Poem
The critics suggest that Browning’s Duke may be the historical figure, Alfonso ii. He was the Duke of Ferrara who married Lucrezia de Medici in 1558 when she was only fifteen (15) years old. The Duchess died in 1561 at the age of seventeen (17). The Duke might have poisoned her in order to marry Barbara. Barbara was the daughter of Ferdinand I, niece of the Count of Tyrol. The emissary in the poem may be supposed Nikolaus Madraz of Innsbruk who had come to the palace of the Duke.
***Analysis of the Poem, ‘My Last Duchess’
At the very beginning of the poem, ‘THAT’ is used in order to show the importance of the picture painted on the wall. It may also be said that the Duke is showing the Piece of painting of his Duchess at a distance. ( Line no.-01)
Compiled and Circulated by Samir Kuilya, Faculty Member, Dept. of English, Narajole Raj College ==============================================
SEM - III: Paper C5T :BritishLiterature:19th Century(1832-1900) Topic- Browning’s ‘MyLast Duchess’
‘last Duchess’ is used in the first line because the Duchess is no more in the land of living. ( Line No.-01)
“Looking as if she were alive”(Line No.-02) – Tone of mockery is expressed here on the part of Duke because the dead person never becomes like a living person in the field of reality. After the death of the Duchess ( Lucrezia de Medici), Duke has kept the
picture on the wall and it seems to him as a living figure. So, Duke’s tone of mockery is evident here.
“ Fra Pandolf ’s hands / Worked busily a day….” (Line 03-04) – Fra Pandolf is an imaginary artist who portrayed the lively picture of Lucrezia De Medici, the Last
Duchess. The duke uses the name of the painter to impress the envoy of his prospective father-in-law with his superior position and efficiency.
“ Will’t please you sit and look at her?’’( Line-05) – Here the Duke shows the sense of hospitality, sense of generosity to the envoy when the envoy is perhaps surprised by looking at the living picture of the last Duchess. The Duke is one of the representatitives of the Victorian period. So he wants to discuss on earning profit first and then shows the hospitality casually.
“ I said Fra pandolf by design………./ pictured countenance’’( Line 05-07) –
The Duke commanded the painter, Fra Pandolf about the design of the painting of the last Duchess because he did not want at all that the strangers like the envoy would understand the real meaning of the picture. Sense of possession on the part of the Duke is reflected evidently in the above lines.
Line 08 –Line 13 – Nobody has the courage to draw the curtain of the picture except the Duke. In presence of the Duke some courageous people dares to draw the curtain and the used to ask him how the beautiful glance on the part of the Duchess had come in that painting.
