My Last Duchess

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My Last Duchess

• Robert Browning

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My Last Duchess - Biography

• Robert Browning was born May 7, 1812 and died
  December 12, 1889.
• He was a British poet and playwright whose
  mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic
  monologues, made him one of the foremost
  Victorian poets.
• This poem reflects Brownings interest in Italian
  politics of the late middle ages the Renaissance

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My Last Duchess

• Read through the poem and highlight any words
  that you do not understand.
• This poem is a dramatic monologue- when else have
  you come across a dramatic monologue?
• What do you think are some of the features of a
  dramatic monologue?

Dramatic Monologues
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My Last Duchess

• The poem is written in 28 rhymed couplets
• The poem is preceded by the word Ferrara,
  indicating that the speaker is most likely
  Alfonso II, fifth Duke of Ferrara (15331598)
  who, at the age of 25, married the 14-year-old
  Lucrezia di Cosimo de' Medici, the daughter of
  Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and
  Eleonora di Toledo.
• Lucrezia was not well educated, and the Medicis'
  status could be termed "nouveau riche" in
  comparison with that of the venerable and
  distinguished Este family. The Duke's remark
  regarding his gift of a "nine-hundred-years-old
  name" clearly indicates that he considered his
  bride beneath him socially. She came, however,
  with a sizeable dowry.

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My Last Duchess

• The couple married in 1558, and she died three
  years later, on April 21, 1561, at age 17. There
  was a strong suspicion of poisoning.
• The Duke then sought the hand of Barbara, eighth
  daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I
  and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary and the niece of
  the Count of Tyrol. The count was in charge of
  arranging the marriage the chief of his
  entourage, Nikolaus Mardruz, a native of
  Innsbruck, was his courier. Mardruz is presumably
  the silent listener in the poem.
• The other characters named in the poem, painter
  Frà Pandolf and sculptor Claus of Innsbruck, are
  fictional.

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My Last Duchess

• The poem is set during the late Italian
  Renaissance. The narrator (presumably the Duke of
  Ferrara) is giving the messenger, (emissary,) of
  his prospective second wife a tour of the
  artworks in his home.
• He draws a curtain to reveal a painting of a
  woman, explaining that it is a portrait of his
  late wife he invites his guest to sit and look
  at the painting. As they look at the portrait of
  the late Duchess, the Duke describes her happy,
  cheerful and flirtatious nature, which had
  displeased him.

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My Last Duchess

• He says, "She had a heart how shall I say?
  too soon made glad..." He goes on to say that his
  complaint of her was that "'twas not her
  husband's presence only" that made her happy.
  Eventually, "I gave commands then all smiles
  stopped together."
• He now keeps her painting hidden behind a curtain
  that only he is allowed to draw back. The Duke
  then resumes an earlier conversation regarding
  wedding arrangements, and in passing points out
  another work of art, a bronze statue of Neptune
  taming a sea-horse.

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My Last Duchess

• The critic Isobel Armstrong sums up the poem like
  this
• "The mad duke...cannot love without so possessing
  and destroying the identity of his wife that he
  literally kills her and lives with her dead
  substitute, a work of art.
• Her reading may be right - but are we sure the
  duke is mad? Perhaps he is sane but very cruel
  and ruthless.
• Re-read the poem and find an example either of
  the Dukes supposed madness or his
  cruelty/ruthlessness.

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My Last Duchess

• This is an amazingly skilful poem - there is one
  speaker, yet we learn about four characters
• the duke
• the duchess
• the visitor (the count's envoy)
• the painter, Frà Pandolf
• Working within groups of approx 4 people you will
  be given 1 character to investigate. You will
  have 10 minutes to present information on what
  you learn about this character.

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My Last Duchess

• The Duke speaks to you. It is not apparent
  until line 49 that her means the Counts
  emissary. When you first read the poem who does
  you seem to be?
• What effect does this have on the way in which
  you engage with the poem?
• Line 1 gives a clear impression of direct speech.
  Identify 3 other phrases that create the
  impression of someone speaking.

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My Last Duchess

• Working with a partner decide upon the key
  moments within this poem. Consider how you may
  present them.
• You may decide to convey this information via a
  storyboard, dramatic representation e.g. freeze
  frame, a newspaper or radio report.
• You have 20 minutes to come up with an
  alternative way of explaining My Last Duchess
  and then must present your ideas to the class.
• Good Luck!