My Last Duchess - Robert Browning

Frà Pandolf

________: "Frà is the prefix for a monk.

"That’s my last Duchess"

"My" is a possessive pronoun, we know straight away that this duke is controlling

"Painted on the wall"

The only appreciation a wife receives is surface level; to do with her image

"If she were alive"

Again, insinuating that the dukes wife is deceased

"Will’t you please sit and look at her?”

The duke forces his visitor to sit down with the rhetorical question which implies that he is in sole control of who sees her

"‘Frà Pandolf by design"

The duke is flaunting his wealth with references to famous artists that painted for him

"if they durst"

Means if they dared

"Her husbands presence only, called that spot / Of joy into the Duchess cheek"

Unreasonable to expect her to only gain joy from her husband

"Frà Pandolf"

Frà is the prefix for a monk

"bough of cherries some officious fool"

The duke wants his wealth and status to be more important

"nine-hundred-years-old name"

Shows that the duke holds status and power within society which he boasts about

"Whod stoop to blame"

Shows male entitlement and pride; he will not lower himself to talk to his wife and confront her about what he fears in fear of being seen as weak and paranoid

"I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together.”

Euphemism for murder

"Notice Neptune", "thought a rarity"

The metaphor of Neptune suggests he sees himself as god life

“for me!”

Final words of the poem