My Last Duchess by Robert Browning

Robert Browning published My Last Duchess in 1842 in a volume of poetry called Dramatic Lyrics. While the work is held in high regard nowadays, at this time in Browning's life, he was already suffering from bad reviews of a few earlier works and the volume was not very popular.

The poem is a monologue being spoken by 'Ferrara', which begins with the line: "That's my last duchess, painted on the wall". That's how we know right off the bat that the speaker is a Duke. The next line: 'looking as if she were alive' tells you that she's not.

If you do not know this Robert Browning poem, you might want to go read it before reading the rest of this article, or risk the article influencing your impression of the poem when you do read it. If you are already familiar with the poem, while you may know most of the background connected to it already, read the article to learn more and to see if you agree with me.

The Italian family of Este, Lords of Ferrara, were created Dukes of Modena and Reggio, and also became Dukes of Ferrara in 1471. In 1597, they lost the succession of Ferrara itself to the Papal States, when the last Duke, Alfonso II, died with no heir. Alfonso did name his cousin Caesare as his heir, but Ferrara was lost to the Papal States all the same. Caesare was still the Duke of Modena and Reggio. There were 5 dukes of Ferrara, but only Alfonso II had a wife who was rumored to have been poisoned, and otherwise fits the profile of Robert Browning's poem.

Alfonso d'Este was born on November 22, 1533, almost 3 centuries before Robert Browning. He was the oldest son of Ercole II d'Este, whose mother was Lucrezia Borgia, the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI. Thus, Alfonso was a Pope's great-grandson.

Alfonso's mother was Renee, a princess of France. Her parents were King Louis XII and Anne of Brittany. Alfonso never met his maternal grandparents since they both died when his own mother was but a young child. His grandmother predeceased his grandfather by a year, and then the 52 year old Louis married 18 year old Mary Tudor, King Henry VIII's sister. Three months after this marriage, the French King died. During her childhood, a companion of Alfonso's mother was the young Ann Boleyn. These connections to England may have fascinated Robert Browning.

When Ercole II died in 1559, Alfonso became Duke. His relationship with his mother, Renee of France, became strained and she moved to France the following year.

Alfonso was married three times. Robert Browning's poem concerns the first woman who married Alfonso in 1560. OK, she was only a teenager, but Renaissance teenagers in noble families cannot be compared to our idea of teenagers. Let's look at her pedigree. Lucrezia de Medici was a daughter of Cosimo de Medici, who came to power when he was 17 years old. The strong-willed and ambitious Cosimo was recognized as head of the Florentine state in June of 1537 by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Lucrezia's mother was Eleonora di Toledo, the daughter of Don Pedro Alvarez de Toledo, the Spanish viceroy of Naples. Cosimo and Eleonora had 13 children, who survived infancy. Lucrezia was their 5th child, and 3rd girl.

Lucrezia was 16 old when she married the 27 year old Duke. She died one year later and there were rumors that she was poisoned. Several years later, in 1565 to be precise, Alfonso was married again to Barbara of Austria, 8th daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. She was also the niece of the Count of Tyrol.

Browning presents his My Last Duchess poem in the form of a dramatic monologue. This form serves to reveal information not only about the speaker's topic, but reveals the speaker's personality and psyche as well. Whether the speaker does this intentionally or not is in the judgment of the reader or listener. The poem reveals the duke to be a haughty, selfish and possessive man who treats people, even his wife, as if they were objects.

The purpose of the poem's meeting is to discuss arrangements for the Duke's next marriage, although this is not revealed until later on in the poem. In the beginning of the poem, the Duke starts out talking about the painting on the wall of the deceased Duchess. The painting is a fresco, artwork painted directly on a plaster wall in watercolors. It is also known that the real Alfonso was a patron of the arts and sciences. Robert Browning had traveled in Italy prior to composing this poem and perhaps he even saw some of the artwork that Alfonso II sponsored. The fresco of the Duchess in the poem is covered by a curtain that no one can pull back except the Duke. The Duke makes a point of this: 'none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I' and this lets you know he is a controlling fellow.

The Duke proceeds to draw what he believes is a rather unflattering portrait of his last Duchess in life. Perhaps he is trying to communicate to the emissary what he expects of his next wife. To the reader, he succeeds instead in showing himself to be cruel, demanding and inflexible. The Duchess' main fault seems to be that she had no powers of discernment. He emphasizes her beautiful smile and elaborates on her custom of bestowing her smile too freely. The Duchess had:

A heart - how shall I say? - too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.

The Duke at worst is inferring that she was unfaithful; at best, he was clearly displeased with not being treated in a more important manner. He does seem to cook up an excuse for himself before he reveals how the matter was dealt with. He tells the emissary that even if you chose to confront the person who is displeasing you so, this would involve some indignity - 'some stooping' as he puts it, and he says that he chooses 'never to stoop'. He intimates that when the Duchess' frivolous behavior continued to grow, he 'gave commands' and 'then all smiles stopped together'. Yes, saints preserve us, that does seem to imply that he had her murdered!

Then, in a rather cold-blooded and nonchalant manner, he turns the talk to the marriage that is being arranged. The Duke says that he thinks the Count will not reject any amount in terms of dowry that he might seek. At the same time, he avers that the Count's 'fair daughter's self, as I avowed at starting, is my object' - a statement that probably wouldn't seem so ominous if it hadn't been made after his prior discourse.

As he guides the emissary downstairs to meet the company, he casually points out another rare objet d'art that he possesses: Neptune Taming a Seahorse. This is another symbol of the Duke's controlling nature and Neptune is meant to symbolize him. The Duke mentions that 'Claus of Innsbruck' cast the piece in bronze for him. This is thought to be an artifice to establish more rapport with the emissary. It is known that the emissary who saw the Duke concerning his second marriage to Barbara of Austria was Nikolaus of Innsbruck.

Some feel that the Duchess was merely a naive young girl while others go with the unfaithful angle. Browning himself suggested that the real Alfonso either had the real Lucrezia murdered or sent away to a convent.

I love My Last Duchess and feel it is an exceptionally skillful psychological portrait of a powerful sociopath, a brilliant product of Robert Browning's perception of how powerful men were in that time period.

While some may hope that the emissary will be horrified and return a negative report, even if Browning's portrait of the Duke were true - I can't see it that way. Women were treated like chattel during this time period and many daughters of noble families were simply traded into marriage for advantageous political reasons. These young women were trained to believe this was their duty. Alfonso II did marry Barbara of Austria and the marriage lasted until her death 7 years laster. Alfonso then married a niece of Barbara's the same year that he died. I can't say it's really true that Alfonso did the dirty deed and had Duchess Lucrezia killed. She may very well have died of a sudden illness.

On the one hand, there was some real violence in the lives of the real Lucrezia's siblings. Her older sister, Isabella, was murdered by her husband. A younger brother, Pietro, murdered his wife. Rumors concerning poison certainly were commonplace enough in those times. It was rumored that another older brother, Francesco, and his wife, were both poisoned. They died on the same day. Lucrezia's mother and two other brothers were also rumored to have been poisoned although it was eventually proven that they died of malarial fever.

On the other hand, I can only say that if Lucrezia was poisoned, she surely must have rolled over in her grave when her youngest sister, Virginia, married Alfonso's cousin and heir, Caesare d'Este.