Purposes of the Dramatic Monologue in My Last Duchess by Robert Browning

My Last Duchess by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue spoken by the Duke Ferrari. It highlights the jealous and sadistic nature of his character and the weirdness that surrounds his late wife’s demise. A dramatic monologue is a kind of poem whereby a single fictional or historical character other than the poet is made to speak to a silent audience, in this case, only the main character is allowed to talk. The purpose of the monologue is to not to disclose the poet’s own ideas but the thoughts of the lead character in the poem. (Christopher Baldick 1) .In the process, personality of the main character is revealed by the poet.

In "My Last Duchess," the duke is speaking to a aristocrat of a wealthy count. Before the commencement of the poem, the aristocrat has been led through the Duke's palace most likely through an art gallery filled with paintings and sculptures. The aristocrat has seen a curtain, which hides a wall painting, thus the duke decides to show his visitor a very special portrait of his late wife. The aristocrat is awed by the smile of the woman in the painting, he asks what produced such an expression, and that is when the dramatic monologue commences:

As it is common in many other dramatic monologues, “My Last Duchess” offers a peek of the Duke of Ferrara personality. The first line alone reveals that he has a deep passion for art. In the first three lines, “That's my last duchess painted on the wall/ Looking as if she were alive I call /That piece a wonder.”(1-3). The portrait of the late Duchess of Ferrara is a wall painting, which is a type of work painted directly on a plaster wall in watercolors. By calling that piece, a wonder emphasizes that he has many other paintings in his possession but gives the ...

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...f the piece, whereby it is revealed that he is in the process of negotiating another wedding ceremony. The imaginary listener character is a representative of another noble, as shown by the speaker's reference to him as "the Count your master" (ll. 49). In spite of the speaker's obvious ignorance for the value of life, and his apparent corruption, this agent seems to agree to arrange for the duke's marriage to the count's daughter. Therefore, it is assumed that the count, although not there in the setting of the poem, also agrees to the marriage of this duke to his daughter, fully aware of the death of the former's previous spouse; the count likely stands to benefit from such an arrangement, as was the practice of the time. This, again, speaks to the author’s opinion of the nobility as corrupt and made inhuman by the very power that elevates them above other men.